The Mental Health and Life Education Curriculum Development Based on Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) study the factors influencing the development of subjective well-being, 2) develop a mental health and life education curriculum based on Kolb’s experiential learning theory, 3) compare students' subjective well-being before and after the implementation of a mental health and life education curriculum based on the Kolb’s experiential learning theory. The sample group was thirty undergraduate students from Guangxi Vocational Normal University in the first year of Artificial Intelligence Class 1 (Vocational Normal Teacher). The research instruments were 1) a questionnaire on factors influencing the development of subjective well-being, 2) an interview form on factors influencing the development of subjective well-being, 3) lesson plans, 4) a subjective well-being scale, 5) a teaching opinion interview form, and 6) an observational record of student behavior. The research results indicated that 1) three factors affect students' subjective well-being: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. 2) The mental health and life education curriculum consisted of six components: (1) concept, (2) contents and time, (3) objective, (4) learning processes according to Kolb's experiential learning theory, (5) learning resources and (6) evaluation, and 3) students’ subjective well-being improved after the implementation of a mental health and life education curriculum based on the Kolb’s experiential learning theory. According to the results of the study, it is suggested that universities should implement management and teaching based on students' emotional and affective experiences and add the content of life education to universities' ideological and political theory education curriculum and students' professional curriculums. Students should put the knowledge and skills they have learned in life education into practice and maintain an optimistic attitude.