Gardening is an activity that provides a number of incentives for progress of preschool children in the field of early science and in many other fields. Children in numerous kindergartens tend their gardens, but experience suggest that more attention is devoted to the flora of the garden than to its fauna. But the role of animals in an eco garden is very important because some of them destroy crops, while others are beneficial, such as predators, pollinators or animals involved in the circulation of substances that improves soil fertility.
The goal of this thesis was to determine how much children aged from 5 to 6 years know about animals in an eco garden (if they know their characteristics and roles in the garden) and what is their attitude towards those animals. Another goal was to develop and carry out activities through which the children could explore this topic with direct experience, and to assess the influence of that experience on their knowledge and attitude towards the animals in the eco garden.
We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with the children from the experimental and the control group to determine their initial ideas about the topic (24 children in each group). The children from the experimental group took part in the 8-day project that involved activities in the garden of the kindergarten. After the activities, we once again interviewed the children from both groups and drew conclusions about their knowledge and attitude towards the animals in the eco garden based on the differences in their answers and responses.
The results indicated that their initial knowledge about animals in the eco garden was rather rudimentary. On average, they only knew from 1 to 3 animal species living in the garden; they mostly failed to explain their role in the garden. However, the knowledge of the experimental group after the activities was significantly better compared to the control group. They were able to list more animal species and knew of their role in the garden. Direct experience improved their reactions when encountering a new animal. Certain differences were also observed in terms of the children's attitude towards garden animals. The activities helped them develop a more positive attitude towards the animals in the eco garden and also eliminated prejudice against them. All that said, we also examined their perception of the predator–prey relationship. The children were able to observe ladybugs eating live aphids and comment on their experience. We found that the children started to accept and understand the fact that certain living creatures must die so others can live. The children learned about ecology basics and biological pest control on a concrete example.
They were extremely interested in exploring animals in the eco garden. To conclude, similar activities are a wonderful opportunity for the progress of children. The results of the thesis attest to the significance of the garden in the kindergarten as an encouraging learning environment.
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