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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. For. Glob. Change
Sec. People and Forests
Volume 7 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2024.1427353
This article is part of the Research Topic Socioeconomic Implications of Forests and Forestry in a Changing Climate and Governance View all articles

Perceptions of Preschoolers and Parents on Forest Pollution

Provisionally accepted
Hilmi Demirkaya Hilmi Demirkaya 1Ahmet KÖÇ Ahmet KÖÇ 1*Serap Sunay Serap Sunay 2Hüseyin Duygu Hüseyin Duygu 3Aslı Mol Aslı Mol 3Gülsevil Günaydın Gülsevil Günaydın 3Muhammedi A. Günaydın Muhammedi A. Günaydın 3
  • 1 Department of Turkish and Social Sciences Education, Faculty of Education, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Türkiye
  • 2 Balıkesir University, Balıkesir, Balıkesir, Türkiye
  • 3 MONE, Antalya, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    An examination of preschool children’s perceptions and attitudes towards the environment and forests has recently been conducted. However, little research has been conducted on preschool children’s and their parents’ perceptions of clean and dirty forests. It is essential to investigate these perceptions to increase children’s interest in and sensitivity to the environment, thereby fostering their growth as responsible individuals protecting the natural world. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by examining the perceptions of clean and dirty forests held by 40 5-6 year old students and 40 parents, randomly selected from two pre-schools, one attended by children from high socioeconomic families and the other by children from low socioeconomic families, in a Mediterranean coastal city in southwestern Turkey. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic information and perceptions of clean and dirty forests. Drawing sheets were also distributed to the students to draw pictures of clean and dirty forests. The results showed that individuals with higher educational levels had more complex and conscious perceptions of clean forests. Children considered abstract concepts, such as supernatural forces and fossil fuels, whereas parents focused on the level of awareness and conservation status. Parents and children with lower levels of education focus on more concrete and everyday factors such as litter and natural disasters. Individuals with higher socioeconomic status generally associated forest cleanliness with conscious behaviours and conservation, whereas those with lower socioeconomic status associated it more with polluting factors. This investigation provides valuable insights into the management and control of local forests by incorporating the perspectives of children and their parents for promoting responsible and sustainable tourism practices.

    Keywords: Preschool education, Child, parent, environment, clean forest, dirty forest No littering (C3, C4, C5

    Received: 03 May 2024; Accepted: 07 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Demirkaya, KÖÇ, Sunay, Duygu, Mol, Günaydın and Günaydın. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ahmet KÖÇ, Department of Turkish and Social Sciences Education, Faculty of Education, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Türkiye

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.