Protect + prevent = preserve? Exploring students’ arguments for and attitudes toward conservation

Abstract

Nature conservation and environmental protection are not only visible in the media, but also play a role in the everyday life of young people, as evidenced by ‘Fridays for Future’, a demonstration for climate justice. To facilitate the embedding of conservation in school contexts, this study addresses the ideas and approaches which students have with respect to nature conservation, which pro-environmental behaviors they describe, and which variables described in the relevant literature influence their responses. The results of a writing task showed that German students, aged 11–13 years, primarily associate animals with nature conservation and recognize the need for nature conservation. Behavioral intentions primarily demonstrate that students have an existential access to conservation, and only 12% of students implement active behavior in everyday life according to their own statements. Behavioral intentions focus mainly on protection and prevention, which underscores the need to anchor conservation in schools and thereby to increase students’ commitment to preserve nature and the environment.

Keywords:

• Conservation
• environmental awareness
• environmental education
• pro-environmental behavior

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all teachers and students for their participation in this study. We thank Dr. John Chandler (Cologne, Germany) for proofreading the manuscript.

Disclosures statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.