Undervisa mot våld. Attityder, läromedel, arbetssätt

Sammanfattning: The main aim of this study has been to influence the attitudes of students, Grades 4-6, in order that they will become opposed to the use of violence. The entire project was conducted during a full academic 20-credit term, as part of inter- mediate level teachers' training. The purpose of this learning experiment was threefold: 1. To study children's attitudes towards violence. 2. To study the effects of the teaching program. 3. To compare the effects of individual versus teamwork learning for students. The experimental group consisted of 608 students from 32 classes. A test was constructed to identify students' attitudes to compulsion, violence and aggression and their perceptions of these types of behaviour both in their spare time and at school. A factor analysis was performed to insure the validity and reliability of the instrument. The learning material used in the experimental group throughout the nine classroom sessions consisted of texts, pictures, and oral presentations. The results of the pre-test and post-test revealed that the following groups demonstrated greater disassociation towards violence: girls, students possessing a higher aptitude, more anxious students, students in the 4th grade, and students with a lower social position within the classroom. As the children strongly repudiated violence already in the pre-test, the effects of the learning sessions were weak. The difference between individual and group learning was small according to the test. On the other hand, pupils working in groups produced more during the lessons and rated the work higher.