Kindergarten Children’s Perception about the Ecological Roles of Living Organisms

The study investigates kindergarten children’s perceptions of six different organisms and how important their roles (production, decomposition and pollination) are in nature. The research questions are: 1) How do children rank (the relative) importance of living organisms? 2) Do girls and boys rank the organisms differently? 3) Do children who attend kindergartens with different pedagogical profiles rank the organisms differently? 4) Do kindergarten children understand the interdependence of living organisms?

The children believed bumblebees and earthworms were the most important organisms, followed by squirrels, trees and wolves. None of the children recognised the important ecological role of fungi. The results show that even though the kindergarten children had an understanding of the role of different organisms in nature, they had not understood the importance of plants and fungi. The authors argue that children’s ‘fungi blindness’ reflects the public’s neglect of this important, diverse and dominant species.

The researchers interviewed 56 children between the ages of five and six (28 girls and 28 boys) from eight Norwegian kindergartens. Three of the kindergartens were farm kindergartens and five were eco-certified. The data material was collected through semi-structured interviews in which the children were shown images of organisms at different levels of the food chain (producer, consumer, decomposer) and which had different roles in the ecosystem (oxygen production, decomposition and pollination). The children were also interviewed about their understanding of sustainability in nature. The data material was statistically analysed.

Melis, C., Wold, P.-A., Billing, A. M., Bjørgen, K. & Moe, B. (2020). “Kindergarten Children’s Perception about the Ecological Roles of Living Organisms”. Sustainability, 12(22):artikkel 9565.