Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhood
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2022 |
Outros Autores: | , , , , , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100126 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266776 |
Resumo: | Blue and green ecosystems are considered a key for the improvement of cities sustainability, providing numerous ecosystem services and habitat for many species. However, urban streams are still neglected and degraded, specially in southern European countries. One important step towards the rehabilitation of these ecosystems is the awareness of their importance by citizens. This study aimed to assess the effect of 1-year of activities (field and laboratory) of an environmental education project on primary school children, in improving their knowledge on urban stream ecosystems and their problems. We analyzed students' questionnaires before and after field and laboratory activities, drawings and group interviews. Initially, most children had incipient contact with rivers and streams, showing fears and lack of knowledge about them. As the project progressed, their perceptions changed, with a clear increase in the proportion of students recognizing the biodiversity associated to rivers (e.g., names of riparian trees, aquatic plants and invertebrates). Also, their fears decreased significantly, while their awareness to the impacts of artificialization and lack of riparian vegetation increased. Our results show that direct contact with nature have a positive role in the way it is understood by children, as well as promoting responsible and sustainable behaviors, being effective from the early primary-school years. |
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Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhoodAnimalsBiodiversityChildChild, PreschoolHumansInvertebratesTreesEcosystemRiversBlue and green ecosystems are considered a key for the improvement of cities sustainability, providing numerous ecosystem services and habitat for many species. However, urban streams are still neglected and degraded, specially in southern European countries. One important step towards the rehabilitation of these ecosystems is the awareness of their importance by citizens. This study aimed to assess the effect of 1-year of activities (field and laboratory) of an environmental education project on primary school children, in improving their knowledge on urban stream ecosystems and their problems. We analyzed students' questionnaires before and after field and laboratory activities, drawings and group interviews. Initially, most children had incipient contact with rivers and streams, showing fears and lack of knowledge about them. As the project progressed, their perceptions changed, with a clear increase in the proportion of students recognizing the biodiversity associated to rivers (e.g., names of riparian trees, aquatic plants and invertebrates). Also, their fears decreased significantly, while their awareness to the impacts of artificialization and lack of riparian vegetation increased. Our results show that direct contact with nature have a positive role in the way it is understood by children, as well as promoting responsible and sustainable behaviors, being effective from the early primary-school years.Funding: SRQS was financed by a post-doc grant in the Project "PHARA-ON: Pilots for Healthy and Active Ageing" funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (H2020-SC1-FA-DTS-2018-2); ARC by a posdoc grant of project RIVEAL - RIparian forest Values and Ecosystem services in uncertain freshwater futures and Altered Landscapes (LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-029790; FCT). MJF by FCT through Norma Transitória do DL 57/2016 changed by law 57/2017). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.PLOS2022info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://hdl.handle.net/10316/100126http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100126https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266776eng1932-6203Feio, Maria JoãoMantas, Ana IsabelSerra, Sónia R. Q.Calapez, Ana RaquelAlmeida, Salomé F. P.Sales, Manuela C.Montenegro, MárioMoreira, Franciscainfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2022-05-11T20:51:50Zoai:estudogeral.uc.pt:10316/100126Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T21:17:35.156344Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhood |
title |
Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhood |
spellingShingle |
Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhood Feio, Maria João Animals Biodiversity Child Child, Preschool Humans Invertebrates Trees Ecosystem Rivers |
title_short |
Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhood |
title_full |
Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhood |
title_fullStr |
Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhood |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhood |
title_sort |
Effect of environmental education on the knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and reconnection with nature in early childhood |
author |
Feio, Maria João |
author_facet |
Feio, Maria João Mantas, Ana Isabel Serra, Sónia R. Q. Calapez, Ana Raquel Almeida, Salomé F. P. Sales, Manuela C. Montenegro, Mário Moreira, Francisca |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Mantas, Ana Isabel Serra, Sónia R. Q. Calapez, Ana Raquel Almeida, Salomé F. P. Sales, Manuela C. Montenegro, Mário Moreira, Francisca |
author2_role |
author author author author author author author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Feio, Maria João Mantas, Ana Isabel Serra, Sónia R. Q. Calapez, Ana Raquel Almeida, Salomé F. P. Sales, Manuela C. Montenegro, Mário Moreira, Francisca |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Animals Biodiversity Child Child, Preschool Humans Invertebrates Trees Ecosystem Rivers |
topic |
Animals Biodiversity Child Child, Preschool Humans Invertebrates Trees Ecosystem Rivers |
description |
Blue and green ecosystems are considered a key for the improvement of cities sustainability, providing numerous ecosystem services and habitat for many species. However, urban streams are still neglected and degraded, specially in southern European countries. One important step towards the rehabilitation of these ecosystems is the awareness of their importance by citizens. This study aimed to assess the effect of 1-year of activities (field and laboratory) of an environmental education project on primary school children, in improving their knowledge on urban stream ecosystems and their problems. We analyzed students' questionnaires before and after field and laboratory activities, drawings and group interviews. Initially, most children had incipient contact with rivers and streams, showing fears and lack of knowledge about them. As the project progressed, their perceptions changed, with a clear increase in the proportion of students recognizing the biodiversity associated to rivers (e.g., names of riparian trees, aquatic plants and invertebrates). Also, their fears decreased significantly, while their awareness to the impacts of artificialization and lack of riparian vegetation increased. Our results show that direct contact with nature have a positive role in the way it is understood by children, as well as promoting responsible and sustainable behaviors, being effective from the early primary-school years. |
publishDate |
2022 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2022 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100126 http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100126 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266776 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10316/100126 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266776 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
1932-6203 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
PLOS |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
PLOS |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
instacron_str |
RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
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1799134071405674496 |