Currently, children with different physical, cultural, or developmental characteristics get along in an institute harmoniously and grow together. In this situation, anti-bias thinking to understand, accept, and respect each individual’s features is ...
Currently, children with different physical, cultural, or developmental characteristics get along in an institute harmoniously and grow together. In this situation, anti-bias thinking to understand, accept, and respect each individual’s features is very crucial. Thereupon, this study recognized the importance of self-esteem in anti-bias thinking and developed ‘the positive self-concept program’. Also, to verify application validity of ‘the positive self-concept program’ developed in this study in the actual spots of early childhood education, experimental research was conducted after selecting the experimental group and the control group. In other words, this study comparatively analyzes the effects of the positive self-concept program on child’s self-esteem and anti-bias perspective.
To attain the study goal, this paper sets up the following study questions.
First, how does the positive self-concept program affect child’s self-esteem?
Second, how does the positive self-concept program affect child’s anti-bias perspective?
The subjects of this experimental research are 46 five-year-olds (23 for the experimental group, 23 for the control group) in kindergarten A and B located in S City. They were randomly arranged in the experimental group and the control group. The two groups’ average moon’s age is 69.21 months. As a study tool to measure child’s anti-bias perspective, this study reorganized and used the test tool developed by Kwon Hyeon Su (2000) by modifying and quoting Lerner and Korn(1972)’s VCR (verbal checklist). And to measure child’s self-esteem, this paper used the test tool used by Ji Seong Ae and Kim Seung Hee (2010) after modifying ‘the child’s self-esteem scale’ developed by Ji Seong Ae, Kim Young Ok, and Pak Hee Suk(2003) into one with 40 questions. The experimental treatment was conducted for 13 weeks from April 11th till July 30th, 2011. The experimental group received the positive self-concept program while the control group performed self-esteem activities about daily life-related topics. To examine the effects of the positive self-concept program on child’s self-esteem and anti-bias perspective, intergroup pre-test and post-test were conducted. And collected data were analyzed by using SPSS 18.0. Also, to verify intergroup difference, t-test was performed.
The study results are summed up as below.
First, the positive self-concept program has a positive effect on improving child’s self-esteem. Regarding total self-esteem points, the points of the experimental group receiving the positive self-concept program showed statistically significant difference than those of the control group conducting self-esteem activities about daily life-related topics. The subareas of self-esteem, cognitive self, physical self, social self, and emotional self, indicated high points in the experimental group, which showed significant difference between groups. However, family-accepting self, one of the subareas of self-esteem, did not show any significant difference between the experimental group and the control group.
Second, the positive self-concept program has a positive effect on improving child’s anti-bias perspective. Regarding total anti-bias perspective points, the points of the experimental group receiving the positive self-concept program were statistically significantly higher than those of the control group conducting self-esteem activities about daily life-related topics. The subareas of anti-bias perspective, visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical disability, and race, indicated significantly higher points in the experimental group than the control group.
In conclusion, according to the research result, the positive self-concept program have positive effects on improving child’s self-esteem and anti-bias perspective. This study result verifies application validity of the positive self-concept program developed in this research at the actual spots of early childhood education.
Therefore, in this situation where education integrated with disabled children and multicultural education are getting extended, it is expected to apply actively ‘the positive self-concept program’ developed in this research as an appropriate and systematic program to enhance child’s anti-bias perspective and self-esteem.