Primary influences on the environmental perspectives and habits of elementary school students in an urbanizing locality

• Main Author: Vince Cruz, Chona Camille E.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2012
• Subjects: Children and the environment; Environmental literacy; Environmental education; Urban ecology (Sociology); Environmental Education; Environmental Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/13312
• Institution: De La Salle University

The environment is at a precarious state; the changes it is encountering threatening current ways of life. Effective adaptation towards these changes rely on learning from past mistakes but in order to create a future of environmental sustainability, facts and knowledge alone would be useless without the support and understanding of everyone involved. In terms of effective environmental management, the maximization of the participation of all stakeholders to aid in the resolution of current environmental issues must be ensured. Considering the potentials of the youth and their role as custodians of the future, inculcating a culture of ecological responsibility today could lead to more effective ways to care for nature. In the goal of enjoining and empowering them towards environmental responsibility, identification of the major influences on the environmental perspectives of a sample group of elementary school students from a rapidly urbanizing capital of the province of Bataan, Philippines • Balanga City - was done. Results show a distorted perspective of the environment as well as half-baked efforts towards environmental responsibility due to conflicting information from the major influences that the children were most aware of - their school and theirs homes. Lessons learned in a classroom environment are rarely seen practiced at home and the limited responsibility ascribed to children prevents them from stepping up and demanding change where they see fit. Access to mass media are also available but limited. They provide the children, at most, accessory information that are neither explained to them nor made relevant to their daily lives. No significant lack of awareness were found in the children but to empower them an effective social mobilization campaign that makes use of the potentials of the school, the local government as well as the various forms of mass media must be done to acquire the support from their families.