The process of learning and teaching in educational institutions has changed significantly in the past years as teachers strive to employ new teaching approaches which would enable students to gather more experience and improve their knowledge. In this view, the traditional approaches of teaching and learning, which hold the teacher in the centre of the process, are giving way to new and modern approaches, which pay more attention to the student. One of these new approaches is experiential learning, which can be called the future of teaching due to its positive effects. By employing experiential methods, the teacher creates an intriguing learning atmosphere, which demands the highest level of involvement in the learning process itself, while the knowledge thus acquired is more permanent and more understandable. Experiential classes enables the students to be more independent, encourages their interest for the subject matter, and helps them find the meaning of studying. The students develop strong feelings through direct experience with organisms and their habitats during experiential classes, which have a strong influence on the shaping of the opinions about organisms and nature in general. The existence of endangered species, which includes the grey wolf (Canis lupus), is very much dependent on the activities and attitudes of people towards these species. Therefore, it is imperative that, by employing experiential classes, we try to influence the shaping of positive attitudes towards organisms and nature and endeavour to develop the young into responsible and active citizens.
The results of our survey have shown that there are statistically significant differences in the attitudes of high – school students concerning the breeding of small livestock like sheep, the presence of a hunter in the family, the area of living, and experiential classes. The survey has shown, that the students whose parents deal with breeding small livestock, have rather more negative attitudes towards wolves than students who have nothing to do with small livestock. The reasons originate mainly from the fear of the damage wolves can inflict upon the livestock. The second factor rendered somewhat different conclusions as the students who have a hunter in the family expressed rather more positive attitudes than the students who do not have a hunter in the family. This may be the influence of the positive attitude of hunters towards these beasts in general. There were no significant differences in attitudes of students in terms of the area of living, however the students did express more favourable attitudes after the workshop had been carried out. As a result, we have proved the positive effects of experiential classes on the shaping and changing of attitudes of students towards wolves. The results of our research should pose an encouragement for teachers to integrate experiential approaches of learning and teaching into the learning process more often, as they can significantly influence the shaping of more positive attitudes of students towards nature and organisms.
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