What does ‘go green’ mean to children?

Abstract

The curricula for young children rarely provide specific teaching about how to conserve earth's resources. Yet, adults need to help children early in life become aware of and actively involved in ecologically sensitive and sound practices. Interviews were conducted individually with 41 children (4- to 6-year-olds; 7- to 9-year-olds and 10- to 12-year-olds) to discover their ideas about ‘Going green’, ‘Recycling’ and ‘How they could help the earth’. With increasing age and cognitive maturity, children's responses showed a marked change toward more awareness of, and more feelings of responsibility toward, conserving earth's resources. The youngest children responded with references to the colour green when asked about the idea ‘Go Green’. Young elementary school age children expressed some ideas about how important it is to recycle and to conserve resources. All the older children understood what ‘Go Green’ means and gave examples of their own responsibility for helping conserve in order to help other people. Suggestions are given for teachers to enhance curricular activities that will engage youngsters in earth-friendly understandings and activities.