Exploring fifth–grade Turkish children’s solutions and future plans for environmental pollution through their drawings

One of the greatest problems that the world faces today is that of environmental pollution, which can be defined as ‘an undesirable change in the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of the air, water, or land that can harmfully affect health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms’ (Trivedi, 2008, p. 132). Most of the world’s air pollution, which harms human health, and can cause a variety of environmental effects, such as acid rain, ozone depletion and global climate change, results from the burning of fossil fuels to produce electricity and power our vehicles. Water bodies (e.g., lakes, rivers, oceans and groundwater) become polluted with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste. Water pollution causes negative effects within the environment to animals and their habitats, and can pose health dangers to humans who come into contact with it, either directly or indirectly. Among the causes of land pollution, which can be harmful to people, plants, animals and ecosystems, are waste dumping, deforestation and soil erosion, and agricultural, construction and mining activities. Other forms of environmental pollution include noise, light and visual pollution. In the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972, environmental education was internationally recognized as a tool to address global environmental problems. Building on this conference, the Belgrade (1975) and Tbilisi (1977) Conferences on Environmental Education introduced additional goals, objectives, characteristics and guiding principles of environmental education (De & De, 2004; ‘Environmental education,’ n.d.). The goal of environmental education is to develop a citizenry that ‘is knowledgeable concerning the biophysical environment and its associated problems, aware of how to help solve these problems, and motivated to work toward their solution’ (Stapp et al., 1969, p. 30). Environmental literacy is at the heart of environmental education. In 1995, by analysing environmental education frameworks used in national and state programs, Deborah Simmons identified seven components of environmental literacy, including affect, ecological knowledge, socio-political knowledge, knowledge of environmental issues, cognitive skills, additional determinants of environmentally responsible behavior and environmentally responsible behaviour (Erdogan, Kostova & Marcinkowski, 2009; Erdogan & Ok, 2011; Hollweg et al., 2011). Volk and McBeth (1997) used Simmons’s framework as the basis for a review of research, which guided the North American Association for Environmental Education’s (NAAEE) National Guidelines for Excellence Project. Researchers have used this framework as a starting point for designing national-scale comprehensive surveys of environmental literacy (e.g., Erdogan & Ok, 2011; McBeth, 2006; Negev et al., 2008). Hsu and Roth (1998), referring to the 1980 Paris Conference, stated that ‘environmental education should be developed in the light of the specific ecological, cultural, political, educational, and economic conditions of each country’ (p. 230). In Turkey, with the introduction of a new Science and Technology Curriculum for primary schools in the 2004-2005 academic year, topics related to environmental education began to receive greater attention (Erdogan, Kostova & Marcinkowski, 2009). Environmental issues continue to be represented in the present science curriculum for primary schools, which came into effect in 2013. For example, in terms of environmental pollution, eight-year-old 3rd graders are expected: (a) to take action in the cleaning of their environment and (b) to discuss the damage caused to the environment due to improper battery disposal, as well as certain things that should be done to minimize it. In the 4th grade, children research the causes of light and noise pollution and explain their negative impacts on wildlife, observing celestial bodies, human life and the environment; and suggest ways to reduce them. They also discuss how to prevent environmental pollution, learn to keep their environment clean and design projects aimed to protect and beautify the environment. In the 5th grade, children discuss (a) the causes of air, land and water pollution; (b) their negative impacts on the environment and (c) the measures that can be taken to reduce these forms of pollution. Children in 7th grade learn about solid and liquid waste from domestic sources and recycling. They also explain the causes of space pollution and predict the likely consequences of it. Some environmental problems linked to environmental pollution, such as acid rains, ozone depletion and global climate change, are taught in the 8th grade.

