Abstract
Since the effect of environmental education at class using textbooks or materials related to environment is limited, the importance of activities for field experience is getting increased day by day. Thereby, the education tends to change into the type of education providing students with direct environmental experience. Students attending the science high school have excellent aptitude and ability for science and will lead the development of science in the future. Now it is urgent to develop various experiential programs which are helpful for them to establish desirable values on environment. However, the field of environmental education that allows science high school students equipped with ample environmental knowledge to improve environment sensitivity and have proper environment awareness is quite restricted as of now. Natural exploration activities are the programs which provide science high school students having lack of chance for environmental education with good opportunities to contact nature and also play significant roles in arousing their interest in issues related with environment. Therefore, it is thought that they will let science high school students explore the natural features of Korea, understand the importance of preserving environment and ecosystem profoundly, and encourage environmental awareness and will of environmental practice. Thereupon, with the study subjects of 121 first and second graders at U Science High School, this article analyzed their recognition of the necessity for environmental education and environmental pollution problems before and after the natural exploration activities, and conducted a survey on their satisfaction after the natural exploration activities and analyzed it. The result of this research is as follows. First, it was shown that the natural exploration activities were effective to raise the science high school students' awareness of issues related with environmental pollution. Second, the natural exploration activities had effect upon enhancing the students' willingness of environmental practice. Third, there was statistically significant correlation between the science high school students' satisfaction with the natural exploration activities and their achievement in the science subject. Fourth, there also was a statistically non or weakness significant correlation between their satisfaction with the natural exploration activities and preference for the science subject. In particular, it was found that students preferring biology indicated higher satisfaction.
