What do Brazilian School Children Know about Birds in Their Country?

Year 2018, Volume: 7 Issue: 3, 485 - 499, 15.07.2018

Amauri B. Bartoszeck Waldinéia Vandrovieski Vanessa Tratch Franciane Czelusniak Sue Dale Tunnicliffe

https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.7.3.485

Abstract

Children
have a basic knowledge of birds that they observe during their everyday life
either in their garden, other gardens, round the house, walking in the local
area or in the yard on school gardens. A total of 515 children, aged 3 to 16
(249 girls and 266 boys) enrolled in southern Brazilian public preschools, primary
school and secondary schools, were invited to participate in this exploratory
study. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 206 pupils asking to name
which birds they knew, where they had seen these birds, which ones live around
home, which they had seen further away. Additionally, they were asked which
birds they knew from a list and the source of this knowledge where they had
learned about the birds. They were asked to draw on a sheet of paper a
representation of what the word “bird” meant to them. Results show the
importance of everyday observations rather than beyond formal education in the
children knowledge. Children from the earliest years notice birds in their
everyday lives, and build a bank of knowledge, gradually acquiring an understanding
of adaptation to a variety of habitats. Children notice birds in their lives to
differing extent and sources according to the culture in which they are
immersed. Experiences of seeing or finding out about birds are encapsulated for
many children in the form of narratives and contribute to their mental models
of birds and their habitats on which they will drew in formal science later
(Biology and Environmental Education). Educational implications are discussed.

Keywords

Children, birds, mental model, drawings

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