Horticultural activities at elementary school in Seoul today

Questionnaires were tried in order to see how horticultural activities are currently taking place for elementary school children in the municipal area of Seoul. It was found that children's horticultural programs are more or less inconsistently carried out, mainly through the course of their lesson, school gardening cares, and special class works, etc. The teachers performing horticultural teaching usually have a childhood background of being brought up in rural environments. Most frequently horticultural activity performed by these elementary school children is by fifth graders, and is to supplement teaching relevant to the textbook. They do the practical work usually with flowerpots or containers, and in spring. Children seem to feel most interest in watering and harvesting plants. The extent of children's positive attitude toward horticulture is very much dependent on having a parent who had their own childhood experience in plants and rural life. Problems shown from the present assessment are the lack of a suitably sized gardening area in the school, and teachers' lack of knowledge of horticulture.