Teachers’ perspectives and practices on biodiversity web portals as an opportunity to reconnect education with nature

Abstract

Summary Biodiversity loss is a complex issue and a risk that education cannot overlook. Teachers play a crucial role in how biodiversity, and in particular local biodiversity, is understood. To provide insight into how to improve communication on the subject, we investigate teachers’ perspectives and social representations regarding biodiversity, their fluency in terms of Internet use, their familiarity with biodiversity web portals and perceived pedagogical usefulness of technology. A sample of 243 K–12 schoolteachers of multiple scientific domains from eight Azorean islands answered an online survey, including three free-word association tests using inductive terms such as ‘Internet’, ‘biodiversity’ and ‘familiar biodiversity portals’. Overall, the schoolteachers failed to incorporate the multidimensionality of the biodiversity concept (including natural science teachers) or to show technological fluency, and they tended not to use biodiversity web portals as tools to engage students in teaching activities. Our results indicate that teachers’ perspectives about biodiversity need to be broadened and improved and that it is worth exploring whether information and communication technology represents a window of opportunity to do so. As an example, biodiversity web portals, which are widely recognized as trustworthy information repositories, may be used to engage teachers in this endeavour.

What Is Most Desirable for Nature? An Analysis of Azorean Pupils’ Biodiversity Perspectives When Deciding on Ecological Scenarios

“…MS girls' greater preference for schemes C and E compared with MS boys may be explained by the particular emphasis placed by the former group on species richness. This finding agrees with several studies that revealed that biodiversity perspectives are still largely centered on species richness/diversity, neglecting other important dimensions of the concept [12,13,[21][22][23]. HS pupils' (of both genders) predilection for scheme F may be attributed to the importance attached to a natural colonization mode, and their greater knowledge and awareness of invasive species and associated threats compared with MS pupils.…”

“…An example is the recently created subject "Azores History, Geography and Culture", starting in 2019-2020, that focuses, among other things, on local biodiversity and biological invasions [46]. As a result of changes in the formal Portuguese curriculum and the emergence of new educational approaches adopted by educators [22], among other factors, it is expected that Azorean pupils' biodiversity perspectives will have changed in the last nine years. However, how much they have changed and contributed to raising ecological literacy levels and engagement in environmental citizenship remains to be studied.…”

“…To date, several studies have examined individual perspectives on biodiversity [12,[18][19][20][21][22]. For instance, Dikmenli [20], studying 130 biology students in Turkey, found eight conceptual categories associated with the biodiversity terms: "Ecosystem Diversity", "Species Diversity", "Biological Kingdoms", "Genetic Diversity", "Environmental Problems", "Taxonomic ranks", "Technology" and "Scientists", in descending order of relevance.…”

“…For instance, Dikmenli [20], studying 130 biology students in Turkey, found eight conceptual categories associated with the biodiversity terms: "Ecosystem Diversity", "Species Diversity", "Biological Kingdoms", "Genetic Diversity", "Environmental Problems", "Taxonomic ranks", "Technology" and "Scientists", in descending order of relevance. A study of 243 Azorean teachers emphasized the species-level and conservation relevance of "biodiversity" as detrimental to the ecosystem and genetic dimensions [22]. A more limited number of studies have investigated how pupils' perspectives regarding ecology and biodiversity are applied in a simulated environmental decision-making context [4,5,13,23,24].…”

Teaching Biodiversity: Towards a Sustainable and Engaged Education

“…Moreover, an incomplete understanding of biodiversity has been acknowledged by previous studies. According to a study conducted in the Azores in Portugal [36], teachers' representations of biodiversity share some common points with the definition of the concept of biodiversity, although most focus only on the species dimension. A study of Dikmenli (2010), about the conceptual framework of biodiversity in 130 biology training teachers, shows that even if they had a more varied and technical vocabulary related to biodiversity, they still had an incomplete understanding of the concept.…”