Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T05:26:52.201Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Influence of experience, interest, knowledge and learning source on children’s attitudes towards extensive grassland conservation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

Natalija Špur Open the ORCID record for Natalija Špur [Opens in a new window] ,
Sonja Škornik  and
Andrej Šorgo
Natalija Špur*
Affiliation:
University of Maribor, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Koroška cesta 160, 2000Maribor, Slovenia
Sonja Škornik
Affiliation:
University of Maribor, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Koroška cesta 160, 2000Maribor, Slovenia
Andrej Šorgo
Affiliation:
University of Maribor, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Koroška cesta 160, 2000Maribor, Slovenia University of Maribor, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Koroška cesta 46, 2000Maribor, Slovenia
*
Author for correspondence: Natalija Špur, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Decisions made by grassland owners are crucial for the conservation of extensive grasslands (EGs); however, the predispositions determining how adults decide to act in certain situations are developed during childhood. Children are future decision-makers and potential grassland owners; therefore, the factors that form and affect their attitudes towards EG conservation need to be examined. Positive attitudes could be developed during environmental education, and this study aimed to understand the influence of elementary school children’s interest in and knowledge of grasslands, sources of learning about grasslands and experience working with grasslands on their attitudes towards preserving EGs. Principal component analysis and structural equation modelling results showed that interest in grasslands directly influenced attitudes towards preserving EGs, while experience and learning also indirectly influenced these attitudes. Children’s interest should be stimulated through gathering experience with grasslands and education in order to resolve any potential misconceptions about EG management.

Keywords

biodiversitychildrenconservationeducationgrasslands
Type
Research Paper
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 130 - 137
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Foundation for Environmental Conservation

