Preschool Children's Attitude toward Some Unpopular Animals and Formation of a Positive Attitude toward Them through Hands-On Activities

Autor/inn/en	Kos, Marjanca; Jerman, Janez; Torkar, Gregor
Titel	Preschool Children's Attitude toward Some Unpopular Animals and Formation of a Positive Attitude toward Them through Hands-On Activities
Quelle	In: Journal of Biological Education, 57 (2023) 1, S.83-100 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Kos, Marjanca)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-9266
DOI	10.1080/00219266.2021.1877779
Schlagwörter	Preschool Children; Animals; Experiential Learning; Knowledge Level; Early Childhood Education; Negative Attitudes; Attitude Change; Foreign Countries; Student Attitudes; Fear; Slovenia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Animal; Tier; Tiere; Experiental learning; Erfahrungsorientiertes Lernen; Wissensbasis; Early childhood; Education; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Negative Fixierung; Attitudinal change; Einstellungsänderung; Ausland; Schülerverhalten; Furcht; Slowenien
Abstract	Attitudes towards animals present an important foundation for nature conservation activity. This study investigates the attitude of five- to six-year-old children towards some unpopular animals. We used three types of live animals: earthworms, mealworm beetles, and a toad. In the initial tests, during which the children had the opportunity to observe and to handle the animals, we assessed the degree of children's negative attitudes towards the three types of animals chosen based on their behavioural responses. After this, we investigated children's understanding of the three types of animals through extensive inclusion of direct contact with animals in hands-on activities in an experimental group. The children in the control group had no opportunity to deal with the live animals. After the activities, the tests were repeated for both groups . The degree of negative attitude towards the animals decreased significantly among the experimental group, which was not the case in the control group. No sex differences were found in the children's response. This study provides empirical findings that direct contact with animals positively affects children's attitude towards them and supports the recommendations that experiential learning with live animals should be an integral part of the curriculum in the early years. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01