Purpose: This study aims to identify the contextual and relational factors that enhance and limit the empowerment of young people from the perspective of social education professionals. Design/methodology/approach: Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model made it possible to locate the narratives of the educators in the territory. These narratives…

Sometimes, contact with the natural environment is not commonly present at school. Often, students are involved in activities considering distant environments which do not correspond to the reality of the environment in which they live. The aim of this research is to find out whether kindergarten aged children who live in the Natural Park of the…

Governance of universities toward the "entrepreneurial university" and the link with the organizational role of University Technology Transfer Offices (UTTOs) are studied. A double novel approach is adopted: first, analyzing the visibility of the entrepreneurial strategy followed by the different universities in the system, with a Web…

Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the main drivers of global biodiversity loss. The present study aims at performing a diagnostic analysis of the perceptions of Primary and Secondary school students about causes, consequences and solutions of the presence of IAS in the environment. The influence of educational level, knowledge of the meaning…

This work analyzes the educational proposals designed by 130 future secondary school teachers (FTs) to address socioecological problems--in this case, the presence of microplastics in the environment--, and the relationship with their own perceptions and commitments regarding these problems. The research design was mixed, with both qualitative and…

Teacher knowledge is vital to provide meaningful learning opportunities. In this case study, a secondary education teacher's knowledge about how to teach the concept of ecosystems from a river is explored. A category system drawn from the literature about science teacher knowledge was used for the analysis. Science teaching requires teachers to…

This study examined how studying Geography and using personal landscape photography impact university-level Physical Geography students' ecological perspectives. A survey, employing the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP), was conducted on 77 History undergraduates at the semester's start and end. The results showed a significant shift toward more…

Current environmental crises call for an integrated knowledge of landscapes and their ecosystems in a broader sense. This article presents a pedagogical framework for cross-disciplinary landscape research at postgraduate level. The framework is grounded in the use of geospatial epistemic discomfort as a creative force to develop and enhance…

Plant blindness refers to the tendency of people to overlook and undervalue plants in their environment, which can have negative consequences for both the environment and human well-being. As pre-service teachers play a key role in shaping the environmental attitudes and knowledge of future generations, it is important to assess their level of…

Purpose: This study aims to introduce a new instrument to assess the perception of the university community after the Climate Emergency Declaration (CED) and its application at the Universidad de Salamanca (USAL) in Spain. This CED includes a comprehensive program to reduce the carbon footprint and the introduction of the education for sustainable…

This study examines the development of the concept of the ecological niche among 10-11-year-old students and their ability to use this concept to give their opinions on the socially relevant and controversial possibility that wolf populations might be established in the mountains surrounding the school. A total of 21 elementary school students…

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a garden-based teaching unit about "Food and Nutrition" on students' knowledge and habits of sustainable healthy diets, and to compare it with that of a more traditional unit from a textbook. This communication is framed in a research project (EDUCYL2020-01 "Sembrando interés,…

The presence of learning gardens in Spain is growing, and the current scenario is highly diverse in relation to issues such as participatory models or purposes, among others. In the context of the 1st National Meeting on "organic learning gardens," we convened eight expert practitioners in a focus group. Their discourse was analyzed…

The reality of the nature that we see can have multiple messages and meanings. Some of these are patent and continuously communicate with the individual, but others are hidden and are more difficult to unravel. A deep, contemplative and scrutinizing gaze is necessary to detect these messages. Educating this "new" way of seeing can help…

This study explores the progression in the perceptions that pre-service primary teachers have about the interdependence of people and invertebrate organisms, after implementing an inquiry proposal. By means of an inductive analysis, the reports made by the pre-service teachers were assessed and grouped into four models, according to the level of…