A group counsel ing program to improve the learning habits of elementary school children with learning difficulties

초등학생의 학습습관 향상을 위한 집단상담 프로그램 개발과 효과

The purpose of this study is to develop a group counseling program to improve the learning habits of the elementary school children who experience difficulties learning, because of their wrong learning habits. To achieve it, the sub-elements of learning habits are set by "learning motive & attitude" and "learning technique" A group counseling program composed of the essential factors suitable for each element are srhseqrently, devised to pursue the improvement of learning habits. The study propositions are set as follows: Can the group counseling program improve the learning habits of elementary school children? 1. Can the group counseling program improve the learning motive and attitude of elementary school children? 2. Can the group counseling program improve the learning technique of elementary school children? The subject of this study is the 4th graders of W elementary school located in Gwangju Metropolitan City. After selecting 12 pupils from low scorers after a learning habits test, Each 6 of those are randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group, respectively. In this way, they are pcrticipate in the group counseling program. The group counseling program is consisted of 10 sessions. The program is implemented for six weeks with a 50 min duration per session. As a measuring tool, a restructured test with only motive variables and technique variables, excluding remaining variables, from the Learning Habits Test by Choi Jong-Ryul (1992) is used for pre and post tests. The results of the study is acquired by integrating the statistics from the test tool. Observation of the counselor and testees' thoughts are as follows: The group counseling program affects the sub-elements of learning habits positively, namely learning motive & attitude and learning technique. The program applied in this study is effective in improving the learning habits of the pupils with lower learning habits. Accordingly, this program can be one of the methods to develop effective learning habits, set efficient strategies and exert abilities maximally for the learners, who did not adequately exert their abilities, due to wrong learning habits, while ineffectively learning without knowing effective learning habits. To improve and maintain the learning habits of the elementary school pupils, overall understanding should be backed in order to precisely analyze and identify the learning habits of the pupils. Besides, an association between schools and homes is also needed along with parents' concerns over their children's learning habits at home.