Biology Teachers’ Worldviews on the Global Distribution and Loss of Biodiversity: A GIS-Based Mental-Mapping Approach

Abstract

This paper explores (1) student teachers’ mental maps of the global distribution and loss of biodiversity and (2) their perception of threatened biodiversity at the national, transnational and global levels. Data was collected from a questionnaire study of student biology teachers from Germany ( n = 868) and Costa Rica ( n = 284). Student teachers’ mental maps matched quite well with the scientific view. Nevertheless, they clearly showed a “brazilisation bias,” meaning that the first and foremost country associated with high and threatened biodiversity was Brazil. Industrialized countries were often misconceived to have a particularly threatened biodiversity. Except for Brazil (and Costa Rica in the Costa Rican sample), most students neglected a connection between a country’s high biodiversity and its high threat as proposed by the biodiversity hotspots concept. Despite this common ground, major ethnocentric distortions merged in the composite mental maps for each sample: German students had a more global perspective on biodiversity and its loss, whereas Costa Ricans students had a more localized view. Student teachers from both countries have largely overestimated the percentage of threatened plant species on a national, transnational and global level (“overestimation bias”). In addition, the estimated percentage of threatened plant species have correspondingly increased with a greater distance from the students’ home country (“spatial optimism bias”). Results will be discussed in terms of educational implications.

Student Teachers’ Knowledge to Enable Problem-Solving for Sustainable Development

“…Furthermore, Dikmenli's [30] investigation of biology student teachers showed that the important role of biodiversity in terms of SD often remains unrecognized. Compared to scientific data, secondary pre-service science teachers consistently overestimated the percentages of threatened plant species on different spatial levels (national, transnational, and global) [33]. However, knowledge about highly complex SD challenges, like biodiversity loss and climate change, represents a key requirement for ESD.…”

“…Furthermore, science teachers in the US were unaware of the extent of scientific consensus about anthropogenic climate change [28]. Concerning biodiversity, previous research suggests that science teachers possess insufficient knowledge [30][31][32][33][34]. British, German, Cypriot, and Swiss student teachers were often found to be not familiar with the term "biodiversity" [31].…”

“…They assessed Canadian secondary school science curricula documents and textbooks and found that, for example, the documents cast doubt on the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change and the trend of global warming [64]. Regarding biodiversity, it was shown that student teachers' estimations of threats to plant species markedly differed from scientific data by overestimations [33]. One explanation would be the cognitive performance required to balance the total number of plants against the number of threatened plants [33].…”

“…Regarding biodiversity, it was shown that student teachers' estimations of threats to plant species markedly differed from scientific data by overestimations [33]. One explanation would be the cognitive performance required to balance the total number of plants against the number of threatened plants [33].…”

“…Furthermore, the complexity of SD challenges may have required a high cognitive performance cf. [33] and led to incorrect estimations. Moreover, differences between subjects might have been underestimated, as the respondents who studied two ESD-relevant subjects (n = 24) were assigned to both subjects, and sample sizes differ.…”