Session Information
SES F 08, Paper Session
Paper Session
Contribution
In the educational research area of early childhood, many psychological and pedagogical studies reveal the great importance of early childhood education. These years are regarded as the critical periods which development of all domains gains pace (Essa, 2003; Morisson, 2001). In a similar way, UNESCO declares that beginning from early childhood, environmental education should be taken into consideration and be integrated into all levels of formal education (Unesco,1977) ; indeed, Davis (2009) refers that early beginning of the environmental education process provides seeing the proenvironmental behaviors more quickly. According to Basile (2000), environmental knowledge and environmental attitude toward environment begin to be formed in the early years. Environmental education activities conducted in these years foster positive attitudes toward environment in the future (Wilson, 1996). In early childhood settings, energy and water consumption, pollution problems, protection of animals and plants; and recycling are the environmental issues that may be proper to integrate to early childhood programs. In the current study, we mainly focused on recycling issues since recycling and other conservation behaviors gain more importance due to harmful effects of human behavior toward environment (Schultz, 2002). Hence, it is required to conduct knowledge based interventions to increase recycling behaviors; indeed, early years are the sensitive period to gain this kind of proenvironmental behaviors (Biriukova, 2005; Davis, 1998; Schultz, 2002). In the literature, there are limited source of research in relation to environmental knowledge and attitudes of preschool children. For example, a study conducted by Grodzinska, Stepska & Nieszporek (2006) to investigate attitudes toward environment and environmental knowledge among preschool children revealed that a smaller percentage of children re-used various items and saved paper using both sides. Another research conducted by Palmer, 1995 explored that 49% of 4-year-olds understood that waste products are managed and they are collected in an organized manner and also 23% of 4 years-old children knew about the concept of recycling and they had an idea what it means. The same study showed that 21 % of 6 years-old children recognized what materials are recycled or not. Furthermore, in another study, it was found that 89% percent of primary school children, who took environmental education, correctly defined the meaning of recycling (Strong, 1998). Based on discussed above, in this study, since there is limited research related to preschool children’s understanding about recycling, we aimed to investigate the progress in recycling knowledge of children after a short term intervention. Our research question is that how children’s knowledge about recycling changes with a short term environmental activity.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Basile, C.G. (2000). Environmental education as a catalyst for transfer of learning in young children. Journal of Environmental Education, 32 (1), 21-27. Biriukova, N.A. (2005). The Formation of an Ecological Consciousness. Russian Education & Society , 47 (12), 34-35. Davis, J. (1998). Young children, environmental education, and the future. Early Childhood Education Journal, 26(2), 117-123. Davis, J. (2009). Revealing the research 'hole' of early childhood education for sustainability: a preliminary survey of the literature. Environmantal Education Research, 15:2, 227- 241 Essa. E. L. (2003) Introduction to Early Childhood Education. 4th Edition. New York: Thomson Delmar Learning Grodzinska-Jurczak, M., Stepska, A. & Nieszporek, K. (2006). Perception of environment problems among preschool children in Poland. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education Education, 15 (1), 62-76. Merriam, S.B., (1998).Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Morrison, G.S. (2001) Early Childhood Education Today. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Merrill Prentice Hall Palmer, J. A. (1995). Environmental thinking in the early years: Understanding and misunderstanding of concepts. Environmental Education Research, 1 (1), 35. Schultz, P.W. (2002). Knowledge, information and household recycling: Examining the knowledge- deficit model of behavior change. Retrieved January, 5,2010,from http://www.epa.gov/osw/rcc/resources/meetings/rcc2008/sessions/msw/attitudes/schultz2.pdf Strong, C. (1998). The impact of environmental education on children’s knowledge and awareness of environmental concerns. Marketing, Intelligence and Planing, 16 (6), 349-355. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987 UNESCO. (1977). Intergovernmental conference on environmental education: Final report. Tbilisi (USSR): UNESCO. Wilson, R. (1996). Environmental education programs for preschool children. The Journal of Environmental Education, 27(4), 28-33.
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