• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.207-218
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• 2021

This study was conducted to provide basic data for the establishment school forests in order to utilize school forests as a place for environmental education through analyzing the planting status in elementary schools located in Changwon-city. School forests including meditation forest were the largest in Yongho elementary school (below e.s.) in meditation forest school and Dogye (e.s) in normal school. Jehwang (e.s.) and Sangnam (e.s.) showed the most abundant green area given for the management per member. The number of planting species and individuals in school forests differed greatly by elementary schools. There was also a difference in the number of planted species for establishment of meditation forest. There were no significant difference the concordance rate between the plants planted in the school forest and the plants mentioned in the textbook between meditation forest schools and normal schools. Index of ecological health averaged 3.2 for meditation forest schools and 2.4 for normal schools, which is the result of increase in green area and green rate due to the establishment of the meditation forest.

• Hwankyungkyoyuk
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• v.18 no.2 s.27
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• pp.90-100
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• 2005

This study was intended to investigate effects of building school forests on elementary school students, including changes in mental image of school, attitude toward nature and forest, and awareness of their relationship with school forest. The total number of 770 drawings and 1,124 writings were collected to be analyzed from three elementary schools. The results showed that there were significant differences between two student groups, respectively forest school group versus non-forest school group, in their mental image of school. For instance, more often observed in the drawings of forest school group students than their counterparts were natural and human elements, activities associated with nature, and natural or human elements located at central area. Also, more frequently found in the writings of forest school group students than their counterparts were letter-style sentences, stories about school forests, inherent values on nature and forest, and curiosity regarding the nature. These results seem to indicate that in order to materialize educational value of school forests, practical workshops for teachers need to be held as soon as possible and new activity models for students should be developed. In addition to that, long-term research on effectiveness of school forest have to be conducted to a number of schools.

• Hwankyungkyoyuk
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.111-121
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate and evaluate the state of School Forest Movement by the School Forest Committee of the ‘Forest for Life’, and to provide schools and social communities with alternative, for activation through foreign and domestic case studies. School Forest Movement is very important and has great effect on many aspects, such as the improvement of school environment, the expansion of environmental education in school, the enhancement of local membership and increasing participation of school community. School Forest Movement has expanded from 10 schools in 1999 for pilot implementation to 20 in 2000. Now, it Is broadly recognized that the movement should be expended nationally A few problems were observed through pilot implementation. School community has little consensus away member and hardly participates in the movement, and the process is often underestimated, comparing to the result. For activation of School Forest Movement, school community should be cooperate to local community. Especially, the stepwise execution of School Forest Movement should be well organized and School Forest Movement should be changed into a process-oriented movement for more participation of school community including students, teachers, parents and.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.140-149
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• 2023

We surveyed to assess the impact of the mood states and sentiments resulting from forest experience on the school life satisfaction of Korean boarding middle school students (n=90). The average mood state score was 2.32 on a scale of 1-5, with the subscale of vigor scoring the highest (3.19). The average sentiment score was 3.08, with the subscale of subjective happiness scoring the highest (3.08). The average school life satisfaction score was 3.66, with the subscale of interpersonal relationships scoring the highest (3.91). The mood states resulting from forest experience explained 39.6% of the variance in school life satisfaction, and the regression model showed a significant fit (F=9.077, p<0.001). Similarly, sentiments resulting from forest experience explained 47.4% of school life satisfaction, with the regression model showing a significant fit (F=10.569, p<0.001). It can be concluded that forest experience positively impacts the school life satisfaction of Korean boarding middle school students.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.490-496
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• 2018

