Ecology education when no child is left behind

Blank, Lisa M.; Brewer, Carol

doi:10.1890/1540-9295(2003)001[0383:eewnci]2.0.co;2

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Some ecologists have suggested a shift from the teaching of historical, undisturbed ecosystems to a perspective that acknowledges human beings as dynamic contributors to the ecosystems as a way to address this gap (Ellis and Ramankutty 2008). Several previous studies show that an individual's understandings of their environment are difficult to assess using standardized tests, even when they are effective (Blank and Brewer 2003;Berkowitz et al 2005). Thus, decades of environmental education and ecological literacy programs have made little impact on ecological practices.…”

Section: Depictions Of Eco-friendly Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depictions of sustainability in children’s books

Muthukrishnan

Kelley

2016

Environ Dev Sustain

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Images in children's books can leave a more lasting impression in young learners' minds than text. Therefore, it is important for children's books to use images as a teaching tool, especially regarding global issues such as environmental sustainability. This study examined how the images in nonfiction children's books approach the topic of sustainability and whether these images support the overall goals of environmental education. We selected seven easy-to-access trade books which yielded 384 images for analysis. Two coders analyzed the images according to the following categories: (a) gender and age, (b) actions of people, (c) depictions of nature, (d) depictions of objects, (e) structures, and (f) habitation. Results show that nearly half of the images (48 %) depicted non-natural objects (16 %) or humans (31 %). One half of the images portrayed humans as consumers. Gender bias was evident, with 33 % of females portrayed as consumers and only 16 % of males portrayed as consumers. Similarly, 12 % of the images with males showed them engaged in recycling behavior, while only 4 % of the images showed females recycling. Of the 32 % of images depicting nature, individual plants rather than ecosystems were portrayed. Depictions of man-made systems predominated the images, a surprising finding. No images established the connection between consumerism and the depletion of natural resources or pollution, and further sustainable actions or lifestyles were not portrayed, implying that consumption is a societal norm. We conclude with recommendations for the use of images in children's literature focusing on environmental education and sustainability.

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Section: Depictions Of Eco-friendly Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%