Children start at an early age to acquire knowledge about nature and develop a relationship to it. From the initial intuitive conceptions they gradually move to scientific knowledge, which they build mainly based on direct experience and their own activities. Beside parents and educators, they are also influenced by the media and literature.
In the preliminary study on the prejudices of children to animals, most of the children said they are mainly afraid of a wolf. This fact suggests that there are misconceptions the children have of the wolf. The wolf is an animal which, due to its lifestyle and its distribution, the children cannot meet and gain real experience of it. We assume that the wolf is familiar to them mainly from fairy tales, stories and cartoons, where the wolf is attributed to highly negative role, and that they receive a stereotypically negative conception
from the adults. Scientific truth is that the wolf is a very important animal for the functioning of the forest ecosystem. With its selective predatory diet, it regulates the size of the population of herbivores. It is harmless for the people, because it avoids contact with them.
The aim of my thesis is to examine what kind of conceptions the 3-4-year-old children have and provide them with the activities through which they would learn about this animal in the most active way possible. In this way they would create a realistic picture and create a positive attitude to it.
The study includes 40 children aged 3 to 4 years. In each group (research and control) there are twenty children. In the beginning, I carried out individual semi-structured interviews that I conducted with the two groups of children. Questions were related to the physical characteristics of a wolf, its behavioral characteristics, distribution and habitat, potential danger to humans and the attitude towards this animal. The children in the experimental group were then involved in a project, where they directly experienced the acquired knowledge of a wolf. After completing the activities, I again carried out interviews with the same issues as those contained in the initial interview in both groups. By comparing the results, I concluded that there are differences between the experimental and control group. On this basis I concluded how the activities affected the conception and their attitude towards this animal.
The results of the initial interviews show that the initial conceptions of children are mostly inadequate, because they are based on stereotypes. From the statements of the children, it is deduced that their relationship with these animals is mainly negative and that wolves are seen as animala, dangerous to human beings. After the activities, carried out in the experimental group, the vast majority of children in this group of wolf obtain adequate conceptions and positive attitude. Comparison of the results with the control group shows that the activities have crucial impact to the creation of new conceptions of the wolf.
Ignorance, intertwined with stereotypes, had in the past provoked to the impending extermination of wolves. Such conduct means a risk of upsetting the natural balance of the forest ecosystem. The possibility of coexistence of man and wolf is only possible if people are aware of its importance for nature. There is the need to start the education in the pre-school period and, in contrast to the multitude of fairy tales, stories, poems and cartoons that enforce the stereotypical image of the wolf, we need to offer children the opportunity to learn about the science truth of these animals.
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