This study used the transtheoretical model of behavior change to categorize participants into stages of change groups regarding eleven conservation behaviors. Three main stages of change were identified: precontemplation, contemplation, and action. Participants from different stage placements were interviewed to explore barriers and motivations…

Biodiversity loss is one of the biggest environmental issues in the world today and the biodiversity literacy of citizens can be key to counteracting this. Considering that children can be change agents and actively take part in decision-making from early years, we have assessed the native fauna identification skills of Primary School students…

Unsustainable palm oil production is having a devastating impact on biodiversity in producing countries in Southeast Asia. Certification schemes for sustainable palm oil have the potential to reduce these impacts. The ubiquity of palm oil in processed foods found in supermarkets is a challenge that requires intervention at the policy level and…

A long history of theory exists to underpin our understanding of how to engage individuals and communities in more effective environmental conservation and sustainability practices. Yet rarely do we delve deeply into sociocultural theories of learning, which help demonstrate how learning and action are fundamentally intertwined in our…

The Earth is in the midst of a recent acceleration in the rate of species extinction and the unravelling of ecological communities. The authors think with the emerging field of Extinction Studies to explore educational approaches to ecological endangerment and extinction. Using a notion of visiting as 'curious practice', we story encounters…

Although zoos have an increasingly important role to play in educating the public about conservation and inspiring pro-conservation behaviour, they are not firmly established as leaders of conservation education. A multitude of logistical challenges and methodological limitations in zoological education research are contributory factors to this.…

Regular evaluation of environmental education is important for quality assurance and the self-assessment of educational institutions such as zoos. However, capacity is often lacking. Therefore, this study presents instruments that can be used to track the impact of educational programs on connection to nature, interest in species conservation,…

Environmental education in school lessons makes a central contribution toward implementing the United Nations' requirement of sustainable development. In science lessons, various ecosystems can be examined to illustrate the consequences of anthropogenic influences on our environment. One important ecosystem is the UNESCO World Heritage Wadden Sea.…

Climate change, human population growth and land use change are among the most important threats to nature and ecosystem services. Local appreciation of ecosystem services and knowledge of how the foundation of these services is affected by local livelihoods are important for the sustainability of natural resources and thus may fundamentally…

Although participation in citizen science can improve cognitive and affective learning outcomes, many citizen science projects exhibit low retention rates. By gaining an understanding of forms of engagement, reasons for ongoing participation, and the impact of project design on participant motivation and engagement, we can help keep people…

Student agency theorising traditionally positions individuals as sovereign and under-theorises the role non-human material elements play in enacting agency. We recognise the role of the material but to honour our research participants and context we adopt an asymmetrical view of the agency of the material non-human in relation to the human in…

Earth's biodiversity decline poses critical biocultural challenges, including food sovereignty and climate change adaptation. Teacher education can play a pivotal role in addressing biodiversity care. This study explores how preservice teachers learn about biodiversity care in teacher education programs, focusing on local biocultural contexts to…

Within citizen science projects, learning about natural resources can encourage environmentally friendly behaviour. More empirical understanding is needed on how citizen science projects facilitate learning outcomes to support sustainable resource management, such as agrobiodiversity. Here we present the learning outcomes of a citizen science…

We conducted a systematic literature review to analyze evaluations of conservation education programs on a global scale in order to better understand (1) temporal and spatial trends in conservation education program evaluations over the last 25 years, (2) patterns in the types of conservation-related issues addressed through these programs, (3)…

The 2019 published report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem (IPBES) reveals that the decline in species and habitats induced by human activities is continuing. School students still have difficulties to understand the meaning of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss. The underlying assumption of…