Abstract
This paper presents students’ word associations with terms regarding the Wadden Sea. A continuous free word-association method was used in which the students from secondary schools (n = 3119, average age: 13.54 years) reported their associations with the stimulus words Wadden Sea, mudflat hiking tour, and tides in written form. Data were collected from students living close to the Wadden Sea and from students living inland. We performed a quantitative content analysis including the corresponding formation of categories. In addition, students’ school, out-of-school with the class, and private experiences the Wadden Sea ecosystem were recorded. The study shows that not only subject-related concepts should be considered at different levels, but non-subject-related aspects as well. The associations of the inland and non-inland students are statistically significantly different. The Wadden Sea and its biome were found to be completely unknown to some students. Students’ school, out-of-school with the class, and private experiences of the wetlands are also very mixed, regarding their Wadden Sea visitation frequency, and surprisingly cannot be directly derived from their place of residence. This research makes an important contribution towards the design of future biology didactic studies on the Wadden Sea.
Highlights
The Wadden Sea of northeastern Europe extends over a distance of about 450 km from
The aim of the present study is to open the field of biology didactic studies on the Wadden Sea, which has hardly been considered in research so far
In order to take both aspects into account, a word association method was chosen as the data collection methodology
Summary
Skallingen in Denmark, across the entire German North Sea coast, to Den Helder in the Netherlands [1], making it the largest contiguous mudflat area in the world. Living in this ecosystem is extremely demanding due to the tides, the Wadden Sea is the habitat of over 10,000 different species of animals, plants, and fungi [2]. The Wadden Sea is of particular relevance for global biodiversity To protect this unique habitat, a trilateral cooperation between Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands has been in place since 1978 [4]. Germany’s tidal flats, as well as those of the Netherlands in 2009 [6], and Denmark in 2014 [7], were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites
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