Since the domestic traditional social structure of single-race nation, culture and language is not exceptional in the field of early childhood education, it is necessary to establish an educational course in which all the young children of various cul...
Since the domestic traditional social structure of single-race nation, culture and language is not exceptional in the field of early childhood education, it is necessary to establish an educational course in which all the young children of various cultures, racial characteristics and social backgrounds have a fair opportunity of education and to develop and carry out a multicultural education program with which young children have a high regard for various cultures or ways of thinking and understand and accept the behavioral difference of different cultures. In this vein, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of multicultural project activities which could be applied to multicultural education for young children on their attitude and recognition of races and various cultures. For this, an experiment was carried out with 40 five-year old children (the experiment group, n=20; the control group, n=20) and data were collected before and after the experiment. In order to examine young children's recognition and attitude, the investigator used 21 questionnaires. Collected data were processed with the SPSS 12.0 program. Frequency analysis was used to examine the attitudinal changes of young children for multiculture before and after the experiment. As for the result of young children's recognition of race and multiculture, frequency analysis and chi-square (x2) was carried out.
established as follows:
1. What effect of multicultural project activities has on young children's recognition and attitude of race (play partner, ability, outward appearance and help-providing friend)?
2. What effect of multicultural project activities has on young children's recognition and attitude of multiculture (costume, housing, festivity and food)?
Study findings for multicultural education activities are as follows:
First, young children who had the experience of attitude and recognition of races through multicultural project activities seemed to have a more positive attitude toward the race-based play partner, ability, outward appearance and help-providing friend than those who did not. Young children in the control group preferred the yellow race and the white race, whereas young children in the experiment group presented a variety of selective tendencies. Thus, the provision of multicultural project activities could change young children's attitude toward races. In other words, multicultural project activities are effective for the attitudinal change of races. This finding is consistent with the result of Lee Jin-hi (2009)'s study on the effect of project approach-based multicultural education activities on young children's reduction of racial prejudice.
Second, young children who had the experience of attitude and recognition of multiculture through multicultural project activities presented responses to housing, costume, festivity and food. The control group presented the simple and superficial recognition of multiculture, whereas the experiment group presented the concretely explanative recognition of it. Thus, the provision of multicultural project activities could have positive effect on young children's attitude and recognition of multiculture. The results of frequency analysis on the selection of certain questionnaires before and after the experiment presented that young children in the experiment group showed the tendency of accepting diverse races and presented a positive change for their attitude toward play partner, ability, outward appearance and help-providing friend than those in the control group did.
Third, multicultural project education activities seemed to make young children reduce their prejudice against races and different cultures and convert their way of thinking and recognition.
Study findings show that young children who had the experience of multicultural education activities have a more friendly feeling for different races and cultures. Therefore, it is seemingly necessary to set the focus of young children's education on the fact that although people's outward appearance is different, they can have one mind; when they help each other, they can live a happy life; and when we help immigrants who are in a difficult situation, we also get help from them in foreign lands. In addition, young children's education must make them understand a variety of racial and cultural viewpoints, shape concerns and sympathies for other races and cultures, and practice their understanding through behaviors.