Preschool children’s attitude toward some unpopular animals and formation of a positive attitude toward them through hands-on activities

ABSTRACT

Attitudes towards animals present an important foundation for nature conservation activity. This study investigates the attitude of five- to six-year-old children towards some unpopular animals. We used three types of live animals: earthworms, mealworm beetles, and a toad. In the initial tests, during which the children had the opportunity to observe and to handle the animals, we assessed the degree of children’s negative attitudes towards the three types of animals chosen based on their behavioural responses. After this, we investigated children’s understanding of the three types of animals through extensive inclusion of direct contact with animals in hands-on activities in an experimental group. The children in the control group had no opportunity to deal with the live animals. After the activities, the tests were repeated for both groups . The degree of negative attitude towards the animals decreased significantly among the experimental group, which was not the case in the control group. No sex differences were found in the children’s response. This study provides empirical findings that direct contact with animals positively affects children’s attitude towards them and supports the recommendations that experiential learning with live animals should be an integral part of the curriculum in the early years.

KEYWORDS:

• Animals
• children
• early science education
• attitudes
• fear

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the preschool teacher Anja Goričan for her invaluable help with this study.