AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN’S AND THEIR MOTHERS’ MENTAL MODELS TOWARDS THE ENVIRONMENT

Date

2025-7

Author

Kurşun, Ayten

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This mixed-design study aimed to examine the environmental mental models of preschool children (aged 48–66 months) attending independent public kindergartens and their mothers, as well as to investigate the relationship between these models. An embedded mixed design was employed in the study. This design was used to utilize the strengths of quantitative and qualitative research designs while minimizing their respective limitations. Data were collected from 322 children and their mothers, resulting in a total of 644 participants. The ‘Draw an Environment Test Rubric” (DAET-R) was used as the data collection tool. The DAET-R scale has four sub-dimensions: human, living, abiotic, and built. Each subdimension is scored from 0 to 3, so the highest possible total score a participant can earn is 12. In this study, children and their mothers drew pictures related to the concept of “environment,” which were then scored using the DAET-R scale. Additionally, participants explained their environmental drawings. Regarding the qualitative analysis, the visual codes in the drawings created by the children and their mothers were examined. In the quantitative part of the study, the scores received by children and mothers from the DAET-R scale were discussed, as well as the differences between the mean scores Moreover, to examine the effect of various demographic factors on DAET-R scores, the gender of the children and their participation in environmental activities with their mothers were investigated using an independent samples t-test. Additionally, mothers’ education levels and their individual participation in environmental activities were analyzed using an independent samples t-test. Finally, a Pearson correlation test was applied to examine the relationship between children and their mothers. The results show the level at which children and mothers have scientific, developed, and interrelated mental models. Examining the sub-dimension and total scale scores revealed that participants received the lowest scores in the human sub-dimension. This suggests that participants defined the environment primarily in terms of “nature and natural factors”, with limited consideration of the human factor in their mental models. However, when the sub-dimension and total scores were examined, children received higher scores in the human dimension, and this difference was statistically significant. Mothers received higher scores in the living and built sub-dimensions and total scores, and this difference was statistically significant. However, the scores obtained from the abiotic sub-dimension were similar for children and mothers, and no statistically significant difference was found. According to other research findings, a statistically significant relationship was found between the gender of children and their participation in environmental activities with their mothers, affecting their scores on the DAET-R scale. It was observed that girls depicted models related to scientific and other factors (human, living, abiotic, and built) more frequently than boys, and this difference was statistically significant. Differences were also found in the environmental mental models of children who participated in environmental activities with their mothers. These differences were explained by intergenerational transmission theory, social learning theory, and bio-ecological systems theory. Additionally, the educational level of the mothers positively impacted their environmental mental models. It was observed that mothers with higher education levels were more likely to create interactive environmental models. Furthermore, participating in environmental activities improved mothers’ environmental mental models. Finally, a correlation analysis was conducted on children’s and mothers’ DAET-R scale scores. A positive but low-level relationship was found between the living sub-dimension and total scores. The qualitative analysis examined the visual codes in the drawings of children and mothers alongside a content analysis. It was found that the participants produced codes mostly in the human-made category. However, human figures were the least frequently drawn category. The most frequently used visual codes for children were the sun, trees, clouds, grass, themselves, playgrounds, and houses with gardens. Similarities and differences were also observed for mothers. Accordingly, they frequently used the visual codes for trees, the sun, grass, houses with gardens, flowers, and children.

Subject Keywords

Environmental Mental Models, Intergenerational transmission, Environmental drawings, Mental Models, Early childhood environmental education, Children-mother interactions

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/115121

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis