IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i7p2358-d156687.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Awareness and Its Relationship with the Concept of the Living Being: A Longitudinal Study

Author

Listed:
  • Xabier Villanueva

    (Faculty of Education Bilbao, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Sarriena, z/g, E-48940 Leioa, Basque Country, Spain)

  • José Domingo Villarroel

    (Faculty of Education Bilbao, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Sarriena, z/g, E-48940 Leioa, Basque Country, Spain)

  • Alvaro Antón

    (Faculty of Education Bilbao, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Sarriena, z/g, E-48940 Leioa, Basque Country, Spain)

Abstract

There is currently a growing theoretical discussion about the foundations that underlie the development of environmental awareness and nature care in early childhood. The aim of this study is to analyze how the environmental concerns of young children emerge and evolve during early childhood and whether these concerns are connected to an understanding of the biological notion of the living being. This study is designed to address methodological limitations of previous studies through a longitudinal axis and an extensive age sample. A sample of 178 children between the ages of four and nine participated at two different testing times for a period of one year. The methodology includes the categorization of various images of living beings and inert entities in order to analyze their understanding of living organisms. Dilemmas involving environmental, moral and socio-conventional situations are presented to examine and compare how young children view transgressions against plant life. The results reveal that young children’s judgments about environmental behaviors may arise before the development of an understanding of the concept of the living being. It is therefore proposed that this type of understanding does not support environmental awareness. Previous research indicates that complex biological concepts may be successfully introduced at the preschool age, provided that suitable educational interventions are designed for the initial stages of education. In this regard, there is evidence that a basic understanding of the issue of the ecological interactions among organisms may be achieved in the preschool years.

Suggested Citation

  • Xabier Villanueva & José Domingo Villarroel & Alvaro Antón, 2018. "Environmental Awareness and Its Relationship with the Concept of the Living Being: A Longitudinal Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-10, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:7:p:2358-:d:156687
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/7/2358/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/7/2358/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. José Domingo Villarroel & Alvaro Antón & Daniel Zuazagoitia & Teresa Nuño, 2018. "A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-11, March.
    2. José Domingo Villarroel & Xabier Villanueva, 2017. "A Study Regarding the Representation of the Sun in Young Children’s Spontaneous Drawings," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-11, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Enhui Ren & Wenpeng Lin & Bo Li & Yue Jiang & Yuxun Zhang & Yan Yu, 2024. "Regional Ecological Security Assessment Based on the Pressure–State–Response Framework: The Demonstration Zone of Yangtze River Delta as an Example," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-21, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ilargi Zaballa & Maria Merino & José Domingo Villarroel, 2021. "Children’s Pictorial Expression of Plant Life and Its Connection with School-Based Greenness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Jon Ander Garibi & Alvaro Antón & José Domingo Villarroel, 2021. "Information about Human Evolution: An Analysis of News Published in Communication Media in Spanish between 2015 and 2017," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, July.
    3. Hortensia Morón-Monge & Soraya Hamed & María del Carmen Morón Monge, 2021. "How Do Children Perceive the Biodiversity of Their nearby Environment: An Analysis of Drawings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    4. Mehmet Mart & Ahmet Simsar & Gulden Uyanik, 2022. "The Playground Perception of Syrian Refugee Children," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(1), pages 349-372, February.
    5. José Domingo Villarroel & Alvaro Antón & Daniel Zuazagoitia & Teresa Nuño, 2018. "A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-11, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:7:p:2358-:d:156687. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.