The Effects of a Social Concept Unit on the Developing of Positive Concepts of Self, Among First Grade Students at Colfax, Iowa

Abstract

The problem. The problem of this study was to ascertain to what extent instruction of a social-concept unit would change a child's self-image; and if a change was evident, was it of a positive nature. Procedure. Two self-contained classrooms of first grade students in Colfax, Iowa, were chosen as the population for this study. The author was the instructor for the experimental group and the regularly employed classroom teacher was the instructor for the control group. The two samplings were pre-tested before the unit's instruction began. At the conclusion of the project, the same students were post-tested. Findings. The results of this study showed that there was no significant difference in self-concept measures between the control and experimental groups. Based upon this research, the author must conclude that the conscious teaching of a social-concept unit did not change the children's self-concept any more than the usual activities of another classroom teacher who did not employ a specific curriculum. Recommendations. While the results of this study did not show a significant positive change in self-concept development when the groups were considered as a whole, individuals did make sizeable gains. The evidence of this research indicate that a change in self-concept can take place. (The direction of the mean difference in each case was in favor of the experimental group.) Therefore, there is a need for further studies to investigate who makes what kind of gains under what kind of conditions. The author recognizes the need for a more applicable form of self-concept appraisal and recommends the continued search and development of a more refined measuring device.