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Sustainability
Volume 13
Issue 17
10.3390/su13179663
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Article

What Environmental and Personal Factors Determine the Implementation Intensity of Nature-Based Education in Elementary and Lower-Secondary Schools?

by
Takahiro Yamanoi
1,*,
Masashi Soga
2,
Maldwyn J. Evans
2,3,
Kazuaki Tsuchiya
4,
Tomoyo F. Koyanagi
5 and
Tadashi Kanai
6
1
Faculty of Education, Bunkyo University, 3337 Minami-ogishima, Koshigaya, Saitama 343-8511, Japan
2
Department of Ecosystem Studies, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
3
Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
4
Social Systems Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
5
Field Studies Institute for Environmental Education, Tokyo Gakugei University, 4-1-1 Nukuikita, Koganei, Tokyo 184-0015, Japan
6
Faculty of Education, Hakuoh University, 1117 Daigyoji, Oyama, Tochigi 323-8585, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9663; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179663
Submission received: 4 June 2021 / Revised: 26 July 2021 / Accepted: 23 August 2021 / Published: 27 August 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity Education for Sustainable Development)
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Abstract

As society becomes increasingly urbanized, children are becoming much less likely to experience nature. This progressive disengagement from the natural world, often termed the ‘extinction of experience’, has been viewed both as a key public health issue and one of the most fundamental obstacles to halting global environmental degradation. School education has an important role in mitigating and reversing the ongoing extinction of experience. Here, we examine the role of several factors that determine the implementation intensities of nature-based education by science teachers in the classrooms of both primary and secondary schools. We performed a large-scale questionnaire survey comprising 363 elementary and 259 lower-secondary schoolteachers. Several factors predicted the implementation intensity of nature-based education in schools. The most important predictor was teachers’ levels of nature-relatedness, with nature-orientated teachers being more likely to provide nature-based education in their classes. Levels of teachers’ ecological knowledge, frequency of childhood nature experiences, and greenness within the school were also positively associated with the implementation intensity of education. Our results suggest that, to promote nature-based education in schools, it is important to increase schoolteachers’ nature-relatedness and ecological knowledge, as well as to provide more green spaces within schools.
Keywords: biodiversity conservation; environmental education; extinction of experience; nature relatedness biodiversity conservation; environmental education; extinction of experience; nature relatedness

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MDPI and ACS Style

Yamanoi, T.; Soga, M.; Evans, M.J.; Tsuchiya, K.; Koyanagi, T.F.; Kanai, T. What Environmental and Personal Factors Determine the Implementation Intensity of Nature-Based Education in Elementary and Lower-Secondary Schools? Sustainability 2021, 13, 9663. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179663

AMA Style

Yamanoi T, Soga M, Evans MJ, Tsuchiya K, Koyanagi TF, Kanai T. What Environmental and Personal Factors Determine the Implementation Intensity of Nature-Based Education in Elementary and Lower-Secondary Schools? Sustainability. 2021; 13(17):9663. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179663

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yamanoi, Takahiro, Masashi Soga, Maldwyn J. Evans, Kazuaki Tsuchiya, Tomoyo F. Koyanagi, and Tadashi Kanai. 2021. "What Environmental and Personal Factors Determine the Implementation Intensity of Nature-Based Education in Elementary and Lower-Secondary Schools?" Sustainability 13, no. 17: 9663. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179663

APA Style

Yamanoi, T., Soga, M., Evans, M. J., Tsuchiya, K., Koyanagi, T. F., & Kanai, T. (2021). What Environmental and Personal Factors Determine the Implementation Intensity of Nature-Based Education in Elementary and Lower-Secondary Schools? Sustainability, 13(17), 9663. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179663

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