Thre Relationaship of Scientific Knowledge and Ethical Value in Environmental Education

환경교육에서 과학적 지식과 윤리적 가치의 관계

The objective of this study was to review the meaning and problems of Scientific Knowledge and Ethical Value in Environmental Education. The ultimate goal of environmental education is shaping proenvironmental human behavior. The factors of human behavioral decision making are ideology, value, attitude and behavioral intentions. Ideology is a kind of belief system used by social groups to interpret their social world. The main elements of belief system are knowledge and value. The traditional thinking in education has been that we can change behavior by making human beings more knowledgeable and more valuable. In environmental education, the aim of scientific inquiry is to analysis cause-effect relation of human beings behavior and environmental phenomenon, and ethical education is to change the mind of human beings from zero-sum to positive-sum about the relations between human beings and natural environments. But, there are many problems of knowledge education and value education in environmental education. For example scientific knowledge without ethical value is dangerous to environment protection, and ethical value without scientific knowledge is vague. Therefore, we must recognize that the relationship of ethical value and scientific knowledge is not substitutional but complementary. The teaching-learning methods which can integrate knowledge and value in environmental education are rational decision making model. For this model, we can construct teaching contents with inquiry materials. To earn the benefits of specialization among several subjects in environmental education, social studies can focus on social science knowledge and decision making, science education can focus on pure natural science knowledge and scientific investigation, moral education can focus on problems of ethical value system, home economics can focus on practical action and environmental education(Environments in middle school, Ecology and Environments in high school) can integrate social-national science knowledge and ethical value in broad perspective about human beings and ecosystem. That is the method to protect from law of diminishing marginal utility of learning in environmental education.