Primary school children and pre-service teachers’ knowledge of iberian native and african savannah mammals

• Autor(a) principal: Almeida, António
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: García Fernández, Beatriz, Strecht-Ribeiro, Orlando
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/11305
• topic: Native fauna; Pre-service teachers; Primary school children; Savannah mammals

The present research compared the knowledge of primary school children and pre-service primary teachers about various native mammals of the Iberian Peninsula (IP-Portugal and Spain) and the African Savannah. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to 420 children and 215 pre-service teachers from these countries asking for the identification of animals through photos and whether they had native status on the IP. The pre-service teachers performed better than the children. The Savannah animals were better identified than those of the IP. The results were similar in both countries, even though the Spanish performed a little better. Children from both countries had more difficulty identifying the native status of the animals, with a high percentage of them thinking that Savannah animals lived in the wild on the IP. This error was less frequent among the pre-service teachers but, even so, with a percentage for certain animals that can be considered of concern. This issue is absent in the training courses in both countries, a conclusion based on an analysis of the syllabuses. The importance of improving knowledge of native fauna though formal and informal learning is discussed as a way to promote a conservationist attitude with direct repercussions on the recognition of the importance of local or regional biodiversity.