The aim of this investigation is to find out what effect “moral education” has on students, and thus to improve “moral education.” In order to advance the previous investigation of ours, this time the emphasis was put on the extent to which the taught materials are digested by students.
The following data were used in the analysis; two hours' observation of each of three classes (8th grade), questionnaires given immediately after the class, interviews with sampled students, students' own essays written one month after the class, and questionnaires administeted five months after the class. One of the classes, which was a subject group of our previous investigation, was given new materials and the resulting change of the class procedure was examined.
The investigation was conducted as follows:
(1) Some improved categories which were selected out of the former trial categories were employed for the present analysis. The items consisted of the categories concerning (a) contents of utterances and (β) function of teachers' utterances.
(2) The questionnaires and the essays were rated according to five grades, and the relation with the analysis of class procedure was examined.
(3) The relation was examined between the reflection by the teacher himself after the class and the analysis by the categories.
(4) Sampled students who were chosen from each class (2 from each) were interviewed for thirty minutes by a counselor with over 7 years' experiences. The interview was held immediately and five months after the class, and the degree of students' digestion of the taught materials was examined. By this interview, we tried to detect the profound feelings which could not be grasped by means of observation, tape-recording, essays, and questionnaires.
According to the present investigation, analysis of class procedure by categories was proved to be effective and indispensable for the studies of “moral education.”
The relation between students' essays and analysis based on the above-mentioned data was consistent with each other.
The present investigation is the second stage of our continuing study of “moral education.” In the coming study, various problems concerning development of children, the effect of buzz-session method and the whole class discussion, and more dynamic grasping of teaching procedure will be examined.
