Children’s Perception of Climate Change in North-Eastern Portugal

Abstract

Despite the impact that climate change is having on our planet and considering its consequences for future generations, much of the academic literature focuses on adolescent and adult perceptions, giving little relevance to children’s perceptions. Children’s voices have the potential to influence public opinion, which may in turn determine the direction of a new policy on the climate crisis. In this context, it is urgent that we understand how children perceive this problem. This quantitative study was based on the application of 245 questionnaires to children aged between 9 and 13 years old from five schools in north-eastern Portugal, more specifically in the region of Trás-os-Montes. We can say that this study was a convenience study because we delivered the surveys in the schools closest to the working area of the researchers. We used a questionnaire with 26 questions, 24 of which had closed responses (like the Likert type), one open response, and one with multiple choices. In this work, we conducted a descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, and prepared a database, using the statistical software IBM SPSS, which allowed us to conduct some statistical tests, selected according to variables. For the descriptive analysis, several parameters were used for the distribution of variables, namely, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. We rejected the null hypothesis (H0) and assumed for the inferential analysis that the sample does not follow a normal distribution, considering the fulfillment of the necessary criteria for parametric tests and after performing the Kolmogorov–Smirnov normality test, whose null hypothesis (H0) is that data are normally distributed, and given that the p-value for the variables under study was p < 0.05. In this regard, non-parametric tests were used. The Mann–Whitney test was used to compare the degree of agreement with climate change statements as a function of the student’s gender and year of schooling, which is a non-parametric test suitable for comparing the distribution functions of an ordinal variable measured in two independent samples. The results show that most of the children expressed concern about the study’s potential problem, and (42%) said they are concerned about climate change. However, they show some doubts and a lack of knowledge about some of the themes, like (33.5%) cannot name only one consequence of climate change. We also found differences between the two study cycles, with children in the 6th grade having a higher average in their understanding of the phenomenon (p = 0.049), as well as the level of education of the parents being positively correlated with a more ecocentric posture, we can see this when we considering the variable parents. We also found that 46.6% of the students say that television is where they learn more about climate change. From the results obtained, we can open new paths for future research and contribute to the definition of policies and educational practices since the school has the responsibility to cooperate in the production of values, attitudes, and pro-environmental behaviors.

Activity Proposals to Improve Children’s Climate Literacy and Environmental Literacy

“…In analyzing the answers provided by the 16 children, we were able to verify that they did not experience difficulties in enumerating the causes and consequences of climate change, leading us to infer that the proposed activities contributed to overcoming difficulties that they had previously demonstrated and that had been identified in another study [6].…”

“…Carrying out practical activities similar to those developed can lead to new reflections, through which children will be able to construct new concepts and, on the other hand, motivate themselves to be more responsible citizens towards the environment [39]. During the analysis of data from the survey carried out in another previous study [6], one of the gaps was to list the causes and consequences of climate change; 48% were unable to list a cause or consequence of climate change. After these interventions, all the children who responded to the focus group interview were able to list actions or behaviors that contribute to climate change, as well as some of their consequences.…”

“…About 90% of brain development takes place in childhood, which is why it is suggested that activities involving play are fundamental for learning, and it is at this age that we should help to build an affective bond between children and nature, trying to incentivize them to develop attitudes and behaviors to preserve the environment and perpetuate them into adulthood [3]. This premise is even more relevant in the "Western world", where climate change tends to be perceived as a distant phenomenon [4,5], and climate literacy is lower than expected [6][7][8].…”

“…The activities proposed in this study follow from a previous study by the same authors [6], which identified some perceptions that the children involved in the study had about climate change. These children showed difficulties in distinguishing between the causes and consequences of climate change and a lack of knowledge of the concept of the ecological footprint, among other things.…”

Educação para as alterações climáticas: uma revisão bibliométrica na Web of Science

“…É necessário que a educação sobre e para as alterações climáticas se enraize no sistema de ensino desde cedo, para melhorar as atitudes e comportamentos (RAMOS; RODRIGUES; RODRIGUES, 2022b). Vários estudos evidenciam a baixa literacia climática dos alunos na Europa e no resto do mundo (CHEN, 2011;LUTZ;MUTTARAK;STRIESSNIG, 2014;SCHOOL EDUCATION GATEWAY, 2020;RODRIGUES, 2022b). Coincidentemente, bastantes investigações reiteram a carência formativa da docência para colmatar a falta de literacia (SANTOS; OLIVEIRA, 2023; CÂMARA; SANTOS; AZEITEIRO, 2014;VIANA, 2022;RAMOS et al, 2022c).…”