South African children’s concepts of their future environment

This article, which is a revised version of a paper presented at the XXIV World Congress of OMEP conference in Melbourne in July 2004, reports on a study that explored young children’s (5–9 years) vision of their future environment in South Africa-as temporal dimension, illustrating their conceptual understanding of this concept. A sample of 320 young learners from rural and urban areas in the Foundation Phase (five to nine years) was involved in this study. The research examined young learners’ views about their future environment with the aim of finding a way to make them aware of their role in taking care of their environment, while making this concern part of their life world. The research was performed by gathering children’s expressions through visual art, verbally and in writing. By analyzing these expressions certain themes emerged. It was found that educators should take note of issues that concern learners in their life worlds, which include their social environment. Children’s awareness and sensitivity of the environment could be enhanced by offering environmental programmes, but temporal confusion persisted. Este articulo, version revisada de un trabajo presentado en el XXIV Congreso Mundial de OMEP en Melbourne en julio de 2004, presenta un estudio acerca de un grupo de ninos/as de entre 5 y 9 anos de edad, sobre la vision que ellos/as poseen acerca del medio ambiente futuro con respecto a Sudafrica-ello como dimension temporal, ejemplificando su comprension conceptual de este planteamiento. En esta muestra participaron 320 jovenes escolares de areas rurales y urbanas en la Fase Fundacion (de cinco a nueve anos). La investigacion analizo los criterios de los ninos respecto del medio ambiente futuro, con el objetivo de hallar una forma de hacerles conscientes de su funcion en el cuidado del medio a la vez que se buscaba que esta preocupcion forme parte de su mundo vital cotidiano. La investigacion se realizo recopilando las expresiones de los ninos en artes visuales, manifestaciones verbales y escritas. Al analizar estas expresiones surgieron ciertos temas. Se hallo que los educadores deben tomar nota de las cuestiones a que se refieren a estos educandos con respecto a su desarrollo vital, que incluye el medio social. La toma de conciencia de los ninos y la sensibilidad ante el medio ambiente pudiera incrementarse a traves de programas ambientales, pero persistio una confusion temporal.