Can primary school pupils become researchers? A research project on the accessibility of public spaces

Ioannis Vassiloudis

doi:10.29333/ijese/14693

Full Text (PDF)

Ioannis Vassiloudis ¹ ² ^*

More Detail

¹ Department of Scientific Support, National Exams Organization, Athens, GREECE² 8^th Primary School of Maroussi, Athens B’ Directorate of Primary Education, Athens, GREECE^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Education for sustainable development plays an important role in the cognitive and social development of pupils. A wealth of studies demonstrate the correlation between environmental education (EE) projects and the future potential development of informed and active citizens with pro-environmental behaviours. All EE project have common characteristics, but usually the pupils involved in them hold the position of little explorers. It would be interesting if students could have the role of the researcher and be actively involved in all stages of a research project. The current study aims to describe a research on the accessibility of public space and to contribute to the discussion if primary school pupils could become researchers. The main conclusion of this paper, after the evaluation of the research project, is that pupils from the upper primary school classes can play an active role in a scientific research project.

Keywords

research project
accessibility
primary education
education for sustainable development

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED, Volume 20, Issue 3, 2024, Article No: e2414

https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/14693

Publication date: 01 Jul 2024

Online publication date: 11 Jun 2024

Article Views: 537

Article Downloads: 189

Open Access References How to cite this article

References

Abeliotis, K., Goussia-Rizou, M., Sdrali, D., & Vassiloudis, I. (2010). How parents report their environmental attitudes: A case study from Greece. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 12(3), 329-339. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-009-9197-0
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
Ardoin, N. M., & Bowers, A. W. (2020). Early childhood environmental education: A systematic review of the research literature. Educational Research Review, 31, 100353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2020.100353
Bergman, B. G. (2016). Assessing impacts of locally designed environmental education projects on students’ environmental attitudes, awareness, and intention to act. Environmental Education Research, 22(4), 480-503. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2014.999225
Burgin, S. R., Sadler, T. D., & Koroly, M. J. (2012). High school student participation in scientific research apprenticeships: Variation in and relationships among student experiences and outcomes. Research in Science Education, 42, 439-467. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-010-9205-2
Cörvers, R., Wiek, A., de Kraker, J., Lang, D. J., & Martens, P. (2016). Problem-based and project-based learning for sustainable development. In H. Heinrichs, P. Martens, G. Michelsen, & A. Wiek (Eds.), Sustainability science: An introduction (pp. 349-358). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7242-6_29
Eisenmenger, N., Pichler, M., Krenmayr, N., Noll, D., Plank, B., Schalmann, E., Wandl, M-T., & Gingrich, S. (2020). The sustainable development goals prioritize economic growth over sustainable resource use: A critical reflection on the SDGs from a socio-ecological perspective. Sustainability Science, 15, 1101-1110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00813-x
Entwistle, N. J. (1968). Academic motivation and school attainment. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 38(2), 181-188. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.1968.tb02003.x
Fuertes-Camacho, T. Graell-Martín, M. Fuentes-Loss, M., & Balaguer-Fàbregas, M. C. (2019). Integrating sustainability into higher education curricula through project method, a global learning strategy. Sustainability, 11, 767. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030767
Grob, A. (1995). A structural model of environmental attitudes and behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), 209-220. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-4944(95)90004-7
Gupta, J., & Vegelin, C. (2016). Sustainable development goals and inclusive development. International Environmental Agreements, 16, 433-448. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-016-9323-z
Henderson, K., & Tilbury, D. (2004). Whole-school approaches to sustainability: An international review of sustainable school programs. Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability. http://kpe-kardits.kar.sch.gr/Aiforia/international_review2.pdf
Ichinose, T. (2017). An analysis of transformation of teaching and learning of Japanese schools that significantly addressed education for sustainable development. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 19(2), 36-50. https://doi.org/10.1515/jtes-2017-0013
Kakavoulis, A. K. (1984). The transition of students from primary to secondary education: Psychological and pedagogical implications. Private Edition.
Kenny, B. (1993). Investigative research: How it changes learner status. Tesol Quarterly, 27(2), 217-231. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587144
Kopnina, H., & Bedford, T. (2024). From pseudo to genuine sustainability education: Ecopedagogy and degrowth in business studies courses. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 2024, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2023.39
Koutsoukos, M., Fragoulis, I., & Valkanos, E. (2015). Connection of environmental education with application of experiential teaching methods: A case study from Greece. International Education Studies, 8(4), 23-28. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v8n4p23
