THE EFFECT OF RECORDED NATURE FOOTAGE ON CHILDREN'S PERCEPTION OF NATURE

Abstract

With the present-day increase in screen-based media, it is important to consider how such media should or should not be integrated into environmental education. Therefore, the goal of this study was to explore how watching recorded nature footage affects children’s perception of nature and to examine whether such effects support environmental educators’ recommendations for raising children into adults who are motivated to protect the Earth. Study participants consisted of 23 first-grade students divided into a control group and experimental group. The experimental group was shown a short clip of recorded nature footage for 15 consecutive school days, and written observations were taken during four of the clips. All students in the control and experimental groups completed surveys about their perceptions of nature, and this was completed both before and after the experimental group engaged in the intervention of watching the recorded nature footage. A select group of students from each group completed interviews before and after the intervention as well. The results indicated that watching recorded nature footage may cause children to associate nature with an academic subject more than with a leisure activity, believe that nature is frightening and distant more often than it is ordinary and nearby, and have increased positive emotions toward animals accompanied by a decreased recognition of rocks and landscapes as being part of nature. These results suggest that showing children recorded nature footage does not support their development of a positive emotional perception of nature.