Children’s Understanding of an Ecological Cycle

Abstract

The purpose of the third learning experiment was to discover whether children were able to understand an ecological cycle when being taught about it. The reason for choosing a cycle was that, in order to understand it, children have to perceive the structure, that is, the relations forming a cycle. This is a structure that the A group has worked with in connection with other contents (e.g. in the theme “Rain and water”, “The yearly cycle of the bee colony” and “The shop”). They have, however, not worked with the ecological cycle. One of the control groups (group D), on the other hand, have to a certain extent. They have studied different food chains, involving, for example, the ant, the earthworm and the spruce forest, though not as a closed cycle. Thus, group A has worked with the relational structure and group D with the content. In contrast, groups B and C have not worked specifically with either of these.