Young children's environmental judgement and its relationship with their understanding of the concept of living things

• Autorzy: José Domingo Villarroel , Álvaro Antón , Daniel Zuazagoitia , Teresa Nuño
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

Do young children think that plants deserve morally-based respect or, on the contrary, do they feel that respect for plant life is nothing more than another behavioural norm similar to, for instance, one that states that you should not pick your nose in public? This study examines how dilemmas involving environmental, moral and socio-conventional situations are comprehended in early childhood so as to investigate the issue of whether young children attach a significant degree of severity to transgressions against plant life in comparison with disregarding socially accepted rules. Additionally, young children's judgements are put into perspective alongside their understanding of the concept of living things in order to shed light on the role that grasping essential biological notions might play in the emergence of young children's assessments of actions that pose a threat to the environment. The sample of the study consists of 328 children (162 girls and 166 boys) who attend Early Years Education or Primary Education and the data examined comes from the individual interviews conducted with the children. The results are discussed in connection with the current understanding of the source of ethical judgements which emphasises the importance that emotions seem to play in the construction of moral thinking.(original abstract)

Słowa kluczowe

EN

Education; Primary education; School children; Ecological awareness

PL

Edukacja; Szkolnictwo podstawowe; Dzieci szkolne; Świadomość ekologiczna

• Czasopismo: Environmental & Socio-economic Studies
• Rocznik: 2017
• Tom: 5
• Numer: nr 1
• Strony: 1--10

Twórcy

autor

José Domingo Villarroel

• Faculty of Education-Bilbao,University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU),Leioa, Spain

autor

Álvaro Antón

• Education and Sport Faculty,University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain

autor

Daniel Zuazagoitia

• Education and Sport Faculty,University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain

autor

Teresa Nuño

• Faculty of Education-Bilbao,University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU),Leioa, Spain

