Development and Application of the Framework for Analyzing Forest Education Paradigms

산림교육 패러다임 분석틀의 개발과 적용

This study was aimed at developing and providing textbook writers with information and materials required to introduce forest education ideas and paradigm into primary, middle, and high school students, responding to establishment of the new national curriculum. Research methods included interview with school teachers, literature review on forest education and policy, analysis of writings and drawings of elementary school students. As a primary result, the study produced a framework that can be applied to analyze and understand how people think of and put a value on forest, consisting of 1) Resource-Economic Perspective, 2) Environmental-Ecological Perspective, 3) Cultural-Educational Perspective, and 4) Existential-Ethical Perspective. To test its validity, the developed framework was applied to the processes of reorganizing and interpreting the outcomes of teacher interview and writings and drawings of elementary school students. The results of applications showed that current school education mostly focused on ecological-environmental (about 50%) and cultural-educational (about 30%) perspectives on forest. To improve the quality of current forest education in schools, five main directions including integration, balance, interrelatedness, identity, and systematic approaches were suggested.