An Assessment of Korean Students’ Environmental Literacy

This study was initiated to understand what students know, how they feel, and how they act in the perspectives of environmental literacy. This study takes it a very serious problem that there has been no data about Korean students’status of environmental literacy so far. Based on the correct diagnosis of Korean students’ environmental literacy, environmental education in Korea, including national curriculum, teaching materials and strategy, would take the right way. This study accepts Simmon (1995)’s framework of environmental literacy, consisting of 5 areas, environmental knowledge, skills, affect, and behavior, which is consistent with general goals of environmental education. This study analyzed the relationship between areas in environmental literacy and factors contributing to improving students’ environmental literacy. This study also checked which factors, including age, gender, parents’ schooling, environmental education in schools, and students’ science-related attributes, contributed to improving students’ environmental literacy. The results of this study will help science educators keep in mind how important it is to teach science from the perspectives of environmental literacy.