The effects of environmental education on preschool children's psychological and physical development

本研究的主要目的是评估日本学前环境教育的需求和评估环境教育的实施情况，并探讨环境教育对学前儿童心理和身体发展的影响。采用合成屋-树-人（绘图）法进行数据采集。主要结果表明，环境教育对儿童的影响是多方面的。它的效果不仅体现在绘画中自然物体的存在，还体现在使用更强的书写压力和绘画线条，通常不止一个人的存在，以及物体所处的坚实基线的存在。结果还表明，环境教育可以帮助孩子建立更强壮的身体和更真实的身体形象，以及更适当地控制自己身体的能力。反过来，这可能有助于提高他们对自己和周围环境的认识。

The main objectives of the present study were to assess the needs and evaluate the implementation of environmental education in preschools in Japan and to explore the impact of environmental education on preschool children's psychological and physical development. The Synthetic-House-Tree-Person (drawing) method was used to collect data. The main results indicated that environmental education affects children in different ways. Its effects can be observed not only in the presence of natural objects in their drawings, but also in the use of stronger writing pressure and drawing lines, the presence of usually more than one person, and the presence of a solid base line on which the items stand. The results also suggested that environmental education may help children build stronger bodies and more realistic body images, and the ability to control their bodies more appropriately. In turn, that may contribute to raise their awareness about themselves and their surrounding environment.