Effect of Biophilic-Horticultural Education on Children's Multisensory Enhancement

This study aimed to develop a program that can be linked to gardening education activities in elementary students' curriculums and creative experience learning courses, and to apply the developed program to 6th graders in an elementary school located in Seoul. Research was conducted in a large category called biophilia, which named the instinct of human nature and nature throughout the research. The curriculum revised in 2015 was selected for the purpose of the garden education program based on the objectives and contents of the unit, and for the purpose of the class. In the process of developing and implementing the program, experience properties and elements were divided into direct and indirect experience of nature, including shapes and forms found in nature, air, water, plants, weather, animals, and natural materials. The results showed that the biophilic horticultural education program was effective in promoting students' multi senses. In the case of the experimental group, all the multi-sensory areas showed statistically significant differences, especially in the area of environmental literacy, environmental effect and emotional balance including plant cultivation knowledge. There was a relatively smaller difference in the dietary effect area than other areas because of no directional dietary program was included in the developed program. As a result, first, it is expected that the data can be utilized on site as a program or place of activity for students in upper grades. Second, it will be necessary to develop a more diverse program using other biophilic elements that were not covered in this study in order to maximize the effects of biophilic education.