Bibliografia

• Aliki. 1990. Manners. New York, Greenwillow Books.
• Ardoin N.M., Wheaton M., Bowers A.W., Hunt C.A., Durham W.H. 2015. Nature-based tourism's impact on environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior: A review and analysis of the literature and potential future research. "J. Sustain. Tourism", 236: 838-858. [Web of Science]
• Bethel E. 2011. My choice [kindle version]. Mochibooks. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com
• Bratanova B., Loughnan S., Gatersleben B. 2012. The moral circle as a common motivational cause of cross-situational pro-environmentalism." Eur. J. Soc. Psychol.", 425: 539-545.
• Clayton S., Devine-Wright P., Stern P.C., Whitmarsh L., Carrico A., Steg L., Bonnes M. 2015. Psychological research and global climate change. "Nature Climate Change", 57: 640-646.
• Collado S., Evans G.W., Corraliza J.A., Sorrel M.A. 2015. The role played by age on children's pro-ecological behaviors: An exploratory analysis. "J. Environ. Psychol.", 44: 85-94. [Web of Science]
• Ergazaki M., Andriotou E. 2010. From "forest fires" and "hunting" to disturbing "habitats" and "food chains": Do young children come up with any ecological interpretations of human interventions within a forest? "Res. Sci. Educ.", 402: 187-201. [Web of Science]
• Frost R., Koeppen P. 1994. Swinger of birches. Gilsum, Stemmer House Publ.
• Gifford R. 2014. Environmental psychology matters. Psychology, 651: 541.
• Gifford R., Nilsson A. 2014. Personal and social factors that influence pro-environmental concern and behaviour: A review. "Int. J. Psychol.", 493: 141-157. doi:10.1002/ijop.12034 [Crossref]
• Gomboli M. 1997. Ecoeducación. Madrid, Bruño.
• Haidt J. 2001. The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. "Psychol. Rev."., 1084: 814.
• Haidt J., Bjorklund F. 2008. Social intuitionists answer six questions about moral psychology. [in:] Sinnott-Armstrong W. (red.) Moral psychology. the cognitive science of morality: Intuition and diversity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press: 181-217.
• Heiphetz L., Young L. 2014. A social cognitive developmental perspective on moral judgment. "Behaviour", 1512-3: 315-335. [Web of Science]
• Helion C., Pizarro D.A. 2014. Beyond dual-processes: The interplay of reason and emotion in moral judgment. [in:] Levy N., Clausen J. (red. Handbook for neuroethics. Netherlands, Springer: 109-125. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4707-4_160 [Crossref]
• Ho F.J., Lin Y.J., Kuo H.Y., Huang Y.C., Chung C.Y., Lai W.L., Liao S.W. 2014. Using structural equation modeling to analyze knowledge, attitudes, and behavior concerning wetland conservation. "Adv. Mater. Res.", 955-959: 1418-1422.
• Hussar K.M., Horvath J.C. 2011. Do children play fair with mother nature? understanding children's judgments of environmentally harmful actions. "J. Environ. Psychol"., 314: 309-313. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2011.05.001 [Crossref]
• Killen M., Rizzo M.T. 2014. Morality, intentionality and intergroup attitudes. "Behaviour", 1512-3: 337-359. [Web of Science]
• Kline R.B. 2004. Beyond significance testing: Reforming data analysis methods in behavioral research. Washington, DC, American Psychological Association.
• Leavitt K., Zhu L., Aquino K. 2015. Good without knowing it: Subtle contextual cues can activate moral identity and reshape moral intuition. "J. Bus. Ethics", 137: 785. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2746-6 [Crossref] [Web of Science]
• Leddon E.M., Waxman S.R., Medin D.L. 2009. Unmasking "alive": Children's appreciation of a concept linking all living things. "J. Cognition Dev.", 94: 461-473. [Web of Science]
• Llewellyn C. 2001. Why should I share? New York, Barron's Educational Series.
• Maherally U.N. 2014. Development and validation of the life sciences assessment: A measure of preschool children's conceptions of basic life sciences. Unpublished University of Cincinnati, Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/
• Margett T.E., Witherington D.C. 2011. The nature of preschoolers' concept of living and artificial objects. Child Dev., 826: 2067-2082. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01661.x; 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01661.x [Crossref]
• Martin J.F. 2015. Adolescents' and young adults' understanding of others' moral decisions. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation. UC Berkeley, Berkeley.
• Martínez-Losada C., García-Barros S., Garrido M. 2014. How children characterise living beings and the activities in which they engage. "J. Biol. Educ.", 484: 201-210. doi:10.1080/00219266.2013.849281 [Web of Science] [Crossref]
• McKissack P.C., McKissack F., McKissack P. 1988. Messy bessey's school desk. Chicago, Children's Press.
• Morse D.T. 1999. MINSIZE2: A computer program for determining effect size and minimum sample size for statistical significance for univariate, multivariate, and nonparametric tests. "Educ. Psychol. Meas.", 593: 518-531.
• Osborne R., Freyberg P. 1985. Learning in science. The implications of children's science. Auckland, Heinemann Education.
• Prajapati B., Dunne M., Armstrong R. 2010. Sample size estimation and statistical power analyses. Optometry Today, 1607.
• Robelia B., Murphy T. 2012. What do people know about key environmental issues? A review of environmental knowledge surveys. "Environ. Educ. Res.", 183: 299-321. [Web of Science]
• Schroeder M., Graham S.A., McKeough A., Stock H., Palmer J. 2010. Gender differences in preschoolers' understanding of the concept of life. "J. Early Childhood Res.", 83: 227-238. doi:10.1177/1476718X10366766 [Crossref]
• Siegel S., Castellan N.J. 1988. Non parametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York.
• Smetana J., Jambon M., Ball C. 2014. The social domain approach to children's moral and social judgments. [in:] Killen M., Smetana J. (red.) "Handbook of moral development". Mahwah, Erlbaum: 23-45.
• Smetana J.G. 2006. Social-cognitive domain theory: Consistencies and variations in children's moral and social judgments. [in:] Killen M., Smetana J. (red.) "Handbook of moral development." Mahwah, Erlbaum: 119-153.
• Szekely R.D., Miu, A.C. 2015. Bridging cognition and emotion in moral decision making: Role of emotion regulation. [in:] Bryant M. L. (red.) Handbook on emotion regulation: Processes, cognitive effects and social consequences. New York, Nova Science: 199-216.
• Thomas P., Harker H. 2000. Stop picking on me. New York, Barron's Educational Series.
• Turiel E. 1983. The development of social knowledge. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Press.
• Villarroel J.D. 2013. Environmental judgment in early childhood and its relationship with the understanding of the concept of living beings. "Springerplus", 21: 87-1801-2-87. Epub 2013 Mar 7. doi:10.1186/2193-1801-2-87 [Crossref]
• Villarroel J.D., Infante G. 2014. Early understanding of the concept of living things: An examination of young children's drawings of plant life. "J. Biol. Educ.", 483: 119-126. doi:10.1080/00219266.2013.837406 [Crossref] [Web of Science]
• Volker M.A. 2006. Reporting effect size estimates in school psychology research. Psychol. Schools, 436: 653-672.
• Welkowitz J., Cohen B.H., Ewen R.B. 1996. Introductory Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. (6th ed.). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Wolschke-Bulmahn J., Gröning G. 1994. Children's comics: An opportunity for education to know and to care for nature? "Children's Environ.", 113: 232-242. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41515265
• Wright K., Poulin-Dubois D., Kelley E. 2015. The animate-inanimate distinction in preschool children. British J. Dev. Psychol, 331: 73-91. doi:10.1111/bjdp.12068 [Crossref] [Web of Science]
• Wright W. 2013. Farting book: Are you smart when you fart? [kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon Digital Services.
• Yorek N., Sahin M., Aydin H. 2009. Are animals 'more alive' than plants? animistic-anthropocentric construction of life concept." Eurasia J. Math., Sci. Tech. Educ.", 54: 369-378.

Identyfikatory

DOI

10.1515/environ-2017-0001