Children’s ideas about the internal structure of trees: cross-age studies

Trees are important to the environment owing to their ecological services. However, many aspects of their form and function are poorly understood by the public. From their earliest years, children have an elementary knowledge about plants which they gain from their everyday observations, their parents and other people and from their kindergarten and primary schooling. The goal of this research was to investigate Polish children’s understanding of trees’ internal structure. This cross-age study involved 5-year-old children from kindergarten (n = 57, 26 boys and 31 girls) and 7-year-old children (n = 105, 57 boys and 48 girls) and 10-year-old children (83 children, 36 boys and 47 girls) from primary school. Participants were asked to draw the internal structure of a tree. The results of the study showed that there were some significant differences in the responses between age groups and between the genders. Nevertheless, there were some ideas that were shared among all age groups indicating that they might be resistant to change. The study also identified some alternative conceptions about the internal structure of plants and the influence of the media on children’s ideas

“Energy for changes” the social campaign and the impact on ecological education. study case on base of biowaste problem

Jednym z obszarów przestrzeni publicznej, w której coraz częściej prowadzone są kampanie społeczne, jest edukacja ekologiczna. Zauważa się, że edukacja prośrodowiskowa potrzebuje wsparcia i komunikacji w obrębie zarówno krótkoterminowych, jak i długoterminowych programów edukacyjnych5. Jak wykazali między innymi Gupta i wsp. (2011), edukacja ekologiczna wspierająca się różnymi działaniami w ramach kampanii społecznych, przykładowo poprzez media, przynosi zadowalające efekty i można ją uznać za dobrą praktykę. Jednakże ważnym aspektem projektowania kampanii, oprócz podbudowy teoretycznej, jest także przeprowadzenie badań społecznych, które mogą mieć charakter jakościowy, to znaczy taki, który „ma na celu głębsze poznanie postaw, przekonań, motywacji i zachowań konsumenta”.In recent years we may observe growing attention that society puts on alternative energy including green energy from biogas. This kind of phenomena is also observed in political and economic activities. These actions arise not only out of concern for the environment, but are also associated with political objectives, which are diversification and decentralization of energy supply. In the Polish society we may observe rather non supportive reaction in relation to the construction of biogas plants, which can be solved partially with educating the public about this type of installation. Social campaign as a kind of social communication is realized to: promote socially appropriate behavior, attitudes and values of society, or to draw attention to an important issue that has not found a solution yet. An important site of social impact campaign is environmental education. In this paper, we present the results of a project done by high school students in the school workshops in conjunction with locally and globally significant bio-waste issues, which resulted in a positive response to the question about the actual function of social campaigns as a tool in education

Application of malacological analysis in local and regional palaeoenvironmental reconstructions - a study from the Holocene of Łapsze Niżne (Podhale, southern Poland)

This malacological analysis was conducted at a site with peat and calcareous tufas in Łapsze Niżne, Podhale (southern Poland). The study was carried out in 6 main and several complementary sections, in which 37 mollusc species were recognized represented by almost 11 000 specimens. The study enabled the reconstruction of environmental changes during the accumulation of the Holocene deposits (from the Boreal Phase till present). Conclusions drawn from these reconstructions were compared with results of malacological and palynological studies from other sites in Podhale. As a result, regional environmental reconstructions for the Holocene of the area were made. The specific composition, ecological structure and succession of molluscan assemblages from Łapsze Niżne indicate a significant role for local factors, thus demonstrating the variability of environmental conditions within a geographic region