The Analysis on Domestic Research Trends about Elementary School Environmental Education

국내 초등환경교육 연구 동향 분석

The purpose of this study is to investigate research trends about elementary environmental education through the analysis of theses published from January, 1991 to June, 2011 in the scientific journals. For the analysis of theses, we set standards of analysis including the number of theses, research topics, research methods, the designs of study and the objects of study. The number of theses used for the analysis was 186 volumes by limiting as Journal of KOSEE (The Korean Society for Environmental Education), Journal of KASE (The Korean Association for Science Education) and Journal of KESES (The Korean Society of Elementary Science Education). The results of study are as follows. First, in the analysis of theses according to the published year, we discovered that the volumes of theses related elementary environmental education were more than 50% of theses published in the Journal of KOSEE since mid-2000s. Second, the theses about environmental education curriculum were most common topic in the research topics, and the next things were status and actual condition, environmental perspective, and theory and policy. Third, as the most common things in research methods and the designs of study, 38.6% of theses have focused on the 'development and application' as research methods and 50.5% of theses have used 'quantitative research' as the designs of study. Fourth, the most common study in the theses was to target elementary school students, then it was literatures, then teachers, and environmental facility. On the basis of the results of this research, we suggest that various studies and environmental education programs can develop student's right environmental perspective and teacher's recognition about environmental education must be presented.