학교 공간에 대한 어린이의 장소감 - ‘어린이 지리학’의 관점에서 -

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to take close look at the daily spaces of children and investigate the sense of place in the personal context surrounding the children’s space. Assuming the elementary education starts from its main agent of learning namely children, then space is the educational contents of elementary geography so that the elementary geography education must focus on the daily spaces of children as a starting point for understanding children. The identity of elementary geography education can be found by focusing on the children and children’s space to look at the space in the perspective of the learner and by investigating diverse inherent meanings and relationships. This study conducted survey to grade 3 to grade 6 students in 7 selected elementary schools in Korea to investigate the sense of place about the school spaces. Also, this study conducted interviews with some students and teachers. The sense of place as a personal context formed by children in the school, which is the familiar space as children spent most of their daily life, can be examined through the contextual elements such as freedom, communication, secret, and relationship. The elementary geography education must seek children’s understanding started by understanding the sense of place as a subjective context surrounding the children’s space. Also, such process has meaning as an important medium which connects children to important content of the education called space.