Perceptions of Korean Science and Social Science Teachers Regarding Teachers/Learning Methods for Environmental Education

환경 교수학습법에 대한 과학과와 사회과 교사들의 인식

To meet the objectives of environmental education, teachers especially have to perceive the importance of environmental education, comprehend various characteristics of teaching/learning methods, and be able to conduct classes by choosing proper teaching/leaming methods in accordance with a specific purpose and educational focus about environmental education. Therefore, it Bs necessary to investigate the current status of Korean environmental education and provide teachers with appropriate environmental teaching/leaming methods. To this end this study aims to examine Korean science teachers'perceptions'on environmental education and the kind of teaching/learning methods which can be utilized in environmental education. Teachers who completed the survey were 135 science teachers from middle and high schools in Seoul, and 126 social science teachers from Kyoungki province. The majors of the science teachers were in physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and earth science. Also, there was one teacher who majored in special education. For social science teachers two majors were common, geography and general sociology. After analysis of the data from the surveys the results are as follows. First, science and social science teachers in middle and high school recognized the necessity of environmental education in school education. Second, most teachers had applied environment related topics to their subject of study occasionally, but they mostly concurred that environment related contents should be included in their textbooks. Third, science teachers agreed that field trip, discussion, and the STS approach were the most proper methods for environmental education, and social science teachers agreed that field trips, inquiry, and discussion were the most appropriate methods for a teaching environment. They realized that they should decide good teaching-learning methods appropriate to the objectives and content needed for effective environmental education as they selected different teaching-learning methods according to detailed environmental objectives and contents in their textbooks.