Abstract
The consciousness of environmental education has increased for the last decades, and schools make efforts for education in the systematic environment. To keep pace with trends such as the open school and the open class, students, teachers and parents are actively participating in environmental education programs. Parents' active participate in environmental education programs will provide excellent basis to operate environmental education efficiently and advise fruitful operation of environmental education programs. In addition, as parents play an important role of deciding the students' life habits or attitudes about environment, their participation is greatly meaningful. This study was conducted to 203 fourth and fifth graders in M elementary school in Ulsan city that operated the model school for protecting the forest from March to December, 2009 and their parents in order to examine the effects of parents' participation in environmental education programs, and the results are as follows. First, the student group with parents who participated in environmental education programs showed higher interest in surrounding environment of the school. Second, the student group with parents who participated in environmental education programs showed higher environment sensitiveness and environmental practice intention. Third, the parent group who participated in environmental education programs showed higher environmental sensitiveness and environmental practice intention. Fourth, the parent group who participated in environmental education programs showed higher satisfaction about the program. As the result of the study, environmental education programs with parents' participation attracted their active interest and participation about school environment problems, and a lot of conversation and attention between students and parents who participated in environmental education programs improved the students and their parents' environmental sensitiveness and environmental practice intention.
