ATTITUDES OF THE SRI LANKA PRESCHOOL CHILDRENPERTAINING TO THE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Perceptions of the environment that young children acquire in their early childhood function as a
base for their holistic development. The studies convey that there is a convincing positive
relationship between childhood experiencesin nature and the formation of pro-environment
beliefsand lifestyles later in life. Literature also depicts if children do not develop a sense of
respect and caring for theenvironment duringtheir early years, they are at risk of never
developingsuch attitudes later in life. Hence, there is an urgency to assess young children's
attitudes pertaining to the environment to find out whether they hold favorable attitudes towards
it. However, there is a lacuna of research on this topic in local as well as global context.
The present study explores the preschool children's attitudes pertaining to the environment using
a two point pictorial rating scale (12 statements in 6 pairs). Participants were 34 preschool
children (M = 4.09; S.D = .588), 13 boys (M = 3.91; S.D = .539) and 21 girls (M = 4.19; S.D =
.602), from Colombo, Sri Lanka. The research was conducted, adhering to the ethical standards
of test administration for young children. After listening to their preschool teacher instruction the
children were requested to put stickers against the appropriate picture which indicated their
preference. Results conveyed that majority of the children displayed pro-environmental attitudes
(M = 5.412; S.D = 0.821).