Luetz, J. M., & Walid, M. (2019). Social responsibility versus sustainable development in United Nations policy documents: A meta-analytical review of key terms in human development reports. In W. Leal Filho (Ed.), Social responsibility and sustainability - how businesses and organizations can operate in a sustainable and socially responsible way (pp. 301-334). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03562-4_16
Miller, E. J. (2018). Accessibility: Measurement and application in transportation planning. Transport Reviews, 38(5), 551-555. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2018.1492778
Neber, H., & Anton, M. (2008). Promoting pre-experimental activities in high-school chemistry: Focusing on the role of students’ epistemic questions. International Journal of Science Education, 30(13), 1801-1821. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500690701579546
Ntona, E., Georgopoulos, A., Malandrakis, G., & Ragkou, P. (2023). Teachers’ barriers dealing with environmental education programs’ implementation in Greek secondary schools. Environmental Education Research, 30(5), 700-719. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2023.2182257
Petkou, D., Andrea, V., & Anthrakopoulou, K. (2021). The impact of training environmental educators: Environmental perceptions and attitudes of pre-primary and primary school teachers in Greece. Education Sciences, 11(6), 274. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11060274
Reiss, M. J., Sheldrake, R., & Lodge, W. (2023). Investigative research projects for students in science: The state of the field and a research agenda. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 23(1), 80-95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-023-00263-4
Rodrigue, J., Comtois, C., & Slack, B. (2006). The geography of transport systems. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429346323
Slavich, G. M., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2012). Transformational teaching: Theoretical underpinnings, basic principles, and core methods. Educational Psychology Review, 24(4), 569-608. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-012-9199-6
Stemler, S. E. (2015). Content analysis. In R. Scott & S. Kosslyn (Eds.), Emerging trends in the social and behavioral sciences: An interdisciplinary, searchable, and linkable resource (pp. 1-14). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0053
Stern, P. (2000). Towards a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 407-424. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00175
Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making sense of Cronbach’s alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2, 53-55. https://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd
van de Wetering, J., Leijten, P., Spitzer, J., & Thomaes, S. (2022). Does environmental education benefit environmental outcomes in children and adolescents? A meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 81, 101782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101782
Vassiloudis, I., & Chalda, V. (2024). Developing and strengthening learning motivation: Evidence from a project for primary education in Greece. Pedagogical Research, 9(3), em0202. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/14423
Vaughan C., Gack J., Solorazano H., & Ray R. (2003). The effect of environmental education on schoolchildren, their parents, and community members: A study of intergenerational and intercommunity learning. The Journal of Environmental Education, 34(3), 12-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958960309603489
Walid, M., & Luetz, J. M. (2018). From education for sustainable development to education for environmental sustainability: Reconnecting the disconnected SDGs. In W. Leal Filho (Ed.), Handbook of sustainability science and research (pp. 803-826). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63007-6_49
Yew, E. H., & Goh, K. (2016). Problem-based learning: An overview of its process and impact on learning. Health Professions Education, 2(2), 75-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpe.2016.01.004

How to cite this article

APA

Vassiloudis, I. (2024). Can primary school pupils become researchers? A research project on the accessibility of public spaces. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 20(3), e2414. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/14693

Vancouver

Vassiloudis I. Can primary school pupils become researchers? A research project on the accessibility of public spaces. INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED. 2024;20(3):e2414. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/14693

AMA

Vassiloudis I. Can primary school pupils become researchers? A research project on the accessibility of public spaces. INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED. 2024;20(3), e2414. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/14693

Chicago

Vassiloudis, Ioannis. "Can primary school pupils become researchers? A research project on the accessibility of public spaces". Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education 2024 20 no. 3 (2024): e2414. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/14693

Harvard

Vassiloudis, I. (2024). Can primary school pupils become researchers? A research project on the accessibility of public spaces. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 20(3), e2414. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/14693

MLA

Vassiloudis, Ioannis "Can primary school pupils become researchers? A research project on the accessibility of public spaces". Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, vol. 20, no. 3, 2024, e2414. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/14693