The Effectiveness of a Program Based on Activities Curriculum in the Development of a Sense of Belonging among a Sample of Pre-school Children

Abstract

The study aims at identifying the effectiveness of an activities curriculum based program in developing the sense of belonging among a group of pre-school children. To carry out the study, the researcher used a project approach based program as well as designed and used a test representing three skills, participation, help and empathy, to measure the preschoolers’ sense of belonging. The study was conducted on 13 children aged between 4-6 years, sampled from the Province of Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman. The study relied on a quasi-experimental curriculum for only one experimental group. One of the most important findings of the study is the effectiveness of the project approach based program in the development of preschoolers’ sense of belonging. The results revealed significant statistical differences at the level of probability less than 0.05 between the pre-test and post-test measures of sense of belonging and its three components (participation, help and empathy) in favor of the post-test measures. The results also revealed statistically significant correlation between preschoolers’ sense of belonging and its three components at the level of probability less than 0.05. The study showed other social experiences undergone by the children and contributed in the development and enhancement of their sense of belonging.