[[alternative]]A study on the major underlying concepts in rivers environmental education

[[abstract]]This study was one of the Taiwan Rivers Environmental Education Project (TREE Project), proposed by Dr. Ching-ming Wang in 1995 at National Taiwan Normal University, Graduate Institute of Environmental Education. The purpose of present study, following TREE Project research scheme, was to investigate the major underlying concepts in rivers environmental education. Through concept coverage and hierarchy analyses, 1306 terms related to river environmental concepts were first selected from the book "Ecological Conservation for Rivers." Then, 75 key concepts were extracted and systematized, based on environmental education need as well as 9 research procedures. This research summarized that river environmental concepts could be classified as 4 domains, 18 sub-domains, and 75 key concepts. Among the major underlying conceptual structure, these are 24 river ecosystem concepts, 21 river resources conservation concepts, 16 river environmental impact concepts, and 36 river environmental management concepts. The research conclusively suggested that future priority TREE Project be to construct the framework of river environmental education, based on the results of the study.