Effect of a Moral Education Program that Cultivates the Concept of Values for Respect for Life: Developing a Questionnaire for Insight on the Developmental Stages during Elementary and Junior High School

The purpose of this paper is to develop an evaluation index and a questionnaire for measuring the effect of a moral education program that has been designed to cultivate the concept of values for respect for life. To achieve this purpose, the authors conducted a survey of 241 students from 2nd grade in elementary school to 8th grade in junior high school, asking them what it means to cherish life. The survey revealed that opinions change with age. Next, the authors compared these changes in opinion with the content of the items indicated in the guidelines for elementary school curriculum, to create an index of opinions regarding respect for life. Finally, the authors added these 12 indicators to the 20 items on a psychometric scale created during a previous research project to measure the cultivation of a "view of life". They then developed a questionnaire for measuring the cultivation of the concept of values regarding respect for life. Currently, this questionnaire is being used to conduct surveys. In the future, the authors would like to develop a more effective moral education program based on the results of these surveys.