A review of Turkish and international literature on environmental education revealed that studies associated with cognitive skills were quite limited (Erdogan, 2009; Erdogan, Marcinkowski & Ok, 2009). Simmons (1995, as cited in Erdogan & Ok, 2011, p. 2378) describes cognitive skills as ‘those abilities required to analyse, synthesize, and evaluate information about environmental problems/issues and to evaluate a select problem/issue on the basis of evidence and personal values. This category also includes those abilities necessary for selecting appropriate action strategies, and for creating, evaluating, and implementing an action plan’. The sub-components of cognitive skills are problems and issue investigation skills, issue analysis skills, variable and research question skills, data collection skills, data analysis skills and action skills (Erdogan & Ok, 2011). In an attempt to investigate 5th graders’ environmental related cognitive skills, Erdogan (2009) developed an instrument with two questions. In the first question, the children were asked to order the steps involved in identifying the cause of water pollution in a lake. Of the 2410 children, only 120 children provided the correct order. Erdogan stated that this result could be partly explained by insufficient instruction in scientific process skills (SPS) for the environment related problems. Among the reasons for this insufficient instruction were (a) crowded classrooms, (b) limited equipment and materials, (c) time constraints and (d) teachers’ lack of knowledge and competency in SPS instruction. In the second question, the children were asked to write their own solutions and future plans to address the pollution in the lake. 83.8% (n = 2019) of the children provided an answer to the second question. Many of these children provided only one solution. Three types of behaviour, namely physical action, persuasion and political action were identified through the content analysis of the responses. Some of the most repeated solutions and plans in the category of physical action were (a) picking up/collecting the garbage over and around the lake, (b) doing clean-up activities, (c) asking for help from the family and teachers for cleaning up the lake and (d) taking water samples from the lake in order to investigate the amount of water pollutants. Some of the most repeated solutions and plans in the category of persuasion were (a) encouraging other people to keep the lake clean, (b) talking with the people who were picnicking around the lake, (c) asking their friends and their siblings not to drop their garbage in and around the lake, (d) asking factory managers not to discharge their waste water into the lake, (e) preparing posters, wall signs, banners and writing essays and (f) distributing brochures to people in the street. Some of the most repeated solutions and plans in the category of political action were (a) planning to talk to the ministers, the mayor, governor and executive officer of a district to take necessary precautions to prevent environmental problems in the lake and (b) encouraging the officials to penalize people who pollute the lake (Erdogan & Ok, 2011, pp. 2390-2391). Guler (2013) used these two questions to explore 182 8th graders’ environmental related cognitive skills in Turkey, and reported similar findings with regard to children’s solutions and future plans to address the pollution in the lake. In these studies the focus of the two questions mentioned was to elicit children’s solutions and future plans in the context of water pollution. More studies are needed to explore the children’s work in the context of other forms of environmental pollution.

Children innately enjoy drawing. Thomas and Silk (1990, as cited in Barraza, 1999, pp. 49-50) state that ‘children’s drawings provide a “window” into their thoughts and feelings, mainly because they reflect an image of his/her own mind’. The analysis of children’s drawings can reveal many different interpretations of the concepts and phenomenon under investigation as well as different drawing strategies to develop these concepts and phenomenon (Brooks, 2009a). In the literature on environmental education, researchers have successfully used drawings to explore children’s understanding of the environment (e.g., Alerby, 2000; Barraza, 1999; Jonssona, Sarrib & Alerby, 2012; Ozsoy, 2012; Ozsoy & Ahi, 2014; Yilmaz, Kubiatko & Topal, 2012), ozone depletion and global warming (Vasilia, Vassilia & Anastasia, 2009), the greenhouse effect (Libarkin, Thomas & Ording, 2015), nuclear power stations (Brown, Henderson & Armstrong, 1987), tropical rainforests (Bowker, 2007), water (Havu-Nuutinen, Kärkkäinen & Keinonen, 2011), the water cycle (Dove, Everett, & Preece, 1999) and decomposition (Ero-Tolliver, Lucas & Schauble, 2013). The purpose of the present study is to explore 5th grade Turkish children’s solutions and future plans for environmental pollution as revealed through their drawings. The research question guiding the study is ‘What are the characteristics of 5th grade children’s solutions and future plans for environmental pollution in their drawings?’ The study builds on Erdogan and Ok’s (2011) categorisation of children’s solutions and future plans for water pollution in a lake. It extends their study by asking 5th graders to communicate their solutions and future plans for environmental pollution in general through drawings, which is a form of visual thought (Brooks, 2009b).