Abstract
We developed an educational program using soil seed bank for promoting ecological literacy of children. The initial program was based on the modification of scientific methods used by ecologists. A pilot application was conducted to 4th~6th grade students. In that result, the program was most effective to 4th grade students in terms of ecological knowledge and attitude. Observation of plants in outdoor was the most interesting activity and soil seed bank experiment was the most useful activity to the students. The educational period from late March to early November was too long to keep interest for participants. In the final program, we suggested 3 months and 2 weeks education period (from the 4th week of March to the first week of July) and the 4th grade students as a target. The program consisted of 7 activities, which are "Beginning the soil seed banks observation", "Comparing plant community in each soil seed bank", "My friends, sprout", "How do you come here?", "Finding the hided plants in my school garden", "Why did the soil seed banks change?", and "Inquiring about relationship between plants and their environments". These activities include the process of student's participation of sampling and setting soil seed banks around their school, and observing and identifying the seedlings. Through these activities, students can understand the concept of soil seed banks, develop their ecological knowledge, eco-centric attitude, and ecological sensibility and inquire about the relationship between vegetation from soil seed banks and their environments.
