Abstract
Understanding the complexity of ecological system is crucial if one is to achieve a proper understanding of what they are and how they function. This study followed an environmental education program designed to introduce fifth grade students from a highly rural community to the world of ornithology and to the importance of maintaining the biodiversity of birds in nature. Its goal was to explore the program’s influence on the development of these students’ system thinking skills in the context of the life-cycle of the Lesser Kestrel (LK). Students’ perceptions of system complexity were tracked using the repertory grid technique, which takes the form of a highly structured interview in which constructs represent participants’ interpretations of various elements and the relationships between them. The results indicate that these fifth graders developed a significantly complex view of the LK’s ecosystem. Participation in the program developed the ability of some of the students to generalize and to identify changes that occurred in the birds’ ecosystem over time. Design elements such as longitudinal real-time observations and learning about the kestrel’s life-cycle while examining its interaction with its environment were found to be important for system thinking development. These cognitive tools may enable students to better cope with complex, biodiversity-related environmental issues in the future.
Highlights
The subject of ecology has grown in prominence over the past decade due to the understanding that maintaining biodiversity is an integral part of the effort to promote sustainable development
The findings indicated that the development of system thinking in the context of the earth systems consists of several sequential stages arranged in a hierarchical structure
Results are presented from two perspectives: First, the RG data obtained from the whole sample of 53 students was analyzed using the System Thinking Hierarchy (STH)-model
Summary
The subject of ecology has grown in prominence over the past decade due to the understanding that maintaining biodiversity is an integral part of the effort to promote sustainable development. Birds are an important bio-indicator of biodiversity and of the ecosystem’s health They are found in various types of habitats and play an important role in the structure and function of ecosystems as they have an important role in maintaining the balance of many ecosystems by providing a variety of ecological services (Latumahina & Mardiatmoko, 2019). These services include functions such as seed dispersal, flower pollination, and the regulation of the insect population (Jones & Sieving, 2006; Klein et al, 2007), constitute a valuable resource in economic, cultural, aesthetic, scientific and educational terms. The centrality of birds in the ecosystem requires developing complex system thinking in science education
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