Abstract
Proverbs can be regarded as pithy axioms of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), which can be useful for sustainability education. By using an exploratory sequential mixed method, we analyzed TEK and ecoliteracy components embedded in rain- and tree-related Korean traditional proverbs, and further conducted a survey of university students to gauge their knowledge of the proverbs and draw correlations with their ecoliteracy. We classified 173 rain- and 117 tree-related traditional Korean proverbs and found that most of these were related to factual observations, such as ecological characteristics of tree species and the prediction of rainfall, which indicated people’s understanding of ecological processes and patterns. We also found that students tended to provide correct answers for questions related to TEK-based worldviews, ethics and values, which are important components of ecoliteracy, thereby indicating the usefulness of proverbs in delivering TEK-based worldviews, ethics, and values. Overall, our study reasons that the learning of TEK-related traditional proverbs can be meaningful for enhancing ecoliteracy among urban youth, particularly when this learning is complemented with field-based observational learning within integrated approaches for sustainability education.
Highlights
An integral aspect of sustainability is “the need to place understanding of environmental concerns within a social, economic, and political context” [1]
Qualitative Exploration of Korean traditional ecological knowledge” (TEK) and Key Components of Ecoliteracy Embedded in Proverbs
We found that rain- and tree-related proverbs account for about five percent of the documented Korean proverbs, as we collected 319 rain-related and 166 tree-related proverbs from the approximately 10,000 proverbs listed in the three-volume reference
Summary
An integral aspect of sustainability is “the need to place (the) understanding of environmental concerns within a social, economic, and political context” [1]. For raising socio-cultural awareness of modern environmental challenges, “ecological literacy” or “ecoliteracy” is gaining prominence within pedagogical, ecological, and political discourses as an effective approach [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] In this regard, ecologists and environmentalists are developing various methods and experiments for enhancing ecoliteracy [4], including through human-centered and place-based modes [10], practices based on large public datasets [11], service learning and citizen science [6], political tactics [2], and technological methods [12]. We adhere to the comprehensive definition of ecoliteracy as the ability of individuals to identify names, uses, and related stories of living organisms and natural phenomena in their local ecosystems based on their TEK [2,13] This relates to an individual’s scientific habits of mind in relation to ecological issues, and the appreciation for ecological connectivity and social-ecological linkages [3]. It is clear that the oral transfer of TEK has a pivotal role in perpetuating ecoliteracy and sustainable resource management practices over generations [2,13]
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