When Nature Didn’t Cooperate: Children’s Perspectives on a Failed Conservation Project

• In Event: Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual iPresentation Only: SIG-Environmental Education Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

This study examines how fifty-seven fifth graders responded to a thirty-year conservation initiative for the Lesser Kestrel that failed to reverse local decline. Data from individual end-of-year papers and five focus groups captured reflections and dialogues on the future. Narratives were mapped onto Kennedy’s Eco-Types taxonomy—Eco-Engaged, Optimists, Self-Effacing, Fatalists, Indifferents—and analyzed via Berkowitz et al.’s environmental-citizenship constructs. Nearly forty percent of comments were Eco-Engaged, while smaller groups of Optimists and Self-Effacing balanced hope with doubt; Fatalists expressed systemic resignation, and few remained indifferent. Proposals ranged from intergenerational mentoring to policy advocacy. The study highlights how reflection on failure and decision-making can foster environmental citizenship, providing design principles to use setbacks as catalysts for agency and resilience.

Author

• Adiv Gal, Kibbutzim College