Conservation education may help humans and wildlife coexist. In particular, education aimed at children may shape their long-term views of wildlife, and children's knowledge may even transfer to parents, amplifying the impacts of education across generations. One strategy often integrated into short conservation awareness programs is anthropomorphism, or attributing human-like traits to wildlife and other non-human animals. This approach can increase human connection to the species in question, which may in turn help solidify learning and promote conservation behaviors. This study investigated the effects of a Komodo dragon awareness program involving both anthropomorphism and factual information in Flores, Indonesia. Specifically, the authors sought to determine whether this mixed approach program improved children's knowledge about Komodo dragons.
In 2016, the researchers delivered a two-hour Komodo dragon program to 137 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students at three elementary schools located in North Flores, Indonesia. In this area, there are conflicts between Komodos and humans, such that humans are disturbing Komodo habitat through burning and harvesting the forest, dogs, deer hunting, and people killing Komodos that disturb their livestock. The educational program included a short video derived from a storybook about Komodo dragons, a factual information PowerPoint presentation about Komodo dragon biology, and lastly and a short informational video with real Komodo dragon footage. Before the program, students took a pre-test with eight questions designed to measure Komodo knowledge. After the program, students took a post-test with five of the eight questions from the pre-test, and one additional question about their feelings towards Komodos..
Based on the pre-test, students demonstrated familiarity with Komodo dragons prior to the program. After the program, students' knowledge about basic biology, habitat, and conservation efforts associated with Komodo dragons increased. For example, more students chose the correct responses “not hunting deer” (79 in the pre-test, 109 in the post-test) and “not burning the savanna and destroying the forest (107 in the pre-test, 120 in the post-test) in the post-tests versus the pre-test. Though inconsistent with this trend was that three more students incorrectly chose 'hunt and kill deer' as a way to conserve Komodo dragons after the program than before.
The results imply that mixing anthropomorphism and factual information may be a promising tool for educating children about wildlife in a short amount of time as understanding seemed to increase overall. The anthropomorphism, such as displayed through the storybook in this study, can trigger interest in students as they can find similarities between themselves and the animals, and the factual information then aims to increase knowledge about the animal. The persistence and slight increases in the misconception that hunting deer can promote Komodo conservation could be explained by a lack of adequate explanation from the teacher, an inability for children to understand the concept due to complexity, or a belief that hunting deer for human consumption is more important than Komodo conservation.
One limitation of this study was the use of single group intervention, meaning that no control group was used. In other words, any differences in learning outcomes between students receiving the conservation awareness program using the combination of anthropomorphism and factual information and students receiving another method (e.g., just factual information, just anthropomorphism) was not possible. Another limitation is that the study was only done with fourth through sixth grade students in one location, meaning that it would be hard to generalize the study to other ages and other locations.
The authors recommend that educators incorporate short-term conservation awareness programs that combine both anthropomorphism and factual information. When designing programs, educators must also consider student interpretation and ability to process new information. Finally, educators should find a balance between anthropomorphic material and facts to avoid extreme anthropomorphism.
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