Protected Natural Areas as a Setting for Changing Environmental Attitudes

Protected natural areas (PNAs) can serve many functions, including species protection, natural resource preservation, and community engagement. Some PNAs employ environmental education (EE) programs to involve local communities in environmental issues, and improve public attitudes and intentions toward the environment. This study sought to evaluate one such education program in Italy, investigating how it affected aspects of students' environmental perspectives, and whether those effects were transmitted to family members. The results can help other PNAs tailor their EE lessons more effectively, leading to more engaged citizens who behave more sustainably.

The authors chose to evaluate an Italian EE program called GENS-Little Guides, designed by a regional parks agency to take advantage of PNAs as an opportunity to improve young students' environmental awareness, behaviors, and attitudes. The program was inspired by research that suggest lessons in a natural setting can result in better student engagement and nature connectedness. Little Guides also attempted to engage the students' families and communities by providing opportunities for students to share their understanding of nature with those around them. The researchers evaluated the effectiveness of this program, focusing on how it changed participants' environmental attitudes, pro-environmental behavior, and personal attachment to natural spaces.

The researchers gathered data from students in grades 3-6 in two parts, which they refer to as Study 1 and Study 2. Study 1 compared nearly 300 Little Guides participants with a control group, consisting of around 130 students at local schools that did not participate in the program. The researchers distributed questionnaires to these students, which included established measures of environmental attitudes, sense of environmental ethics and values, and attachment to natural areas and cities. Study 2 followed the same procedures with a new sample of students, with roughly 130 Little Guides participants and 130 in the control group, and added a new sample of nearly 100 parents of children involved in Little Guides. The parents completed a modified version of the questionnaire, measuring similar variables with the addition of pro-environmental behavior, both before and after their children's participation.

Overall, students who participated in the Little Guides program demonstrated significantly more positive pro-environmental attitudes than students who did not participate in the program. The student who participated also experienced an increase in attachment to the PNAs. This effect was moderated by students' place of residence; students from urban areas showed greater changes after the Little Guides program than students from smaller cities or non-urban areas. The authors hypothesize that this was because students in highly developed cities would have had fewer experiences in nature, and therefore had more to learn. In Study 2, results showed that parents also experienced a shift toward pro-environmental attitudes after their children participated in Little Guides. However, this did not correspond to an increase in reported pro-environmental behaviors, suggesting that engaging with children on environmental topics was not sufficient to change parents' behavior.

Since this study evaluated just one program, its results may not be consistent with those of similar programs, due to differences in location, lesson implementation, and more. Further research evaluating other programs could lead to a broader understanding of which aspects of an EE program lead to which outcomes. Although the researchers had a large sample size of students, the number of participating parents was smaller. This makes it more difficult to understand the relationship between student perceptions and parent attitudes, which is likely complex.

The authors recommend that EE programs explicitly define their social and psychological objectives, rather than using more vague terms such as “increasing environmental concern.” This approach will help the programs effectively evaluate their progress, and tailor their strategy to the desired outcomes, as this study shows that not all programs will address all metrics of EE success. The results also emphasize the importance of understanding an audience before conducting an EE program. Just as the Little Guides program had a stronger influence on students from urban areas, different programs may be more or less helpful depending on social and demographic factors. Additionally, the authors recommend that EE programs take advantage of nearby PNAs when possible, because these areas have the potential to help improve environmental knowledge, motivation, and eventually behavior. More research could help educators understand the best ways to teach people about PNAs, and incorporate them into local community development.