Constructing local ecological knowledge: How children in the Galápagos Islands learn about their environment

Thesis

The Galápagos Islands is both a National Park of Ecuador and a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site. But, in addition to a plethora of intriguing species in the more-than-human natural world, the islands are also home to ~7,500 children, who are members of a recently established human population living near nature. In the context of the gravity of human impact on global ecosystems through the environmental polycrisis, the assertion that all parts of the ecosphere have inherent value and knowledge of the ecosphere is valuable, and the lack of research with children in Galápagos on child-centric environmental education and knowledge, this research investigates how Galápagos children construct and use Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK). Participants were fifth graders across two Galápagos Islands. Mixed methods used included a survey, go-along interviews, and focus groups, through which children helped to answer the following research questions: 1) What is the state of Local Ecological Knowledge of children living in the Galápagos Islands? 2) How do children describe the sources from which they learn about their Galápagos environment? 3) Where do children perceive that they learn about the environment? 4) What content do children describe learning about their Galápagos environment? The research is situated within an interpretivist constructivist epistemology, and within the frameworks of Childism (Wall, 2022); Indigenous standpoint theory; and the combination of ecocentrism, Sumak Kawsay, deep ecology, and post-anthropocentric theories. Knowledge children shared demonstrated rapidly and readily constructed robust LEK, along with corresponding environmental emotions and ecocentric worldviews. Children learned through a complex network of sources including time in nature, family members, local organisations, and peers. Discussion of findings support the importance of community support for environmental conservation and sustainability, the decentring of adults for topics of environmental concern and ability of children and recently established human populations to develop robust LEK.

Authors: Farber, A

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-mz9g6rebn
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: child-centric research; Galapagos islands; children; environmental learning; local ecological knowledge; Ecuador; environmental education
• Subjects: Environmental education; Children; Learning