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Factors influencing primary school children's knowledge of wildlife

Huxham, Mark; Welsh, Angela; Berry, Alice; Templeton, Stuart

Authors

Angela Welsh

Alice Berry

Stuart Templeton



Abstract

We examined the wildlife knowledge of primary (aged 4-12) schoolchildren. In particular, we examined the effects of children’s age and gender, and the taxonomy and origin (indigenous versus exotic) of wildlife, on the degree of knowledge about different species. We used illustrated ‘flashcards’ of mammals, birds and arthropods, drawn randomly from a species pool. Each indigenous example was paired with an exotic animal. Wildlife knowledge overall increased steadily with age, although the ability to identify species peaked at age 9 then declined slightly. Boys had significantly greater wildlife knowledge than girls, and children of both sexes identified more indigenous than exotic species. Knowledge of birds and arthropods was significantly worse than of mammals. Knowledge of some very common indigenous species, such as sparrow and earwig, was very poor. We conclude that the potential for primary school wildlife education using very common and easily accessible species of birds and arthropods is not fully realised, and that girls in particular lack knowledge of local species.

Citation

Huxham, M., Welsh, A., Berry, A., & Templeton, S. (2006). Factors influencing primary school children's knowledge of wildlife. Journal of Biological Education, 41(1), 9-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2006.9656050

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Dec 13, 2010
Publication Date Sep 1, 2006
Deposit Date Aug 18, 2016
Publicly Available Date Aug 18, 2016
Journal Journal of Biological Education
Print ISSN 0021-9266
Electronic ISSN 2157-6009
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 41
Issue 1
Pages 9-12
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2006.9656050
Keywords Wildlife, Indigenous, Exotic, Children, Gender,
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/355312
Contract Date Aug 18, 2016

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