유아교사와 예비유아교사의 생태유아교육에 대한 개념도 분석

Analysis of pre-service teachers and in-service teachers conceptual maps of early childhood eco education

본 연구의 목적은 개념도 분석을 실시하여 유아교사와 예비유아교사의 생태유아교육에 대한 지식 및 구조를 살펴보는 데 있다. 본 연구의 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 두 집단 모두 생태유아교육에서 ‘자연 및 생태’와 ‘교육’을 가장 중요하게 여기고 있었다. 둘째, 예비유아교사에 비해 유아교사가 프로그램 에 대한 종속개념의 수, 위계, 특성점수가 높았다. 셋째, 두 집단 모두 생태유아교육에서 아동관과 발달관보다는 생명사상을 바탕으로 교육을 실천하는 철학적 이해를 더 중요하게 인식함이 드러났다. 넷째, 밀도는 1.00에서 6.88로 유아교사와 예비유아교사 모두 높지 않은 편으로 나타났으며 생태유아교육에 대한 지식이 위계적이고 조직적이기보다는 평행적이고 전체적인 통합의 정도가 낮게 나타났다. 본 연구는 생태유아교육 전반에 대한 새로운 방향 제시와 교사교육의 체계적 개발에 대한 기초자료를 제공할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

Applying the analysis of conceptual maps, this study focused on how early childhood teachers and pre-service teachers conceptualized early childhood eco education. Based on Novak and Gowin s (1984) idea of teachers knowledge and conceptual diagram, this study examined the number of upper category, the number of subcategories, characteristics, hierarchy, and density by selecting 30 early childhood teachers and 30 service teachers. First, two groups of teachers regarded nature and ecology as the most important knowledge in early childhood eco education. Second, in-service teachers had more knowledge of program of early childhood eco education. Teachers teaching experiences seemed to make an influence on their conceptualization of early childhood eco education. Third, two groups of teachers considered world-view and educational perspective more important than developmental understanding of children. It shows that early childhood eco education may be actualized by philosophy rather than curriculum or pedagogy. With regards to the density and hierarchy of knowledge on early childhood eco education, the range was from 1.00 to 6.99. This range is not wide comparing to other knowledge of content-based subject such as science, social-science, literacy and music. This result can be interpreted that both groups of teachers might not have strong hierarchical and organizational knowledge and concept of early childhood eco education. The result of this study can be used in the teacher-education program based on early childhood eco education since it shows how early childhood teachers and pre-service teachers understand, conceptualized and categorized the content-knowledge of early childhood eco education.