Study on Change in Ideal Beach Landscape Envisioned by School Children before and after Natural Environment Educational Program

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the educational program for natural environment on ideal beach landscape envisioned by 4th-grade school children by comparing drawings they drew before and after the program. The result of the study found that the 4 month-long educational program, including lectures on the nature surrounding their lives and observations of the beach close to their school, was highly effective in enhancing their awareness toward the natural environment. Comparisons of their ideal beach landscape before and after the program indicated that natural elements such as beach plants and sea creatures were more likely to appear on their drawings after the program, and that the awareness that the nature served as a habitat for creatures and played an important role in creatures living there was much higher after the program. However, the comparisons also found that the natural environment served as and played a role as a recreation space after the program. It was inferred from these results that the educational program on the natural environment helped school children be aware of the importance of natural creatures while keeping the function and role of the beach as recreational space in mind.