The master's thesis focuses on emotions which arise in class when utilizing the creative movement method. The aim of the paper is to examine whether lessons employing the method induce more positive feelings with students, as opposed to lessons in which the creative movement method is not used. The theoretical part of the thesis surmises general features of emotions, with the emphasis on the qualities of individual basic emotions. The main focus is on the positive basic emotion of joy. The paper continues with an overview of emotional development in regard to the age and entails descriptions of emotions that primary school students express. We analyze the creative movement teaching method and elaborate on the advantages of utilizing it.
The empirical part of the thesis includes an overview of the research project, Importance of Creative Movement in Different Development Stages of the First Level Primary School Students, which was conducted by the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana. The part of the research, which focuses on the emotions of the 2nd grade primary school students, is prominently featured and analyzed. The survey included 116 2nd grade students that participated in the survey. Students were divided into the experimental (73 students) and control (43 students) group.
The purpose of the research was to establish whether students show more positive feelings when the creative movement method is utilized, than during the lessons that do not use that method. During the survey we tried to recognize the feelings that are expressed by students in the lessons which employ the creative movement method, and observe how the students respond to such lessons. Furthermore, we tried to identify the situations that heighten the feeling of joy, as well as measure the levels of intensity of the emotion. To obtain the results, we used the Current mood scale and the Observational scheme of emotions. The results reveal that students the most frequently expressed a positive feeling is joy, in both groups. The students in the experimental group expressed the emotion of joy more prominently, mostly with smiles, open-mouth expressions, and interjections. The control group expressed their joy the most frequently with smiles, cheers and in-class comments. The experimental group was most likely to engage in showing joy in instances of activities, performance and social interaction, while the control group expressed joy during activities, but more frequently also when sharing their ideas, winning, and humor. We can surmise that the expressions of joy, in the experimental group, were triggered due to the application of the creative movement method. The students in the experimental group displayed the emotion of joy more frequently as result of group achievements, while the students in the control group also displayed the emotions, yet these emotions were more frequently the results of the individual achievements. Results also show no differences in the contentedness of all students during lessons.
The empirical part of the thesis reveals that both utilized methods prominently encourage students to express the emotions of joy.
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