Modern society is facing complex sustainability crises, including environmental degradation, climate change, and resource depletion, driven by rapid industrialization and urbanization. In response, the international community has established the Susta...
Modern society is facing complex sustainability crises, including environmental degradation, climate change, and resource depletion, driven by rapid industrialization and urbanization. In response, the international community has established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and emphasized Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as a key strategy for achieving them. Early childhood is a critical period for the formation of values and attitudes; therefore, fostering early awareness of sustainable living is essential. Accordingly, this study aimed to develop an ESD-based garden activity program for young children and to examine its effects on enhancing children’s competence for coexistence and ecoliteracy.
The program was developed based on the ADDIE instructional design model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation). In the analysis phase, educational goals, content, teaching–learning stages and methods, and evaluation strategies were derived through a review of prior studies, surveys of early childhood teachers’ perceptions and needs, and expert interviews. In the design phase, educational goals, content, instructional stages and methods, and evaluation plans were refined by incorporating the three core elements of ESD (environmental, social, and economic) and the SDGs. In the development phase, the program was revised and supplemented through expert content validity review. During the implementation phase, the ESD-based garden activity program developed in this study was applied to the experimental group, while the comparison group participated in garden activities based on the existing Nuri Curriculum. The program was conducted twice a week from October 4 to November 22, 2022, using both classroom and garden spaces. In the evaluation phase, the appropriateness of program operation and activity composition was comprehensively reviewed, and both session-by-session activity evaluations using teachers’ reflective journals and overall program effectiveness evaluations were conducted.
To verify the effectiveness of the program, pre- and post-tests were administered using measurement tools for competence for coexistence and ecoliteracy. After confirming homogeneity between the experimental and comparison groups, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted with pre-test scores as covariates.
The results of the study were as follows. First, the program had a significant positive effect on children’s competence for coexistence, showing improvements across self-perception, perception of others, sociocultural awareness, and environmental–economic awareness. Second, ecoliteracy also significantly improved, with positive changes observed in perspectives related to the right of nature, intent of support, care with resources, ecological sensitivity, and eco-development.
This study is meaningful in that it developed a systematic and developmentally appropriate ESD program for early childhood based on the ADDIE model and empirically verified its effectiveness. The findings contribute to clarifying the practical applicability of ESD in early childhood and provide a foundation for the expansion and institutionalization of ESD-based education in early childhood education settings.