People often encounter bumblebees and yet don't know much about them. Bumblebees have faced many problems in recent decades, too many of which have resulted in decline in species diversity, with other negative impacts on flora and fauna as well as on natural diversity. Many people have their first interactions with bumblebees in an early age, when they encounter them in songs, fairy tales, cartoons, toys and decorative materials. These encounters give children certain concepts about bumblebees, some of which may be wrong, misconceptions. Children also develop positive or negative attitudes towards animals, based on their experiences and interactions in social settings. By familiarising children with bumblebees and providing information about them, by implementing it in formal education where students build their knowledge independently, their knowledge about and attitudes towards bumblebees can be influenced.
The aim of this study was to provide information concerning student attitudes towards and knowledge of bumblebees.
We surveyed 22 Slovene primary school students between 9 and 10 years of age. We gathered information by questionary with closed and open questions, the questionary also included drawing and species identification tasks. The data was quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. Knowledge increased with higher grades but only with a small effect size. The attitude of students towards bumblebees was generally positive; however, this positivity declined with increasing grade of the participants. This correlation also had a small effect size. Our results are discussed, with a particular focus on future educational demand.
The results indicate basic knowledge of bumblebees accompanied by several misconceptions. The attitudes of students towards bumblebees as pollinators and their conservation were generally positive. Experiential learning carried out in several hours of activities in which students participated turned out to have had positive effects on students' knowledge of and attitudes towards bumblebees.
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