ABSTRACT

In this study, in order to analyze early childhood character education factors, 136 samples of character factors were collected in 53 activities from 5 different areas. 14 character factors could be identified that appeared repeatedly in the result. The distribution of character factors by domain showed that the domains ‘Personal and basic life habits’, ‘Relationship with others’, and ‘Civic awareness’ took up 80.9%, 14.7%, 4.4% respectively, and the character factor ‘spontaneity’ appeared most frequently taking up 26.5% of the entire samples, followed by ‘Self-expression’ and ‘Self-confidence’. In all domains except for the domain of ‘Music listening’, ‘Self-expression’ and ‘Spontaneity’ recorded high frequency, and in the domain of ‘Music listening’, the factor ‘Cautiousness’ was predominant. Consequently, it is implied that early childhood music activities are highly suitable for reinforcing character factors related to individuals such as ‘Spontaneity’, ‘Self-expression’, and ‘Self-confidence’, and, although not very frequently shown, early childhood music education had positive influence on the character factors related to ‘Relationship with others’ such as ‘Respect for others’, ‘Consideration’, ‘Cooperation’, and ‘Attentive hearing’, etc. This result is consistent with the character factors shown in the domain of ‘Art experience’ in Nuri-Curriculum such as ‘Spontaneity’, ‘Self-expression’, ‘Self-confidence’, ‘Cooperation’, ‘Respect for others’ expressions’, and ‘Respect for other cultures’. Therefore, early childhood music education needs to be adopted actively as a method for character education in the field of early childhood education.

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