Rural Appalachian and urban Triad children’s understanding and justification of ecological food chains
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Lindsay G. Jarvis (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Stuart Marcovitch
Abstract: The present study examined whether region of living (i.e., Appalachian rural or Triad urban), age, and cognitive abilities (i.e., cognitive flexibility and serial order) predict children’s understanding of ecological food chains. Ecological food chains describe the dietary interactions of organisms and are foundational environmental ideas children are taught about the natural world. It was hypothesized that rural children would have better performance on the ecological food chain tasks due to increased exposure to nature. It was also hypothesized that urban children would need increased cognitive flexibility and serial order to perform well on the ecological food chain task. Ninety-two 4- to 6-year-old children participated in this study, and completed the ecological food chain tasks, a cognitive flexibility measure, and a serial order task. Participants were recruited from both urban (n = 45) and rural (n = 47) areas in North Carolina. Older children were better than younger children at assembling food chains, but there was no difference between region of living. It was found that older children were better than younger children at justifying food chains and rural children were better than urban children at justifying food chains. Cognitive flexibility and serial order were not predictive of ecological food chain task performance. These findings suggest that as children age they are better at recreating and explaining food chains and rural children have a cultural and geographical environmental awareness that assists them in having an increased understanding of ecological food chains.
Rural Appalachian and urban Triad children’s understanding and justification of ecological food chains
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Created on 5/1/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- Cognitive Flexibility, Cultural Differences, Ecological Reasoning, Environmental Education, Rural, Serial Order