Environmental Awareness and Its Relationship with the Concept of the Living Being: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Abstract:There is currently a growing theoretical discussion about the foundations that underlie the development of environmental awareness and nature care in early childhood. The aim of this study is to analyze how the environmental concerns of young children emerge and evolve during early childhood and whether these concerns are connected to an understanding of the biological notion of the living being. This study is designed to address methodological limitations of previous studies through a longitudinal axis and an extensive age sample. A sample of 178 children between the ages of four and nine participated at two different testing times for a period of one year. The methodology includes the categorization of various images of living beings and inert entities in order to analyze their understanding of living organisms. Dilemmas involving environmental, moral and socio-conventional situations are presented to examine and compare how young children view transgressions against plant life. The results reveal that young children's judgments about environmental behaviors may arise before the development of an understanding of the concept of the living being. It is therefore proposed that this type of understanding does not support environmental awareness. Previous research indicates that complex biological concepts may be successfully introduced at the preschool age, provided that suitable educational interventions are designed for the initial stages of education. In this regard, there is evidence that a basic understanding of the issue of the ecological interactions among organisms may be achieved in the preschool years.

El dibujo infantil del mundo vegetal y la comprensión del concepto de ser vivo en España y República Dominicana

“…Apoyando estas ideas, Villanueva et al (2018) mencionan que el estado ético único que los niños pequeños parecen atribuir a la vida vegetal puede surgir inicialmente en la primera infancia y, lo que es más importante, independientemente de su evolución conceptual en el biológico. De acuerdo con estas ideas, el pensamiento relacionado con la vida vegetal en la primera infancia se desarrolla independientemente de la comprensión inicial de la noción de ser vivo.…”

Educational attainment and environmental concern in China: An instrumental variable approach

“…Indeed, some literature has suggested that although it is usual to register growth in moral judgement as individuals grow old, education attainment would be a stronger predictor of the development of moral judgement than would mere chronological age, per se (Rest, 1994). Moreover, research has suggested that due to attendance to formal education, complex biological and morally rooted concepts and biocentric reasoning can be introduced earlier than shown in the developmental literature-around the Grades 2 and 5 of primary school (Severson & Kahn, 2010;Villanueva, Villarroel, & Antón, 2018).…”

Regional Ecological Security Assessment Based on the Pressure–State–Response Framework: The Demonstration Zone of Yangtze River Delta as an Example

“…In "Ecological Security and the United Nations System", published in 1998, experts and scholars from various countries put forward views on the definition of ecological safety, the factors that lead to insecurity, the degree of risk, and the trend of change [16][17][18]. Humanity's understanding and awareness of ecological and environmental issues have gradually deepened, and the concern has steadily increased [19]. It has slowly progressed from concern for environmental problems to environmental safety to ecological security [20,21].…”