A journey to children's perceptions on forest fire through drawings in Canakkale Province, Turkey: Exploring the needs for alternative educative approaches

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to statistically analyze forest fire perceptions and cognitive deficits of children through drawings. Results showed that children's perceptions on forest fire were under desirable levels. Also, perception levels were significantly impacted by gender and grade level, whereas impact of school type was not significant. Since children's imaginations are found to be limited and most of forest fires are known to arise from human-induced activities, applied approaches are suggested to enlarge their vision on nature and forest fire with the purpose of raising more responsible, aware, and environmentally-conscious children, as a contributor to prevention of future forest fires.

Acknowledgments

The support and efforts of people from Ministry of Forestry and Water Management Canakkale Regional Directorate Refik ULUSOY, Ahmet KOLE, Tuncay ISIK; school principals Ozlem COSKUN and Ilhan KURT, art teachers Nilgun TURAN and Esra KOLE, class teacher Aliye GOCGEN are acknowledged.