Ecological experience education is emphasized as a method of environmental education for overcoming today's ecological crisis. The purpose of the present study is to qualitatively investigate about how practical knowledge is formed in the ecological e...
Ecological experience education is emphasized as a method of environmental education for overcoming today's ecological crisis. The purpose of the present study is to qualitatively investigate about how practical knowledge is formed in the ecological experience education, what is the detailed content, and how it affects development and execution processes. Also, a meaning of the ecological experience education was sought through students response after application of the ecological experience program.
The study object was 7 teachers belonging to a teachers' group of Han river estuary and elementary school students of 4, 5 and 6th grade in a study room after school, and the study period was from May 200 7 to November 2008, that is, for 2 years, and the ecological experience program was executed 8 times totally.
The study method was to analyze activities of students and teachers by video-recording class progress activity every time, and to analyze the meeting before and after teachers' evaluation and the questionnaire of students so that qualitative study was executed.
The result and conclusion of the present study are as follows.
First, it can be known that the practical knowledge of a teacher in the ecological experience education was formed on the base of the belief formed through experience of personal life, reflective thought during teaching and interaction and cooperation in the teachers' community. Accordingly, a teacher as an executing subject of the ecological experience education needs the practical knowledge, and this should be accumulated through a process that practices his/herself class activity and reflect it, and practices it again.
Second, the practical knowledge of a teacher affected direction setting of the detailed ecological experience education, selection and organization of the teaching content and an interaction method. For the direction setting of the program, it was based on ecological education view that respects life diversity, circulation property, symbiosis property and relation property. For selection and organization of the teaching content, an activity location that can raise interest and affection about near environment is considered, continuous operation is maintained co as to feel and understand a process of long-term change and circulation, and the value of life respect and ecosystem protection was emphasized in a teaching process. And, a teacher and a learner is not one-sided relations, but it was made that active interchange between them is carried out in the interaction method.
Third, if an educational meaning is sought through student change after execution of the ecological experience education, the ecological experience learning gives true experience and impression to the learners, makes the learners look back upon his/herself life and makes them understand it with an organic point of view. Also, positive attitude about environment was formed by experiencing harmony and order feeling living together with diverse creatures, so it makes attitude protecting the ecosystem formed.
Since the present study is a single case research on the ecological experience program of an organization, and a study performing it for various organizations would be necessary to understand practical knowledge influence of more diverse and common teachers.