Factors Influencing Young People's Conceptions of Environment

TLDR

Environmental education is crucial for protecting the environment, but it must be grounded in children’s actual understandings rather than assumptions about what they know. The study argues that fostering a relational conception of the environment should be a primary goal of environmental education and outlines how this can be achieved. Statistical analysis is employed to identify factors that lead students toward a relational rather than an object conception of the environment. Earlier phenomenographic work revealed a clear qualitative distinction between students who view the environment as a relation versus as an object.

Abstract

Environmental education in schools is an important strategy in achieving environmental protection and improvement. However, it needs to be based on children's understandings of environment rather than on assumptions of what children know and believe. In a previous article (Loughland et al ., 2002), we reported on a research project where school children's responses to an open-ended statement 'I think the term/word environment means' were analysed using the qualitative research method of phenomenography. An important qualitative difference was found between conceptions that treat the environment as a relation and those that treat it as an object. In this article, we examine statistically the factors that incline students to a 'relation' rather than an 'object' conception of environment. We argue that development of the former would seem to be an important aim of environmental education, and indicate how this may be achieved.