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ajzen, I (1991) The theory of planned behaviour. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50(2): 179–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allum, N, Sturgis, P, Tabourazi, D, Brunton-Smith, I (2008) Science knowledge and attitudes across cultures: a meta-analysis. Public Understanding of Science 17(1): 35–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asunta, T (2003) Knowledge of environmental issues: where pupils acquire information and how it affects their attitudes, opinions, and laboratory behaviour (Doctoral dissertation) [www document]. URL https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/13374#Google Scholar
Bartiaux, F (2008) Does environmental information overcome practice compartmentalisation and change consumers’ behaviours? Journal of Cleaner Production 16(11): 1170–1180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, NJ, Roth, R, Klain, SC, Chan, K, Christie, P, Clark, DAet al. (2017) Conservation social science: understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation. Biological Conservation 205: 93–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogner, F (2018) Environmental values (2-MEV) and appreciation of nature. Sustainability 10(2): 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bukenya, R, Ahmed, A, Andrade, JM, Grigsby-Toussaint, DS, Muyonga, J, Andrade, JE (2017) Validity and reliability of General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire for adults in Uganda. Nutrients 9(2): E172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Byrne, BM (2016) Structural Equation Modeling with Amos: Basic Concepts, Applications, and Programming. New York, NY, USA: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmi, N, Arnon, S, Orion, N (2015) Transforming environmental knowledge into behavior: the mediating role of environmental emotions. Journal of Environmental Education 46(3): 183–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, JCH, Monroe, MC (2012) Connection to nature: children’s affective attitude toward nature. Environment and Behavior 44(1): 31–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Çokluk, Ö, Koçak, D (2016) Using Horn’s parallel analysis method in exploratory factor analysis for determining the number of factors. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice 16(2): 537–551.Google Scholar
Cousins, SA, Ohlson, H, Eriksson, O (2007) Effects of historical and present fragmentation on plant species diversity in semi-natural grasslands in Swedish rural landscapes. Landscape Ecology 22(5): 723–730.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronbach, LJ (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika 16: 297–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damerell, P, Howe, C, Milner-Gulland, EJ (2013) Child-orientated environmental education influences adult knowledge and household behaviour. Environmental Research Letters 8(1): 015016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deng, J, Sun, P, Zhao, F, Han, X, Yang, G, Feng, Y (2016) Analysis of the ecological conservation behavior of farmers in payment for ecosystem service programs in eco-environmentally fragile areas using social psychology models. Science of the Total Environment 550: 382–390.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farmer, J, Knapp, D, Benton, GM (2007) An elementary school environmental education field trip: long-term effects on ecological and environmental knowledge and attitude development. Journal of Environmental Education 38(3): 33–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Field, A (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS. London, UK: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Fornell, C, Larcker, DF (1981) Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research 18: 39–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallup, GG Jr (1998) Self-awareness and the evolution of social intelligence. Behavioural Processes 42(2–3): 239–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hair, JF, Hult, GM, Ringle, CM, Sarstedt, M (2017) A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Hanski, I (2005) Landscape fragmentation, biodiversity loss and the societal response: the longterm consequences of our use of natural resources may be surprising and unpleasant. EMBO Reports 6(5): 388–392CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harring, N, Jagers, SC (2017) Why do people accept environmental policies? The prospects of higher education and changes in norms, beliefs and policy preferences. Environmental Education Research 24(6): 1–16.Google Scholar
Jacobson, SK, McDuff, MD, Monroe, MC (2015) Conservation Education and Outreach Techniques. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaligarič, M, Čuš, J, Škornik, S, Ivajnšič, D (2019) The failure of agri-environment measures to promote and conserve grassland biodiversity in Slovenia. Land Use Policy 80: 127–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellert, SR (2002) Experiencing nature: affective, cognitive, and evaluative development in children. In Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations, eds Kahn, PH Jr, Kellert, SR, pp. 117–152. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Kollmuss, A., Agyeman, J (2002) Mind the gap: why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research 8(3): 239–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patil, VH, Surendra, NS, Sanjay, M, Todd, DD (2007) Parallel Analysis Engine to Aid Determining Number of Factors to Retain [computer software] [www document]. URL http://smishra.faculty.ku.edu/parallelengine.htmGoogle Scholar
Shibia, MG (2010) Determinants of attitudes and perceptions on resource use and management of Marsabit National Reserve, Kenya. Journal of Human Ecology 30(1): 55–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Šorgo, A, Špur, N, Škornik, S (2016) Public attitudes and opinions as dimensions of efficient management with extensive meadows in Natura 2000 area. Journal of Environmental Management 183: 637–646.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Špur, N, Škornik, S, Šorgo, A (2019) Influence of attitudinal dimensions on children’s interest in preserving extensive grasslands. Journal of Rural Studies 72: 23–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Špur, N, Šorgo, A, Škornik, S (2018) Predictive model for meadow owners’ participation in agri-environmental climate schemes in Natura 2000 areas. Land Use Policy 73: 115–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistični urad Republike Slovenije (2018) Podatkovna baza SI-STAT [www document]. URL https://www.stat.si/statwebGoogle Scholar
Unuk, T, Pipenbaher, N, Škornik, S (2018) Trophic-level differences in functional composition of the Nardus grassland vegetation. Plant Biosystems 152(5): 1134–1140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vadala, CE, Bixler, RD, James, JJ (2007) Childhood play and environmental interests: panacea or snake oil? Journal of Environmental Education 39(1): 3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Ploeg, J, Cauilan-Cureg, M, van Weerd, M, De Groot, WT (2011) Assessing the effectiveness of environmental education: mobilizing public support for Philippine crocodile conservation. Conservation Letters 4: 313–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolf, EJ, Harrington, KM, Clark, SL, Miller, MW (2013) Sample size requirements for structural equation models: an evaluation of power, bias, and solution propriety. Educational and Psychological Measurement 73(6): 913–934.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yli-Panula, E, Jeronen, E, Lemmetty, P, Pauna, A (2018) Teaching methods in biology promoting biodiversity education. Sustainability 10(3812): 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar