Effects of Occasional Visits to Botanical Gardens on the Attitude to Nature in Primary Schoolchildren in Russian Arctic

The relevance of exploring the ways to impact the Russian Arctic schoolchildren’s attitudes towards nature is explained by the contradictions between the obvious social significance of this issue (and at the same time its wide application possibilities) and the lack of Russian researchers interested in it. Our hypothesis was that occasional visits to botanical gardens can have a significant impact on the development of personal attitudes towards nature in primary schoolchildren of the Russian Arctic. The aim of this study was to identify the specifics of environmental attitudes in a group of primary school students of the Russian Arctic region and to evaluate the impact of occasional visits to the botanical garden on these attitudes. The study involved 60 students of 2-4 grades of secondary schools of the Murmansk region and was conducted using the technique by S.D. Deryabo and V.A. Yasvin "AESOP" (Emotions, Knowledge, Protection, Benefit) on the basis of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden of the the N.A. Avrorin Institute of the Kola Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences. The outcomes of the study show that primary school children living in the Russian Arctic, just like their peers from other regions, generally perceive nature as an aesthetic object. However, their perception of nature tends to have a decreased cognitive component (‘Knowledge’). We conclude that occasional visits to botanical gardens that engage children in a specially organized cognitive activity can be considered significant only in terms of the pragmatic component (‘Benefit’) of the environmental attitude.

1. Deriabo S.D., Iasvin V.A. Metodiki diagnostiki i korrektsii otnosheniya k prirode [Methods of diagnostics and correction of attitude to nature]. Moscow: TsKFL RAO, 1995. 147 p. (In Russ.).
2. Kamnev A.N., Mikhailova T.A. Osobennosti razvitiya sub"ektnosti podrostka vo vzaimodeistvii s prirodnoi sredoi v usloviyakh detskogo obrazovatel'no-ozdorovitel'nogo lagerya [Features of the Development of a Teenager’s Subjectivity in Interaction with the Natural Environment in a Children’s Educational and Health Camp]. Psikhologo-pedagogicheskie issledovaniya = Psychological-Educational Studies, 2021. Vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 57–71. DOI:10.17759/psyedu.2021130104 (In Russ.).
3. Mukhortova E.A. Otnoshenie k prirode u shkol'nikov i studentov – zhitelej megapolisa [Attitude toward Nature in School and University Students from Megalopolis]. Psikhologo-pedagogicheskie issledovaniya = Psychological-Educational Studies, 2021. Vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 83–97. DOI:10.17759/psyedu.2021130306 (In Russ.).
4. Poletaeva O.V. Professional'noe dolgoletie i psikhologicheskoe zdorov'e v usloviyakh Arktiki. [Professional longevity and psychological health in the Arctic]. Vestnik Kurganskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta = Bulletin of the Kurgan University, 2017, no. 1(44), pp. 118–122. (In Russ.).
5. Sovetova M.P. Integrativnye obrazovatel'nye programmy dlya obuchayushchikhsya nachal'nykh klassov v botanicheskom sadu [Integrative educational programs for primary school students in the Botanical Garden]. Perspektivnye napravleniia issledovanii problem biologicheskogo i ekologicheskogo obrazovaniia. 19-21 nojabrja 2019 = Promising areas of research on the problems of biological and environmental education. November 19-21, 2019. Saint-Petersburg: Svoe izdatel'stvo, 2019, pp. 167–170. (In Russ.).
6. Armstrong E.L. et. al. Cognitive abilities amongst the Sámi population. Intelligence, 2014, no. 46, pp. 35–39. DOI:10.1016/j.intell.2014.03.009
7. Caciuc V.-T. Reflections on the Ways to Build up Responsibility towards Nature in Primary School. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014, no. 149, pp. 136–141. DOI:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.08.177
8. Collado S., Evans G.W. Outcome expectancy: A key factor to understanding childhood exposure to nature and children's pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2019, no. 61, pp. 30–36. DOI:10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.12.001
9. Cook N., Heyes A. Brain freeze: outdoor cold and indoor cognitive performance. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2020, no. 101, p. 102318. DOI:10.1016/j.jeem.2020.102318
10. Ebersbach M. et. al. Factors that affect primary school children’s sustainable behavior in a resource dilemma. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2019, no. 184, pp. 18–33. DOI:10.1016/j.jecp.2019.03.007
11. Evans H.J. Sustainability in out-of-school science education: identifying the unique potentials. Environmental Education Research, 2021. DOI:10.1080/13504622.2021.1893662
12. Hughes J. et. al. Age and connection to nature: when is engagement critical? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2019. Vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 265–269. DOI:10.1002/fee.2035
13. Kaganovich N., Ancel E. Different neural processes underlie visual speech perception in school-age children and adults: An event-related potentials study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2019, no. 184, pp. 98–122. DOI:10.1016/j.jecp.2019.03.009
14. Manrique D.R. et. al. Arctic: Traditional Knowledge, Livelihoods and Community Engagement. Setting the Scene [Электронный ресурс]. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018. 70 p. DOI:10.2760/61611 (дата обращения: 16.08.2021).
15. Nartova-Bochaver S., Mukhortova E. If people are attached to plants, do they love other people? Case of the Russian youth [Электронный ресурс]. Behavioral Sciences, 2020. Vol. 10, no. 2. DOI:10.3390/bs10020040 (дата обращения: 26.11.2021).
16. Ngo K.M. et. al. The influence of childhood nature experience on attitudes and tolerance towards problem-causing animals in Singapore. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2019, no. 41, pp. 150–157. DOI:10.1016/j.ufug.2019.04.003
17. Otto S., Evans G.W., Moon M.J., Kaiser F.G. The development of children’s environmental attitude and behavior. Global Environmental Change, 2019, no. 58, pp. 10194. DOI:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101947
18. Simsar A. et. al. The ecocentric and anthropocentric attitudes towards different environmental phenomena: A sample of Syrian refugee children. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 2021, no. 70, pp. 101005. DOI:10.1016/j.stueduc.2021.101005
19. Timlin U. et. al. A. Living conditions and mental wellness in a changing climate and environment: focus on community voices and perceived environmental and adaptation factors in Greenland. Heliyon, 2021, no. 7(4), pp. E06862. DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06862
20. Trombley J. et. al. Climate Change and Mental Health. The American Journal of Nursing, 2017, no. 117(4), pp. 44–52. DOI:10.1097/01.NAJ.0000515232.51795.fa

PlumX

article metrics