Environmental judgment in early childhood and its relationship with the understanding of the concept of living beings

Villarroel, José Domingo

doi:10.1186/2193-1801-2-87

Cited by 13 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…This observation fits in well with a specific body of research concerning young children's graphical expressions on biological phenomena which accounts for a very weak variation, or even no differences at all, when it comes to comparing girls and boy's drawings on the issues of, for instance, plants [12,37], the sun [13], the structure of trees [17], the distinction of living and non-living things [32,38], ideas about micro-organisms [39], and animals [18], to name but a few.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

et al. 2018

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Previous research indicates that complex biological concepts may be successfully introduced in 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. With this in mind, this research project tests the assumption that recognising the fact that plants and animals are not isolated creatures, but live engaged in constant interactions in nature, may begin to be understood in early education. To that end, this study examines the content of free drawings that a sample of 328 children aged four to seven years of age, undertook when explaining their understanding of plant life. Data regarding the type and frequency of the depictions of animals found in the children's graphic explanations on flora is collected and read in conjunction with participants' gender and academic level. The results show that a substantial proportion of the children in the sample spontaneously drew illustrations of animals in their graphic explanations concerning vegetable life and, more significantly, some pictures show plants and animals engaged in clear contact. This is the case, despite the fact that the drawing activity had been focused solely on the issue of plant life and no indication linked to depicting other kinds of living things mentioned during the activity. The conclusions discuss the data collected in connection with the growing number of research projects that study the question of how young children begin to embrace the fundamental biological concepts that pave the way to the understanding of natural phenomena and make the public capable of making responsible choices when it comes to sustainability issues.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

et al. 2018

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“…Furthermore, this idea complements previous research that has shown that childhood is not free from environmental concerns [17,18] and that the interest in preserving the environment emerges before the first conceptual development in the field of biology [8].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…In this regard, the normative assessment of how to treat plants does not correlate with an improvement in young children's ability to distinguish living things from inert entities [8]. This may indicate that the unique ethical state that young children seem to attribute to plant life may initially emerge in early childhood and, more importantly, independently of their conceptual evolution in the biological domain [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, the researcher records which of the two types of transgressions presented is considered the most serious. This method is based on Turiel's Moral Domain Theory [4,6] and follows the procedure used by Hussar and Horvath [10], Villarroel et al [9], and Villarroel [8]. The Environmental Judgment Test: the total number of times in which the transgression of social norms and behaviors against plant life has been considered more serious than the breaking of socio-conventional rules in the dilemmas presented.…”

Section: Phase 1: the Living/non-living Distinction Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, different studies in early childhood hold that judgments about environmental behavior differ from socio-conventional dominance [8,9]. Moreover, other research asserts that due to the severity that children attach to actions that pose a threat to nature, they tend to place transgressions against the environment between moral transgressions and breaches of socio-conventional rules [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2018

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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.

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Are plants living beings? Biases in the interpretation of landscape features by pre-service teachers

Torres-Porras

Alcántara-Manzanares

2019

Journal of Biological Education

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Interpreting the landscape that surrounds us is somewhat personal. However, it is necessary to explore the interpretation made by future teachers so that we can reflect on their observations. This study collected data from five academic years of undergraduates in Early Childhood Education (N = 421), who were asked to fill out a questionnaire with different items while observing the landscape features when walking through a park. This article demonstrates for the very first time that the trend shown in childhood of not considering plants as living beings remains in the landscape perception of the university students. The students must be confronted with their own biases in interpreting the landscape, so that they are aware and do not transfer these biases to their future students.

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Environmental judgment in early childhood and its relationship with the understanding of the concept of living beings

Cited by 13 publications

References 58 publications

A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

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

Are plants living beings? Biases in the interpretation of landscape features by pre-service teachers

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