HUMAN RIGHTS AND VALUES: INTRODUCTION, STRUCTURE AND APPLICATION OF A PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM PROMOTING THE CONCEPTS OF "RESPONSIBILITY, RESPECT" AND MOTOR SKILLS PERFORMANCE IN SIX-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to approach and promote the concepts of responsibility and respect for children aged six years through the introduction, structure and implementation of a program that emphasized physical education. Specifically, the program included the creation of a positive learning environment with support, emotional security, and integration of non-exclusion activities, the establishment of behavioral rules, comparison to previous performance of the same ones, personalization of actions according to the children’s interests, behavior feedback, maintaining of positive expectations, collaboration with all, traditional games and dances from different countries, as well as teaching to resolve disputes. Additionally, the techniques of cause- result, moral dilemma, personal view, window perspective and Socrates' dialectic method were used. Twenty-four children (13 boys, 11 girls) from a public kindergarten in the city of Ioannina participated. Prior to the implementation of the program, the parents and primary education authorities were informed and their consent was given. The program was implemented for three months in the spring of 2016 and was done twice a week for about 30 minutes. The method of the semi-structured interview was used in the initial and final assessment to approximate the concepts of respect and responsibility by children. The evaluation of the program showed that the children were initially acquainted with a few things but then they got to know even more about the value of these concepts and actions for the well-being of the wider community. The children learned to be more observative because they participated in and attended carefully the discussions and activities. They also approached the concepts of translations interdisciplinarily (language, literature, history, folklore, geography). Generally, they developed their motor skills, and it seemed they liked the program a lot. Article visualizations: