Environmental Capability of the Very Young: some implications for environmental education in primary schools

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Abstract
The paper reports on a project designed to investigate how 6 and 7 year olds are able to represent their journey to school and home area by means of four different stimulus presentation techniques: (i) free‐recall sketching; (ii) air photograph interpretation; (iii) map interpretation; (iv) verbal reporting. The results support the findings of those who have pointed out that a sense of place has already emerged by the time childen have arrived at infant school. It is shown that the method of assessment exerts a considerable influence upon how young children are able to describe familiar places. The educational implications of the results are examined, particularly in the context of the recent enthusiasm for environmental education in the primary school.