A study on program of education for sustainable development utilizing oriental white stork

Abstract

Global hazards such as climate change, non-renewable energy depletion, and biodiversity loss threaten mankind making the role of sustainable development and education absolutely necessary to overcome these crises. Given this need, the study aimed to develop a sustainable development educational program utilizing the challenges surrounding conservation of the endangered oriental white stork as an example. The plight of the species was used to develop a high-quality sustainable development educational program for the third-grade students of the OWS village in Yesan County, South Korea. The educational program was developed systematically using the four stages of planning, preparation, development, and improvement. The first step of the study involved extraction of elements of the concept behind sustainable development defined in the oriental white stork conservation plan and as presented by the Korea Committee for Sustainable Development Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The second step involved a synthesis of the results of a 2015 third grade curriculum analysis covering scholastic achievement standards including education for sustainable development (ESD) concepts and core competence-related areas. Such results were applied to achieve sustainable development at the school. Finally, the five integrated curriculum themes linking sustainable development and oriental white stork conservation were developed: “the life cycle of the oriental white stork”, “habitats of the oriental white stork”, “we are guardians of the oriental white stork”, “the children's business union in the OWS village”, and “our design of the OWS village”. [Key Words] ESD Program, Regional Sustainable Development, Restoration Project of Oriental White Stork, 2015 Revised Curriculum