Literacy of Children on Ecological System of Home Garden in Malaysia

Abstract

A key part of ecological literacy is reconnect ing children to living systems that is children’s goodknowledge on relationship with nature. In Malaysian school curriculum, children are taught onconnections between plants and animals and their environmental factors including water, sunlight and soil. However, little is known on how much school children practice the in-class knowledgewhen they are experiencing their everyday landscape, the home garden. We predict there is a gapon children practical knowledge of home garden ecosystem in Malaysia. This study aims to explore the depth of knowledge of school children on ecological system in home garden environment in Malaysia. The quest to understand children's ecological literacy begins with searching of references from journals on ecosystem, children functioning and education. Thejournals include Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, Children's Geographies,Landscape and Urban Planning, Childhood Today, Children's Cognitive Psychology, Journal ofEcology, and Nature Learning. In addition, textbooks of fundamental of ecology are reviewed to understand the basic knowledge of ecosystem for children. The knowledge of ecological systemis categorized in a thematic map under the heading of (1) nature learning, (2) interspecificrelationship of plant and animal, (3) ecosystem science, (4) school curriculum, and (5) speciesidentification. Therefore, participation observation and open-ended interview were used to conduct the study. Further study will develop into an assessment model for ecological literacy forchildren on learning to know, learning to be, learning to do and learning to live together. Themeta-analysis study will provide evidence on importance of children engagement with outdoorenvironment leading to nature learning.