Effects of a Play- and Inquiry-Based Education for Sustainable Development Program on Five-Year-Old Children’s Sustainability Awareness and Creative Motivation

초록

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has gained increasing attention in early childhood education as a foundation for fostering the values and dispositions necessary for a sustainable future. Despite this growing emphasis, empirical evidence on how ESD influences young children's motivational characteristics remains limited. This study, conducted in South Korea, examined the effects of a play- and inquiry-based ESD program on five-year-old children's sustainability awareness and creative motivation. Forty children enrolled in a public early childhood education setting participated (M age = 74.3 months, SD = 2.1). Participants were assigned to either an experimental group (n = 20) or a control group (n = 20). The experimental group participated in a structured ESD program consisting of 16 sessions over eight weeks. The program integrated environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability across five sequential learning phases: exploration, emotional engagement, inquiry, reflection, and extension. The control group followed the regular early childhood curriculum without explicit integration of ESD concepts. Sustainability awareness was assessed using a structured, interviewer-administered measure, and creative motivation was evaluated using a teacher-rated observation scale. Results indicated that, from pretest to posttest, children in the experimental group demonstrated greater improvements in sustainability awareness and creative motivation than those in the control group, with effect sizes indicating educationally meaningful impacts. These findings suggest that developmentally appropriate play- and inquiry-based ESD experiences can enhance young children's understanding of sustainability while strengthening motivational dispositions for creative engagement. Implications for ESD program design in early childhood settings and directions for future research are discussed.

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