Educational Gardens and Climate Change Education: An Analysis of Spanish Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions
Educational gardens are powerful outdoor learning environments to address the subject of climate change and foster climate action. Using an online questionnaire, this study examines the influence of the main sociodemographic and academic factors, and the role of connectedness to nature, on the perce...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/4/275 |
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| author | Diego Corrochano Enzo Ferrari María Antonia López-Luengo Vanessa Ortega-Quevedo |
| author_facet | Diego Corrochano Enzo Ferrari María Antonia López-Luengo Vanessa Ortega-Quevedo |
| author_sort | Diego Corrochano |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Educational gardens are powerful outdoor learning environments to address the subject of climate change and foster climate action. Using an online questionnaire, this study examines the influence of the main sociodemographic and academic factors, and the role of connectedness to nature, on the perception of educational gardens as contexts of climate change education (CCE) among Spanish preservice teachers (PSTs). The sample consisted of 889 PSTs enrolled in 9 university campuses of Spain. The statistical analyses performed evidenced that women are more likely to use educational gardens than men and that there is a progressive decrease in the positive perception of PSTs about the usefulness of gardens for CCE as the educational level at which they are being trained increases. Statistics also revealed that the variable connectedness to nature and the rating of the importance of educational gardens in CCE are not significantly related. Nevertheless, the Mann–Whitney U test indicated that PSTs who scored higher on connection to nature wished to broaden their knowledge of sustainable agriculture and, thus, connectedness to nature could be considered a predictor of environmental attitudes, each influencing the other. Based on these findings, recommendations for PSTs’ training in the CCE context are provided. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:45:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c34da0606b7d4af9b4db77214511a901 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:45:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-c34da0606b7d4af9b4db77214511a9012023-11-30T21:01:07ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022022-04-0112427510.3390/educsci12040275Educational Gardens and Climate Change Education: An Analysis of Spanish Preservice Teachers’ PerceptionsDiego Corrochano0Enzo Ferrari1María Antonia López-Luengo2Vanessa Ortega-Quevedo3Department of Mathematics Education and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, SpainDepartment of Mathematics Education and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, SpainDepartment of Sciences Education, Social Sciences Education and Mathematics Education, Universidad de Valladolid, 47002 Valladolid, SpainDepartment of Sciences Education, Social Sciences Education and Mathematics Education, Universidad de Valladolid, 47002 Valladolid, SpainEducational gardens are powerful outdoor learning environments to address the subject of climate change and foster climate action. Using an online questionnaire, this study examines the influence of the main sociodemographic and academic factors, and the role of connectedness to nature, on the perception of educational gardens as contexts of climate change education (CCE) among Spanish preservice teachers (PSTs). The sample consisted of 889 PSTs enrolled in 9 university campuses of Spain. The statistical analyses performed evidenced that women are more likely to use educational gardens than men and that there is a progressive decrease in the positive perception of PSTs about the usefulness of gardens for CCE as the educational level at which they are being trained increases. Statistics also revealed that the variable connectedness to nature and the rating of the importance of educational gardens in CCE are not significantly related. Nevertheless, the Mann–Whitney U test indicated that PSTs who scored higher on connection to nature wished to broaden their knowledge of sustainable agriculture and, thus, connectedness to nature could be considered a predictor of environmental attitudes, each influencing the other. Based on these findings, recommendations for PSTs’ training in the CCE context are provided.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/4/275school gardenclimate literacyoutdoor educationconnectedness to naturegenderteacher education |
| spellingShingle | Diego Corrochano Enzo Ferrari María Antonia López-Luengo Vanessa Ortega-Quevedo Educational Gardens and Climate Change Education: An Analysis of Spanish Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions Education Sciences school garden climate literacy outdoor education connectedness to nature gender teacher education |
| title | Educational Gardens and Climate Change Education: An Analysis of Spanish Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions |
| title_full | Educational Gardens and Climate Change Education: An Analysis of Spanish Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions |
| title_fullStr | Educational Gardens and Climate Change Education: An Analysis of Spanish Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Educational Gardens and Climate Change Education: An Analysis of Spanish Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions |
| title_short | Educational Gardens and Climate Change Education: An Analysis of Spanish Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions |
| title_sort | educational gardens and climate change education an analysis of spanish preservice teachers perceptions |
| topic | school garden climate literacy outdoor education connectedness to nature gender teacher education |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/4/275 |
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