반려견과 함께하는 동물매개교육이 초등학생의 생명존중 인식과 친사회성에 미치는 효과

Effects of Animal Assisted Education with Companion Dogs on Life Respects and Prosociality of Elementary School Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the educational effects on improving life respects and prosociality of elementary school students according to presence of companion dogs. This study involved 13 male and female subjects ranged from third to sixth grade attending the after-school curriculum and was designed as Single Unit Pre-Post Quasi-Experiment. Animal Assisted Education program was conducted as 12 sessions of each 90 minutes. The results showed that Animal Assisted Education with companion dogs improved life respect of the elementary school students by giving them the opportunity to value other lives, exerting favorable influences upon not only improving their cooperative attitudes towards the group members but also growing the close associations with the school dogs by helping them better understand the companion dogs.