The Effect of Respect for Diversity Education Program on Primary School Students

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of the Respect for Diversity Education Program on primary school students’ respect for diversity and empathic tendency. The research design of this study is quasi-experimental, with 3x3 pre-tests, post-tests, follow-up tests, and experimental, control, and placebo groups. In the study, the Respect for Diversity Scale and the Ka-Si Empathic Tendency Scale were used. The research was conducted with a total of 24 third-grade students selected for the experimental group (n = 9), the placebo group (n = 7), and the control group (n = 8). The "Friedman Test" was used to compare the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up tests of the experimental group, and the "Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test" was used to find out whether there was any statistically significant difference between the test scores of each group.  According to Friedman Test results, a significant difference was found between the scores of respect for diversity, but there was no significant difference between the scores of empathic tendency. The analysis of the pre-test and post-test scores of the placebo and control groups yielded no significant differences. When the follow-up test scores applied six weeks after the post-test were analyzed, it was seen that the significant difference obtained for the respect for diversity test was preserved in the experimental group. Only the Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests between the pre-test scores and follow-up test scores and the pre-test scores and post-test scores obtained through the Respect for Diversity Scale yielded significant differences. According to the results of the Kruskal-Wallis H Test conducted to analyze the post-test scores of the experiment, placebo, and control groups, a significant difference was found between the groups. However, according to the Bonferroni-corrected Mann-Whitney U test utilized to determine which binary comparison caused the difference, no significant difference was found.