Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to develop a multicultural education program to promote self understanding of preschool children in the Northeastern region. The program development consisted of four phases, namely, preparation, construction, field testing and revision. The subjects were thirty kindergarteners aged five to six from Banlaoteew Ampher Suwannaphum Roi-et province. The children were equally assigned to an experimental group (n=15) and a control group (n=15). The experiment and control groups were pretested and posttested on test of self understanding of Northeastern Kindergarteners. Teacher survey questionaires and parent unstructured group interviews were used to assess program satisfaction and gather information on recommended revision of the program. The findings of the study were as follows: 1) after the field testing, the scores on self understanding of the experimental group were significantly higher than that of the control group at .01 level; 2) after the field testing, the scores on self understanding of the experimental group were significantly higher than before at .01 level; 3) all teachers viewed the program as most satisfactory; 4) all parents of the children in the experimental group viewed the program as satisfactory. The program consisted of principles, objectives, content, implementation procedure and evaluation. The instruction proceeded from phase 1: preparation, phase 2: operation and phase 3: conclusion. The learning process involved reception and recall, comparison, evaluation and reflective application of self understanding about genders, ages, languages, ethnicity and living styles. Time requirement of the program implementation was no less than 15 weeks. The prominent features of the program were its bilingual approach to teaching and learning and the participation of the school and community from the beginning to the end of the program. The product of this study was a Handbook of a Multicultural Education Program to Promote Self Understanding of Preschool Children in the Northeastern Region.