抄録
The survey was conducted to evaluate the effect of environmental education, using big and tall trees in the period for integrated study in a lower secondary school, on the students’ contact behavior with nature. In the month of May prior to the conduct of environmental education, the students were asked questions regarding their experiences of contact behavior with trees under several topics such as “climbing a tree” and “touching a bark.” Thereafter, environmental education was conducted in the period for integrated study for a year. At the end of the learning, the same survey was conducted for both the students who selected the “Let’s plant a tree nearby” course and those who did not, and the results were compared. Responses to the questionnaire showed that there was no significant difference between the students who chose the course and those who did not with regard to the frequency of contact behavior with nature, at the beginning of the learning. However, at the end of the learning, we discovered that those students who selected environmental education were more active in their contact behaviors than those who did not, which implicated that experimental study using big and tall trees would have a positive effect with regard to encouraging contact behavior with trees in everyday life.
