This researcher studied an educational plan using the story elements of classical novels by directly designing class for students in academic high school three times from 2014 to 2016. Being aware that students were struggling to understand classical novels, this researcher tried to elicit the interests of students through active creation class with regard to the acceptance and production of literature in literature education course. In order to provide various cases to students, teaching and learning materials based on Buddhist scriptures, folk tales and history were used in class to help students understand the principle behind the creation of classical novels.
To begin with, among Buddhist illustrations about Worinsekbo, "The Great Maudgalyayana Rescues his Mother from Hell" was discussed. This researcher examined with students the reason why "The Great Maudgalyayana Rescues his Mother from Hell" had not developed into a novel and tried to seek a possibility to be interesting novel by using some of its story elements in an educational way.
In addition, "Seolsinwonwansanyungeomok," which is contained in Cheongguyadam and the effect on the creation of The Tale of Janghwa and Hongryeon, were examined. As "Seolsinwonwansanyungeomok" is the most similar to the original Chinese character version of The Tale of Janghwa and Hongryeon in structure, its content was understood and then the class based on such understanding was delivered.
In "The Tale of General Yim Gyeongeop", which was written based on the life of General Yim Gyeongeop who was popular in his time, between the truths about his life and the fictional parts of the novel were compared and the differences from the comparison were used for creation.
This researcher presented the lesson plan which have been actually delivered using the contents and the materials mentioned above. After this, the researcher directly reviewed the writings created by students, judging the achievements of the classes in a group learning model. The researcher led students to understand the characteristics of the creation of classical novels through "The Great Maudgalyayana Rescues his Mother from Hell," which is contained in Worinseokbo, and develop the story creating a new story. Although students had difficulty in understanding the story of "The Great Maudgalyayana Rescues his Mother from Hell," most of them felt interest and reacted actively when creation class was conducted in a way students took turns to write story elements one by one. This was reflected well in the results that students, armed with a combination of background knowledge, elicited creative contents.
In order to supplement the story elements in the last part of "Seolsinwonwansanyungeomok," which had effect on The Tale of Janghwa and Hongryeon, class was delivered in an individual learning model. As the work was already widely known, students had no difficulty understanding it. In addition, as students did writing individually, they became absorbed more deeply into their writing, notably clarifying the cause-and-effect relationship and showing the effect of twist.
Students were asked to create some story elements based on the comparison of the actual life of General Yim Gyeongeop the fictional parts of "The Tale of General Yim Gyeongeop", which was written based on the life of General Yim Gyeongeop. This researcher used a free group learning model instead of a usual class model in order to elicit creative contents from students through respecting their autonomy. Students displayed the positive effects of composing creative ones in their own unique ways such as writing works after having an intense and active talk and writing works in consideration of the overall cause-and-effect relationship for themselves.
After discussing the educational effects and significance of class according to class content and model, a plan was sought to spread the achievements of this study. In the aspect of class content, the effects of the research included fostering creative thoughts by facilitating the development of imagination, being able to understand the characteristics of the creation of classical novels, and delivering class which arouses students' interest. In the aspect of class learning model, the effects included delivering dynamic class by using a different class learning model, being able to develop the integrated language and thought skills while reading classical narratives and talking about and writing stories, and applying the class learning models used here to various subjects.
This researcher delivered three classes using the various teaching and learning materials of Buddhist scriptures, folk tales and history. In the classes, various class learning models-group learning model, individual learning model and free group learning model-were applied to lead students to create the story elements of classical narrative. This study has educational effects and is significant in that it helps students to understand the characteristic of the creation of classical novels.