Preschoolers’ drawings of what nature means to them included elements of known flora and fauna, but failed to capture elements of the desert region where they liveThis study investigated preschool children’s perception of “nature” with the understanding that knowing what children thought about the environment would be helpful in designing programs aimed at promoting pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. The study was also based on the understanding that the development of an environmental identity begins during the early childhood years.
Four different schools in Hermosillo, Mexico participated in this study. Three of the schools are located in an urban area; one near the coast. The entire area reflects a desert environment. A total of 118 preschool children (age 5-6) from these schools completed drawings of the first thing that came to their minds when they heard the word nature. Each student described their drawing while making it or after it was finished. A researcher recorded each child’s description on a separate sheet of paper.
In analyzing the drawings according to their components, researchers identified six different frequently-occurring categories: location, plants, animals, abiotic, water, and people. The “animals” category had the highest frequency, with animals being present 171 times in the 118 drawings. Some of the depicted animals (e.g., giraffes) are not typical of where the students live. Bodies of water were depicted only 29 times. Only two children from the coastal area drew the sea. Humans were depicted only 40 times, making the human factor the second less frequent element presented in the children’s drawings. While human depictions appeared in just 13 drawings, 81 children answered positively when asked if they felt part of nature. These positive responses indicate that some children “include an environmental identity as a part of their self-definition, despite most not expressing it in their drawings.”
While the preschool children’s ideas of what nature represents includes elements of known flora and fauna, their depictions of nature did not include many elements of the desert region in which they live. These findings are consistent with other research showing that children’s understanding about near-by nature may depend more on formal environmental education experiences than on their experiences relating to where they live. These results “may have implications for understanding the concept of nature in early childhood, which may be useful in practical decision making for curricular design of environmental education programs and psychoeducational intervention in the future.”
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