대학 교양으로서 일반생물학 수업에서 ‘기후 변화’ 교육

Abstract

Climate change is an urgent and important problem that all humanity must solve. Therefore, it is indisputable that climate change education should be provided in universities, especially as part of liberal education. This study explored possible climate change education in biology. For this purpose, we analyzed the contents of the general biology curriculum in the general education curriculum and investigated and analyzed the topics of the general biology curriculum offered by public and private universities in the metropolitan area and local regions. As a result we came to the conclusion that general biology classes as a liberal arts subject must, in principle, include an ecology unit in the curriculum. However, most universities in Korea do not include this unit in their general biology curriculum. As a countermeasure, even if the entire ecology unit cannot be included in the curriculum for one or two semesters, the class can connect five to six topics related to climate change to other units. Otherwise, like some universities, there is a need to open a separate ecology course. Alternatively, other science courses that include climate change could be offered. In this case, though, guidance is needed for students to take the courses, and the need for climate change education for teachers in charge of course guidance remains an issue. In addition, various other liberal arts education subjects, including not only biology but also natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences, should also make such attempts to help solve the problem of climate change. Moreover, we propose adding content on climate change to the ‘Purpose of Liberal Education’ statement established by the Korea National Institute for General Education.