Literacy of Children on Ecological System of Home Garden in Malaysia
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Date
2018-04Author
Norazlan, Sarah Alia
Yusof, Janatun Naim
Sahimi, Nurul Nadiah
Said, Ismail
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Show full item recordAbstract
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.