Discipline-Based Education Research Group
ORCID IDs
Date of this Version
9-20-2012
Document Type
Article
Citation
Presented to UNL Discipline-Based Education Research Group, 2012.
Abstract
This presentation will summarize an investigation of young children’s conservation knowledge and reasoning. Eighty‐two preschool aged children (3‐5 years) were interviewed at two points in time six months apart using a semi‐structured interview. The interview protocol developed by Peter Kahn (2001) was used to assess children’s conservation attitudes. This was the first time the interview was used with preschool aged children. Children were asked questions about the importance of animals, plants, parks, and gardens, and whether it is acceptable to litter (and why or why not). Fifty‐seven of the children attended a preschool located at a nature center, ten children attended an urban preschool program that visited the nature center once or twice per month, and fifteen children attended a suburban, nonnature focused preschool (data collection is ongoing for the comparison samples). Interviews were transcribed and coded for children’s knowledge and conservation reasoning.
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Higher Education Commons, Science and Mathematics Education Commons
Comments
Copyright 2012, Julia Torquati.