본 연구는 구성놀이에의 참여 여부와 구성놀이 질적 수준에 따라 유아의 수렴적 문제해결력과 확산적 문제해결력에서 차이가 있는지를 확인하기 위해 수행되었다. 연구대상은 만 5세 유아 97명으로, 실험집단과 비교집단에 각각 48명(남아 23명, 여아 25명)과 49명(남아 30명, 여아 25명)이 배정되었다. 구성놀이 질적 수준이 높은 집단은 13명(남아 4명, 여아 9명), 구성놀이 질적 수준이 낮은 집단은 14명(남아 9명, 여아 5명)의 유아이다. 구성놀이 활동 도구는 유니트 블록(단위 블록)이며, 수렴적 문제해결력 측정 과제는 ‘퍼즐 맞추기’와 ‘밑그림에 패턴 블록 맞추기’이고, 확산적 문제해결력 측정 과제는 ‘물고기 만들기’와 ‘동네 만들기’이다.
연구결과, 구성놀이 참여여부에 따라 수렴적 문제해결력에서는 차이가 나타나지 않았으나, 구성놀이를 한 집단 유아들이 구성놀이를 하지 않은 집단의 유아들보다 확산적 문제해결력의 ‘정교성’과 ‘확산적 문제해결력 총점’이 더 향상된 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 구성놀이 질적 수준이 높은 집단(구성놀이 질 점수가 높은 집단)의 유아들이 구성놀이 질적 수준이 낮은 집단(구성놀이 질 점수가 낮은 집단)의 유아들보다 수렴적 문제해결력에서 ‘신속성’이 더 높고, 확산적 문제해결력에서는 ‘유창성’, ‘독창성(도형)’, ‘정교성’ 그리고 ‘확산적 문제해결력 총점’이 더 높은 것으로 나타났다.
This study examines the differences in convergent and divergent problem solving tasks between an experimental group(unit blocks play group) and a control group, and between the high quality level group and the low quality level group of constructive play.
Subjects were 97 five-year-old children attending kindergartens located in Suwon city Kyunggi-Do, Korea. They were divided into two groups: 48 were in the experimental group(23 boys and 25 girls) and 49 were in the control group(30 boys and 19 girls). The children who participated in the unit blocks play(the experimental group) were divided into three groups by their quality levels of constructive play: 13 in high level group, 21 in middle level group, and 14 in low level group. But the 21 in middle level group were not included in this statistic analysis.
Unit blocks were used for constructive play. The experimental group participated in unit block play for ten 30-minute sessions. The children's unit block play was video- taped and the constructions made by the children were photographed. The scores of quality levels were measured by duration, abundance(number of constructions), organization, elaboration, diversity(number of blocks and shape of blocks), concentration, social play pattern, and degree of contribution.
To test children's problem solving, two convergent and divergent problem solving tasks were given. These tasks used modified versions of Pepler & Ross's(1981). A 'Puzzle task' and a 'Pattern blocks task' were used to test convergent problem solving. And tasks named 'Making fish' and 'Making village' were used to test divergent problem solving.
The scores of the convergent problem solving tasks were composed of scores for separate components 'accuracy (number of correct responses)' and 'rapidity (amount of time spent)'. The total scores for divergent problem solving tasks were composed of separate scores for 'fluency', 'flexibility', 'originality(figure and meaning)', and 'elaboration(used number of blocks)'. The data analysis instrument used in this study was ANCOVA.
The results of this study can be summarized as follows: first, there were no differences between the experimental group and the control group in convergent problem solving. However, there were differences between the experimental group and the control group in 'elaboration' and 'the sum (total) of divergent problem solving'; the experimental group performed better than the control group on 'elaboration' among the sub-variables of divergent problem solving.
Second, there were differences in convergent and divergent problem solving between the high quality level group and the low group of the constructive play. That is to say, the high quality level group performed better than the low group in 'rapidity(spent time)' of convergent problem solving, and in 'fluency', 'originality (figural)', 'elaboration‘, and sum (total) of divergent problem solving.