Educational experiences of indigenous children promote biophilia and environmental awarenessThe aim of this study was to access the cognitive and affective aspects of indigenous children's perception of the environment. The study is based on the understanding that the indigenous cultural context reinforces biophilia and that daily and direct contact with the natural world leads to a pro-environmental predisposition. Biophilia refers to people’s attachment to living things and includes an innate tendency to affiliate with other life forms.
Fifteen students, age 8-10, and their teacher from an indigenous school in Brazil participated in this study. Children’s perceptions and feelings about nature were accessed from their drawings and from interviews. The children’s drawings were used during the interviews to elicit discussion. Open-ended questions were also used to gain information about children’s knowledge of the subject and their experience and feelings about nature. Additional data was gathered from video records of interactions between children and natural environments outside of the school, such as a river, hills, farming areas, and clearings under the shade of trees. The children’s teacher was also interviewed for information about teaching strategies used in daily activities in the natural environment around the school.
The children’s drawings showed a preponderance of trees, the river, and the school, suggesting that these elements were important to the children. The children signed their work with both their indigenous and non-indigenous names. Because their indigenous names refer to animals, plants and natural phenomena, the use of these names reinforces people’s closeness and belonging to the natural word. This, in turn, strengthens biophilia. While the children were asked to draw pictures of nature and the environment, many of them included people and elements of the built environment suggesting that the children do not see people as separate from the rest of the natural world. Responses of the children during the interviews also suggests a closeness to nature, a concern for other living things, and an understanding that human activities can have negative environmental impacts.
The researchers conclude that using children’s drawings to access their feelings and knowledge about nature was an effective research strategy. They also conclude that daily life in natural environments as experienced by the indigenous children through both their culture and their school promotes biophilia and environmental awareness. They suggest that the Western model of education which tends to promote the gap between children and nature would do well “to take inspiration from indigenous education in order to promote biophilia and the prevention of health and mental problems among urban children.”
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