Development and Application of a Home–Linked Carbon Neutrality Education Program for Young Children Chae Song-Ah Advisor : Prof. Kim Seung-Hee, Ph.D. Department of Early Childhood Education, Graduate School, Gwangju University The purpose of this st...
Development and Application of a Home–Linked Carbon Neutrality Education Program for Young Children Chae Song-Ah Advisor : Prof. Kim Seung-Hee, Ph.D. Department of Early Childhood Education, Graduate School, Gwangju University The purpose of this study is to develop a home-linked early childhood carbon-neutral education program and to verify its effectiveness. The results indicate that carbon-neutral education enhances understanding of the concept and value of carbon neutrality, promotes awareness of its necessity, and contributes to the improvement of environmental conservation attitudes and environmental responsibility through practices such as resource recycling and consumption reduction. In addition, carbon-neutral practices—including energy conservation, resource recycling, and zero-consumption initiatives—aim to promote an understanding of the economic value derived from carbon-neutral actions and to strengthen their sustainability. As these practices are closely related to everyday life, the effectiveness of carbon-neutral education is established when learning experiences provided in educational institutions are repeatedly practiced and reinforced within the home context. Accordingly, this study constructs a carbon-neutral education program based on a home-linked educational structure in which young children and parents participate together, and seeks to examine its effectiveness. The research questions are as follows. [Research Question 1] What is the composition of the home-linked early childhood carbon neutral education program? [Research Question 2] What is the effect of the home-linked early childhood carbon neutral education program? Research Question 1, the program’s objectives, goals, and educational content were designed based on a comprehensive review of the literature, an analysis of early childhood teachers’ needs, and expert consultations. A final version of the program was then developed, incorporating instructional and learning strategies as well as evaluation methods. The program consisted of a total of 30 sessions, including 10 sessions for parents and 20 sessions for young children. To promote practical implementation in the home context, the program was structured so that parent education was conducted prior to the child-focused activities, thereby ensuring effective linkage between home-based practices and early childhood learning experiences. Research Question 2, the program was implemented with 17 four-year-old children and their 17 parents enrolled in an early childhood education institution located in S City, J Province. Data were collected through pre- and post-tests, and paired-sample t-tests were conducted using SPSS 25.0 to analyze pre- and post-intervention differences in environmental conservation attitudes and environmental responsibility. The results of the study are as follows. First, carbon-neutral education contributed to the formation of awareness aimed at enhancing environmental conservation attitudes and environmental responsibility through understanding the concept of carbon neutrality and practicing resource recycling and consumption reduction in everyday life. Specifically, the program was systematically structured to enable participants to identify the concept of carbon neutrality and the causes of emissions and absorption sources, to develop the ability to recognize environmental issues in connection with the home context, to practice carbon-zero activities and consumption-reduction behaviors in daily living related to food, clothing, and housing, and to foster an understanding of economic value as well as a sense of responsibility by recognizing the impact of one’s actions on the environment. Second, the home-linked early childhood carbon-neutral education program demonstrated positive effects on environmental conservation attitudes, including sub-factors such as frugality, recycling, and prevention of environmental pollution. In addition, improvements were observed in environmental responsibility, encompassing sub-factors of civic action, educational action, financial action, physical action, and persuasive action. These findings suggest that the program is effective in strengthening environmental responsibility and extending carbon-neutral practices into everyday life. Taken together, these findings indicate that the home-linked early childhood carbon-neutral education program is effective in enhancing environmental conservation attitudes and environmental responsibility among young children and their parents, and suggest the need to systematically implement carbon-neutral education as a home-linked activity in early childhood education settings. Furthermore, the parallel implementation of parent education within a home-linked framework provides a foundation for increasing the sustainability of carbon-neutral practices. Accordingly, the results of this study may serve as foundational data for the future field application and broader dissemination of early childhood carbon-neutral education programs. Keywords: carbon neutrality, early childhood carbon-neutrality education program, environmental conservation attitude, environmental responsibility