Living in and having direct contact with natural environments can help young children develop nature-related knowledge and skills

This research was conducted with six-year-old children living in urban and rural environments in Poland. The aim was to determine whether there was a difference in the children's nature-related knowledge and skills based on where they lived. Fifty participating children lived in an urban environment; 40 in a rural environment.

During the first phase of the study, all participating children completed a pre-test assessing their nature-related knowledge and skills. This text consisted of six illustrated worksheet cards with age-appropriate tasks for children. Children's performance was rated on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 indicating low level performance, 2 average level, and 3 high level. During the following six-month research period, teachers organized outings to a forest, park, allotment garden, meadow, agritourism farm, and a zoo. After each trip, the children participated in follow-up activities in the classroom. Following this instructional period, the children completed a post-test designed to measure their knowledge and skills of ecosystems observed in the meadow, park, forest and zoo. The post-test consisted of ten illustrated cards with images of the different ecosystems and a related question for each card. Children's responses were evaluated and recorded using a three-step scale, similar to the one used for the pre-test.

Pre-test results included 50% of the children in rural pre-schools and 32% in urban ones scoring at a high level of knowledge. These scores reflect significant differences in level of nature-related knowledge between rural and urban children. The post-test scores from both groups of children showed an increase in the level of knowledge and skills compared to the pre-test performance. Eighty percent of the children from rural preschools and 72% from urban ones scored at a high level of knowledge on the post-test.

This research indicates that the environment in which children live can have an impact on shaping their nature-related knowledge and skills. This research also indicates that providing direct contact with the natural environment is an effective method for helping young children learn about nature.