Document Type

Honors Project

First Advisor

Dr. Laura Desportes

Degree Award Date

Spring 2001

Keywords

Taekwondo, Elementary Education, Integration

Disciplines

Curriculum and Instruction | Education | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Methods | Educational Psychology | Elementary Education

Abstract

Traditional taekwondo (a Korean martial art focusing on mental and spiritual development as well as physical competence) has been shown in studies to decrease children's aggression and hostility and increase self-confidence and self-esteem. Although children readily learn to accept the values of taekwondo, such as respect, perseverance, and self-control, they sometimes fail to generalize when children from school to home. Environment cues in these places leads children to act in their old behavior patterns, some of which are negative. Teachers and other adults often know little about the martial arts. The media image of the martial artist often conveys a negative image that stands at the forefront of their minds. To combat these two problems, we have designed a yearlong program that makes the children's advancement in belt rank contingent on their behavior in school and at home. This program incorporates children's main influences, parents and teachers, into the taekwondo program in which they are already participating. After a period of one academic school year, children's final scores will be compared to their initial scores from the beginning of the year. Any significant change in scores could be attributed to the addition of the program.

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