TY - JOUR
T1 - How children come to understand sustainable development
T2 - A contribution to educational agenda
AU - Svetina, Matija
AU - Istenič-Starčič, Andreja
AU - Juvančič, Matevž
AU - Novljan, Tomaž
AU - Šubic-Kovač, Maruška
AU - Verovšek, Špela
AU - Zupančič, Tadeja
PY - 2013/7
Y1 - 2013/7
N2 - This study provides an interdisciplinary account determining how children and adolescents understand urban and architectural aspects of sustainable development. The concept of sustainability implies complex relations between ethical, economical, social, technical and other qualities of our environment. The concept is difficult to understand for children who lack the abilities of abstract reasoning and multi-dimensional thinking. A new measure of sustainability understanding was formed based on pictorial rather than textual format and was applied to a large sample of over 2000 participants aged 6-19years. The results indicated that girls had higher levels of appreciation toward sustainability issues than boys. The results also showed that understanding of sustainability issues increased progressively with age, particularly with adolescents from urban environments. The findings are discussed in terms of cognitive changes in adolescence and their implications for educational policy.
AB - This study provides an interdisciplinary account determining how children and adolescents understand urban and architectural aspects of sustainable development. The concept of sustainability implies complex relations between ethical, economical, social, technical and other qualities of our environment. The concept is difficult to understand for children who lack the abilities of abstract reasoning and multi-dimensional thinking. A new measure of sustainability understanding was formed based on pictorial rather than textual format and was applied to a large sample of over 2000 participants aged 6-19years. The results indicated that girls had higher levels of appreciation toward sustainability issues than boys. The results also showed that understanding of sustainability issues increased progressively with age, particularly with adolescents from urban environments. The findings are discussed in terms of cognitive changes in adolescence and their implications for educational policy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84881665740&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/sd.519
DO - 10.1002/sd.519
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84881665740
SN - 0968-0802
VL - 21
SP - 260
EP - 269
JO - Sustainable Development
JF - Sustainable Development
IS - 4
ER -