Journal of Korean Society for People, Plants and Environment 2012;15(1):1-8.
Published online February 28, 2012.

유치원 어린이의 허브식물을 이용한 원예활동에 대한 반응

신성화(Sung Hwa Shin), 조문수(Moon Soo Cho), 김태연(Tae Yeon Kim)

Abstract

This study was conducted to survey and analyze the effects of horticultural activities using herb plants on the education of kindergarten kids, and what kind of thoughts and feelings children have on those activities, arranged the relationship between fragrant herb plants and our children’s emotions that are growing ever westernized. Research subjects are emphasized on “How children’s attitude change in the course of horticultural activities using herb and herb class?” and “Do horticultural activities using herb plants give children educational effects?”, and proposed a hypothesis that horticultural activities using herb plants will contribute to the improvement of various abilities of children like emotional stability, concentration, sociability and sense of responsibility etc. The area and subject of this survey were mainly investigated for the kindergartens located in Daegu city. As for the subjects, the survey was conducted male and female 529 kindergarten children on the age 6 and 7 enrolled in kindergartens and 205 children not enrolled in kindergarten. 67.7% of the entire children responded they knew the name of herb, and 40.6% responded they grew herb at home. Children’s interests in herb were high, and 98.5% of the children answered they want to grow herb personally. The herbs which children likes are in the order of lemon balm(28.6%), rosemary(26.7%), lamb’s ears(10%), and the reasons for selection of the herbs were fragrance with 69.2% and pretty shape with 11%, according to the responses. As a result of the analysis of children’s interest degree, interests before explanation(smelling fragrance 3.8%) were different from those after explanation(smelling fragrance 75.2%), and according to the analysis of participation degree, change was shown between early stage(positive participation 38%) and late stage(positive participation 79.4%), indicating change of behaviors like ability to explore, and ability to concentrate etc. The results have shown that over 90% of children felt ultimate necessity of horticultural activities, and if opportunity comes, they wanted to participate actively. The necessity and importance of educational horticultural activities were recognized again. In conclusion, execution of horticultural activities using herb is deemed to give children various education effects like emotional stability, improvement of concentration, development of sociability, cultivation of sense of responsibility and development of recognition ability etc.

KeyWords: Concentration, Emotional stability, Responsibility, Sociability