In this study, virtual experience contents can be utilized for environmental sensitivity education in the real field by developing a program that can enhance environmental sensitivity by utilizing virtual experience contents, and utilizing specific te...
In this study, virtual experience contents can be utilized for environmental sensitivity education in the real field by developing a program that can enhance environmental sensitivity by utilizing virtual experience contents, and utilizing specific teaching and learning methods.
In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the key elements, principles, and steps that an environmental sensitivity education program using virtual experience contents should have were established through the analysis of prior research. After that, by analyzing the 2015 revised elementary school curriculum and textbooks for 5th to 6th grade, appropriate educational contents for enhancing environmental sensitivity were extracted, and related virtual experience contents were established and selected. Afterwards, a teaching/learning process plan and materials that can utilize the selected contents were developed.
The results obtained through this study are as follows.
First, the core elements that an environmental sensitivity education program must have are empathy-capable content, emotional activity elements, and immersion. These three factors influence each other, and when all three factors are present, they are effective. Based on these three factors, the principles of program development were derived, and the program stages consisting of exploration-experience-reinforcement were developed.
Second, by analyzing the achievement standards and textbook contents of the 2015 revised elementary school 5th∼6th grade curriculum using the environmental sensitivity category of previous studies, contents dealing with environmental sensitivity were extracted, and 5 program themes were selected.
Third, virtual experience contents suitable for learning topics were selected, and a teaching/learning process plan and teaching/learning materials for a total of 7 lessons were developed. When developing the teaching/learning process plan, it was developed according to the principles and stages of the program derived from this study.
Combining the results of this study, the use of virtual experience contents in environmental sensitivity education has several positive effects, and it is possible to operate the program in the actual curriculum. The content of the class can vary depending on the virtual experience content used, and it can be said that the application methods are limitless. Therefore, it seems that a follow-up study on educational methods using virtual experience contents is needed not only in environmental sensitivity but also in other environmental education fields.