Young People's Conceptions of Environment: A phenomenographic analysis

TLDR

Environmental education in schools is an important strategy for environmental improvement, but it must be grounded in children’s own understandings rather than assumptions about what they know. The study aims to analyze school children’s conceptions of the term “environment” using phenomenographic analysis. Phenomenographic analysis of children’s responses to the prompt “I think the term/word environment means…” was employed. Six distinct conceptions were identified, ranging from viewing the environment merely as a place to seeing it as a mutually sustaining relationship between people and the environment, with a clear qualitative distinction between object‑centric and relational conceptions.

Abstract

Abstract Environmental education in schools is an important strategy in achieving environmental improvement. However, it needs to be based on children's understandings of environment rather than on assumptions of what children know and believe. This paper reports on a research project where school children's answers to a question 'I think the term/word environment means ' were analysed using the qualitative research method of phenomenography. Six distinct conceptions were isolated, ranging from the least sophisticated--environment as a place--to the most inclusive and expansive--environment and people in a relationship of mutual sustainability. An important qualitative difference was found between conceptions that treat the environment as an object and relational conceptions. The implications of these findings for environmental education are discussed.