Awareness and Needs for Media Regulation Education in Early Childhood for Parents

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine parents' awareness and needs for early childhood media regulation education as the first step to establish the foundation for early childhood media regulation education. Methods The final subjects of this study were the parents of 302 children enrolled in seven kindergartens located in City B, including four public kindergartens (two standalone kindergartens and two attached kindergartens) and three private kindergartens. A survey was conducted on their perceptions and demands regarding their children's media literacy. The data was then analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program with frequency and percentage analysis. Results The results of examining the frequency and percentage of parents' awareness and needs for early childhood media regulation education according to demographic characteristics are as follows. First, the degree of awareness of media regulation was high, and the problem of lack of media control was the highest in media addiction, and the degree of awareness of children's interest and importance in media regulation education was high. Second, in the demand of children's media regulation education, most of them thought that it was possible to connect with the revised Nuri curriculum, and the curriculum connection was communication, and the life theme was health and safety. The educational goal was to develop the ability to control the execution and use of media activities in an appropriate range for a given situation, and the content of education was high in media execution ability. The teaching and learning principles were the principle of spontaneity, the teaching and learning methods were the problem solving learning methods, and the educational evaluation contents were the evaluation of infant development. Conclusions It is expected to provide practical and basic data for the development of programs for children's media control education.