• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.59-79
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to make an analysis of the conceptual diagrams of early childhood teachers about education for happiness in an effort to suggest the possibility and guidelines of this education. The subjects in this study were 100 teachers at kindergartens and daycare centers located in the city of Busan and South Gyeongsang Province. Out of them, 50 teachers each were selected from the kindergartens and the daycare centers. The conceptual diagrams drawn up by the early childhood teachers were analyzed to find out the numbers of superordinate concept, the number of content element, characteristics, hierarchy and density. The findings of the study were as follows: First, as for the content of education for happiness, superordinate concepts appeared 364 times in the conceptual diagrams of the kindergarten teachers, and there were 21 superordinate concepts overall in their diagrams. Second, concerning the content of education for happiness, superordinate concepts appeared 296 times in the conceptual diagrams of the daycare center teachers, and there were 18 superordinate concepts in total. The findings of the study showed that the kindergarten teachers had a better knowledge on the concept of education for happiness than the daycare center teachers, and that there was a difference between the two groups in what they considered valuable in relation to the content of education for happiness.