Environmental Education Program Based on the Perception and Preference towards the Environment for Elementary School Children

Abstract

Environmental education’s objective is to change a person’s attitude and behavior toward the
interaction with the environment. Education is a process that is not short term, which means
education has to begin as early as possible. This study aims to design and create destination-specific
attributes of an environmental education program based on the perception and preference towards
the environment for elementary school children. Data were collected with three methods of collecting.
First, to collect the data on the perception and the preference of the elementary school children, a
questionnaire was distributed to 120 children. Second, interviews were conducted to the management
of the company to collect information on the environmental attractions available in the area, and to
gather information on the company’s policy towards environmental education. Lastly, a field
observation was conducted to obtain the necessary information on the condition of the area as well as
to create suitable tracks for this program. All data were analyzed and synthesized using descriptive
analysis. It is found that although the perception and preference towards the environment for the
school children are not significantly different, the aspects of the perception which are cognition,
affection, and conation differ among the class groups. From these results along with the result of the
field observation, this study suggests destination-specific attributes environmental education
programs designed for the elementary school children.