Children's Awareness of the Effects of Environmental Pollution

유아의 환경오염 영향에 대한 인식

In this study, interviews were administered to 160 children (80 boys and 80 girls) of 8 kindergartens in urban and rural areas to investigate their awareness of the effects of environmental pollution. Instruments were picture cards and a questionnaire on environmental issues, based on the revised Korean version of Cohen and Horm-Wingerd's measurement. Children's responses were classified into either awareness or non-awareness of the effect of environmental pollution. Frequencies and percentages were calculated by sub-category and tested by sex and residence, using ${\chi}^2$. Major findings were that (1) 66.0% of the children were. aware of the effects of environmental pollution. (2) 78.1% were aware of the effects of water pollution while more than half the subjects were also aware of the effects of air pollution and soil pollution. (3) Children thought that natural conditions (52.0%), human bodies (30.9%), and the daily life of people (11.7%), would be affected by environmental pollution.