Changes in social, economical, and cultural environments affect the meal practices of children. The transmission of traditional Korean food culture is very important because it presents not only a well-balanced diet but also contributes to shaping identity. The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary school students' present meal practices and views, as well as demands on traditional food culture education to reflect future educational plans. Half of the students ate breakfast everyday and 72% ate a traditional Korean style breakfast. About 38% of the students participated 2-4 times per week in meal preparation and 34% participated in clean-up after the meal once a day. Although 6th graders had greater skills in basic cooking, they tended to be more passive upon applying their skills in daily meal practice. For traditional food culture education, 89% of the experienced and 86.2% of the inexperienced groups agreed on the necessity of traditional food culture education. Students attained traditional food culture knowledge through Silgwa, practical coursework within the curriculum, and by teachers leading classes. They were also educated by parents, mass media, and books outside of school. The preferred methods of class teaching were lecture and experiential learning. The preferred subjects to learn were 'cooking classes based on taste development', 'learning food ingredients through vegetable growing', 'traditional Korean food manners', and 'traditional Korean food culture and seasonal foods' as well as nutritional education. Fifth graders had more positive attitudes towards meal practices and traditional food culture education. Traditional Korean food culture and nutrition education should be integrated and developed into regular subject curricula to improve children's meal practice and inheritance of traditional food culture.

The object of this study is to evaluate the Korean traditional food culture education program which was developed in the prior study. In order to evaluate the effect of the program on the students’ knowledge of traditional food culture and their food habit, the program was practiced for 82 students in 4 elementary schools located in Seoul and Kyungki province during 16 weeks from Mar 1, 2005 to July 23, 2005. The pretest and the post-test were performed using an evaluation tool which is composed of evaluation sections for the perception and knowledge of the Korean traditional food culture, Korean children’s food habit and food preference for the Korean traditional food and fast food. The validity of evaluation was proved through the control group in the pretest and the post-test. Descriptive analysis and paired t-test were performed using SPSS/WIN 12.0 Statistic Package in order to compare the results of the pretest with those of the post-test after the education. The perception of the students who took the class for the Korean traditional food was slightly improved (p<0.05) and their knowledge was also increased (p<0.001) after the education while no difference was found in the control group. Moreover, the subjects’ food habit (p<0.001) and their preference of the Korean traditional food (p<.05) were increased respectively but their preference of the Western fast food was decreased(p<.01). These results indicate that the education program evaluated in this study has the effect of altering the subjects’ food habit or food preference as well as of introducing the knowledge of the Korean traditional food culture.

본 연구는 신체와 정서가 가장 많이 발달하는 시기인 아동을 대상으로 한국적 정서와 교육적 가치를 가장 많이 내포하고 있는 전래동화를 동기유발의 자료로 활용하여 문화와 예술, 교육이 통합된 프로그램을 개발하였다. 연구자는 전래동화 중에서 ‘해와 달이 된 오누이’, ‘흥부와 놀부’를 선정한 통합프로그램을 대구시 수성구 소재의 ‘찾아가는 미술관’ 초등학교 저학년 교육프로그램 수업과 초등학교 5개교, 각 학교 저학년 20명씩을 대상으로 방과 후 수업에 적용하여 통합교육의 질적인 모색과 교육적 가치 및 문화와 예술의 관계, 그 관계에 따른 통합수업의 필요성에 대하여 연구하였다. 그 결과, 아동들은 미술 영역에서 오감을 체험할 수 있는 기회를 가졌고, 음악 영역에서는 우리 장단의 체험과 우리 민족의 정서, 그리고 정체성도 이해할 수 있었다. 교육적 가치로는 우리의 민족 정서인 충, 효와 권선징악, 형제의 우애 등 윤리적인 의식과 인간성 회복의 교훈도 얻을 수 있었으며, 문화와 예술적 체험에 접목된 영상은 아동들에게 자신감과 더 큰 즐거움을 안겨주었다. 따라서 통합적 프로그램의 개발은 학문과의 통합적 사고능력을 신장시키며, 아동들에게 표현 욕구를 더 많이 충족시킬 수 있는 것으로 나타났다.