The impact of childhood reading on the development of environmental values

Freestone, Margaret; O’Toole, John M.

doi:10.1080/13504622.2014.989962

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As this article is focusing on the numbers of different types of books, the data are presented in graph form to make the frequencies easier to see. Details on the participants' comments on their early reading and their scripts to their own stories are available in another article (Freestone & O'Toole, 2014), which focuses on the types/genres of literature read by the participants.…”

Section: Data and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A research project was undertaken to examine the potential influence of reading on environmental educators in Australia to ascertain if any genre or story type could potentially encourage future generations to consider more positive environmental responses (Freestone & O'Toole, 2014). This study set out to discover what participants' reading appeared to be influential in their lives and when ABOUT THE AUTHORS The interaction of literacy, environmental education, patterns of recalled literature and the development of values that is integral to this paper is part of a wider investigation into the antecedents of adult commitment and the consequent relative importance of various levels of schooling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reminiscence spike in reading recall between the ages of 8–11: The influence of early memories on attitudes and actions

Freestone

O’Toole

2016

Cogent Education

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An investigation into the recalled reading of 31 environmental educators has uncovered a potential link between early reading and pro-environmental attitudes. The recalled books are not only from the recognised "reminiscence bump" of adolescence and early adulthood, but there also appears to be a spike in recall of books within the 8-11-year reading age group. This 8-11-year age group, also known as middle childhood is recognised within other disciplines as being an influential or significant time for learning. The discovery of these earlier memories from stories and their ongoing influence highlights the potential of incidental learning and pre-adolescent attitude formation.

show abstract

Section: Data and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reminiscence spike in reading recall between the ages of 8–11: The influence of early memories on attitudes and actions

Freestone

O’Toole

2016

Cogent Education

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The nostalgic, pastoral texts that I propose to include in environmental education curricula adhere to this definition, as I will establish in the pedagogy section of this project. Reading fiction grounded in ecological realities supports the incidental learning condoned by Freestone and O'Toole (2016), in which narratives provide a subtle approach to environmental issues. In her decade-long inquiry into the capacity of children's books to affect change, Tatar (2009) concluded that "words and images…resonate in mysterious ways with real-life experiences" (p. 205).…”

Section: Children But This Tendency To Place Children Within or Adjamentioning

confidence: 94%

“…But Sharpe also cites that fact-oriented textbooks that delve into difficult issues are often not available, or age-appropriate for younger learners (p. 125). As an alternative method of delivery, Fischer (2017) and Freestone and O'Toole (2016) argue that children's literature contributes to a young reader's sense of their own environments and has an important role in place-based curricula, perhaps more than overtly didactic environmental texts.…”

Section: An Indirect Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Eco-texts are missing the story lines that allow young readers to comprehend and remember concepts in a way that science texts do not allow (Butzow & Butzow, 2000). But as Freestone and O'Toole (2016) note, though a number of researchers have documented the impact of overtly environmental children's texts, little research has been done on how fictional stories influence pro-environmental behaviour in children.…”

Section: Extendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Cultivating common ground: the story of food (and the food in stories)

Grafton¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Demystifying the story of food-from seed to store to stomach and how that cycle perpetuatesis a core tenet of food literacy and the central aim of this project. While exposure to environmental issues is critical to developing awareness, young learners are often burdened with crisis-laden facts about the state of our world and our food systems. Approaching difficult subjects using a narrative approach is one way to mitigate this burden. In this project, children's literature that centres on farms and food production/food gathering in settler and Indigenous contexts is used as a launching pad for discussions about food security. Food is an enduring theme in children's and young adult literature, and is particularly prevalent in narratives from the past, where food gathering and production are often rooted in their environmental contexts. These food narratives provide a pathway for young readers to critically investigate contemporary environmental concerns from a safe space. This project investigates how children's literature can be used as part of a critical food pedagogy to enhance the food literacy of young learners and encourage them to find common ground between the physical world and the worlds they read. In locating, analyzing, and experiencing food environments in literature via an affective, indirect approach, food literacy-which is foundational to the development of environmentally responsible behaviour-is enhanced.

show abstract