The present study aimed to identify the importance of forest experience activity by examining what effects forest experience activity has on primary school students. The study population consisted of 108 students enrolled as fourth graders in primary schools in Chuncheon as of November 2017. The study measured the changes in their attitude toward forest and personality from before and after forest experience activity. The results indicated that the primary school students who participated in forest experience activity showed statistically significant increase in attitude toward forest and personality. In other words, the study identified the positive effects of forest experience activity on recognizing the importance of nature and personality building. The present study aimed to test the importance and effects of forest experience through forest experience activity outside of the classroom, as well as to present the validity of promoting forest experience activity.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.341-353
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of urban forest and school forest experience programs on attitude toward the forest, psychological well-being, and stress of high school students. The subjects of this study were 26 students from a high school located in B-dong in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. They were divided into the experimental groups participating in urban forest experience and the control groups participating in school forests experience. Each group participated in the five weekly two-hour long forest experience program. We conducted a pre- and post-experience questionnaire surveys using the scale of environmental attitude toward the forest, the scale of psychological well-being, and the scale of academic stress to observe mental and psychological changes of the high school students. Data were analyzed by SPSS 23.0 program and a Wilcoxon sign rank test. There was a significant increase in the attitude toward forests of high school students participating in the forest experience programs. The groups participating in the school forest experience showed an increase in the psychological well-being although it was not statistically significant, and the groups participating in the urban forest experience showed a statistically significant increase, indicating that the forest experience affected the psychological well-being of the high school students. The groups participating in the school forest experience showed a decrease in the academic stress although it was not statistically significant, and the groups participating in the urban forest experience showed a statistically significant decrease, indicating that the forest experience affected the academic stress of the high school students.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.2
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• pp.259-268
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• 2019

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the schools and local governments were aware of the creation and operation of school forests. A survey was conducted of 45 teachers of schools selected as having the best practices in the school forest and 153 local government officials within the district where the school forests were built. The school teachers attributed the necessity to create school forests to the importance of beautifying the environment. The results showed that the area in which the school forest was created, the school environment after the school forest was created, and use of the school forest were generally satisfactory, but maintenance of the school forest was not somewhat unsatisfactory. Additionally, the results indicated that continuous maintenance was necessary for the effective use of the school forest, and there was a great need for professional personnel to conduct the maintenance program. Furthermore, local government officials recognized that beautification of the school environment was the best effect of creating the school forests. They also realized a great need for local government's support of a maintenance program and its cooperation with related ministries and agencies to create and operate the school forest. Thus, it is crucial to devise measures for maintenance and to establish a system by which schools and local governments can work closely to promote the creation and operation of these school forests.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.57-66
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• 2008

This study, with teachers form elementary schools in Chungju-si as its subjects, has investigated influence of school forest on satisfaction with school greenspace and environmental education. It has reached the following conclusions. As for recognition of and satisfaction of school greenspace there were meaningful differences between teachers form school forest model schools and ones from common schools, which was thought to be due to positive effects of school forest movement. It appeared that environmental education was carried out through audio-visual materials once a week in most schools. On the other hand, as for class places, 'classroom in parallel with outdoor class' and 'classroom education' appeared to be carried out most frequently in the case of school forest model schools, and 'classroom education' in the case of common schools. However, considering the fact that 'field learning' the most important element in environmental education, appeared to be carried out least frequently in both of the groups, which suggests that we should improve it for future through introduction of various field-experience learning programs. As a result of the survey of satisfaction with environmental education, some meaningful differences were recognized between school forest schools and common schools, and 'presence or absence of field learning spaces' was the most frequently answered reason for 'satisfied' and 'unsatisfied'. Thus, 'schools' and related institutions' enthusiastic efforts are needed for providing field-experience spaces where children can directly access to and explore into nature.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.300-311
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• 2017

Purpose: There are many forest and outdoor programs being offered but systematic reviews of effects are lacking. This study was done to identify content, format, and strategies of forest therapy programs for elementary school students. Methods: Literature search using keywords in English and Korean was performed using 6 electronic databases in December 2016. Search participants were elementary school students and interventions conducted in the forest. Seventeen forest therapy studies were selected for evaluation. Risk of Bias Assessment tool for non-randomized study was used for quality assessment. Results: All studies were quasi-experimental designs. Forest therapy programs included various activities in forests such as experience of five senses, meditation in the forest, walking in the forest, ecological play, observation of animals and insects. All studies used psychosocial health variables and forest healing programs had positive effects on sociality, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, stress, aggression, anger, and school adjustment. Limitations of these studies were vague reporting of the study, lack of ethical review and rigorous research designs. Conclusion: Forest therapy for elementary school child can be an effective way to improve psychosocial health. Future studies with rigorous study designs are needed to assess long-term effects of forest therapy on physical and psychosocial health.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Entomolohy Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.147-147
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• 2002