The Effect Of A Butterfly Garden On Children's Environmental Attitudes

Abstract

A study of the effects of gardening on the environmental attitudes of children involved an experiment group of 23 fifth graders participating in interdisciplinary activities centered around a butterfly garden and a control group of fifth graders who did not participate in the activities. Due to weather conditions, all activities were done indoors. After six months of participation, both the experiment group and the control group were tested using the Children's Environmental Response Inventory and scores were compared between groups. No statistically significant differences were found between the environmental attitude scores of the groups. When demographic variables of the students in the experiment group were compared, statistical differences were noted. An interesting finding was that environmental attitudes of students who had home gardens and actively participated in these gardens were significantly higher compared to students who either did not have home gardens or did not participate in gardening at home. This may indicate that it is important for students to be involved with actual outdoor activities in the garden in order for a change in environmental attitudes to occur.