Pulmuone Recruiting Participants for Infectious Disease Prevention Education 'Virus and Earth Environment Classroom'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Pulmuone announced on the 16th that it has established the ‘Virus and Earth Environment Classroom’ to educate on the causes and prevention methods of viral infectious diseases for sustainable health and the global environment, and is recruiting participants.

Operated by the Pulmuone Foundation, the ‘Virus and Earth Environment Classroom’ was newly established to help children accurately understand the causes of viral infectious diseases and prevent them in daily life, amid the global changes in life due to COVID-19 and increased interest in infectious disease prevention.

The ‘Virus and Earth Environment Classroom’ goes beyond teaching daily prevention rules such as hand washing and wearing masks, and is the first children’s viral infectious disease education in Korea to expand the ‘One Health’ concept from an environmental perspective. ‘One Health’ is a concept proposed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which states that the health of nature, animals, and humans are closely connected, and to prevent new viral infections, all three health aspects must be considered.

Unlike other education programs that only emphasize prevention rules, the ‘Virus and Earth Environment Classroom’ allows students to feel the necessity of following prevention rules through scientific evidence and experiments.

Experiments such as comparing hand washing with water and soap, and testing the effectiveness of masks against droplets using colored substances, increased students’ direct participation and educational effectiveness. Additionally, an animation titled ‘The Little Bat’s Story,’ depicting a bat saddened by losing its habitat due to environmental destruction and transmitting viruses to humans, provides students with time to reflect on the fundamental causes of viral infectious diseases.

To avoid encountering new viral infectious diseases, students can joyfully learn through songs about the ‘One Health’ concept that nature, animals, and humans are connected as one, and make a pledge to practice proper environmental habits in daily life starting with themselves.

The educational materials were supervised by Professor Kwangseok Ahn of the Department of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University, a leading scholar in viral immunology in Korea. The Pulmuone Foundation posts all educational materials and teacher’s guides on its website so that any parent or teacher can use them to educate children. The education is conducted both online and offline, and is open to all 4th to 6th grade elementary school students nationwide.

Kim Yoobyeol, the project manager at Pulmuone Foundation, stated, “The Pulmuone Foundation will continue to provide free educational programs and materials to help more children learn how to protect themselves from COVID-19 and adapt to the changed daily life with a positive mindset.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.