Beauty, memories and symbolic meaning: Swedish student teachers´ views of their favourite plant and animal

Abstract

In the twenty years since the first theory of 'plant blindness' was published much discussion has ensued concerning this phenomenon. More recent research, not only demonstrates that humans appear to favour animals over plants but also indicates a preference for mammals with forward-facing eyes. For this paper, we analysed answers to an online survey conducted with 202 student primary teachers in Sweden collected over a period of two years. We focus on two open-ended questions concerning favourite plant and animal choices and motivations for these choices. Our intention in this study was not to contrast animal vs. plant, but rather to further explore differential appreciation of plants and animals. Our findings suggest that there are large variations regarding relationships with plants and that affective connections with plant-life are translated through expressions of beauty, symbolic meaning, emotions (life-long) memories, colour, smell and size, and that similar characteristics seem to attract humans to animals. Our resultsin line with arguments presented in recent studiesstrongly suggest that in biological education and conservation contexts we should rely more intentionally on cultural and personal factors, utilise pre-existing experiencebased human-plant bonds, and in so doing reinforce human recognition and appreciation of plants.

Plant blindness and sustainability

“…( The clear and consistent message from the global community of educators and scientists is that poor awareness of, or indifference to, the fundamental significance of the phytosphere is a persistent obstacle to environmental balance, and consequently the achievement of SDGs. This makes the need to address disdain of plants a vital issue for the scientific community and policy makers, and confirms education as the main social process for bringing about the necessary changes in perception and understanding; although with a caveat, as Nyberg et al (2019a) note:…”

“…One of the issues in this area is the research methods and tools by which we evaluate what the educational challenges are (Balas and Momsen, 2014), which disciplines are engaged in the research (e.g. psychology, education, biological science, philosophy) and indeed, how populations vary in their connections with plants, particularly when considering emotional and aesthetic relationships (Nyberg et al, 2019a) in diverse cultural and climatic contexts. Several studies have confirmed that curriculum representations and coverage are a factor in the challenges teachers face when endeavouring to make the importance of plants more public (Amprazis and Papadopoulou, 2018).…”

Barns frågor under en utforskande process kring träd

“…Hur man kan arbeta för att undvika människors oförmåga att uppfatta växter i den omgivande miljön, s.k. växtblindhet (plant blindness) (Wandersee & Schussler, 1999) och istället öka förmågan att verkligen se växter och deras betydelse för livet på jorden är en aktuell forskningsfråga (Calvo, Gagliano, Souza & Trewavas, 2020;Nyberg, Brkovic & Sanders, 2019;Sanders, 2019).…”

“…växtblindhet (jfr. Nyberg et al, 2019;Sanders, 2019). Vid barnens utforskande av trädens livscykel i relation till årstiderna uppstod under projekttiden ständigt nya kopplingar som i sin tur öppnade för ytterligare frågor.…”

Secondary Education Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics and Their Repercussions on Motivation

“…Knowledge acquisition requires a certain balance between what is rational or cognitive and what is affective-emotional [1][2][3]. However, our education system focused mainly on the development of the rational mind, identifying this with scientific knowledge [4].…”