The Effects of Character Education Activities Utilizing Picture Books on Young Children's Pro-social Behaviors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify how character education activities utilizing picture books affect pro-social behaviors of young children. The subjects were 46 children aged 5 who attended private child care centers in G city. The children were allocated to either the experiment group or the control group. The data were collected for 12 weeks and the activity sessions were provided to the experiment group 3 times a week (36 times in total). The sessions consisted of an integrated approach toward character education. Therefore, various activities were included such as listening to the stories of picture books, discussion, drama, language activities, music, mathematics, science and games. The findings of this study were as follows: The experiment group which experienced character education utilizing picture books has significantly improved their pro-social behaviors compared to the control group. The approach positively influenced the overall sub-variables such as leadership, helping, communication, initiative consideration, approach trial, sharing, empathy, and emotional control. The character education activities should be applied to character education utilizing picture books for young children because they let young children experience building up trust and learn social attitude, and influenced increase of pro-social behaviors on young children.