This study aims at investigating the perceptions of 11-12 year-old children on environmental
problems by means of their pictures. 206 children in total from three primary schools located in neighborhoods
of different socioeconomic level participated in the study. The participant children were given pastel drawing set
and asked to draw pictures related to environmental problems. According to the analysis, it was found that the
children focused on more than one environmental issue in their pictures and illustrated the issues in cause and
effect relationships. The results also show that violent behavior pollution and deforestation were environmental
issues perceived as the most common by children from low socio-economic level while air-pollution and species
extinction were perceived by the high socio-economic level children. The researchers detected that the least
common issues mentioned by the participant children were ozone depletion, noise pollution, land pollution and
global warming.
Key words: environmental education, environmental problems, environmental awareness
|
