Knowledge, Attitudes, and Environment Oriented Behaviors for 7-8 Year Old Children

Abstract

The theme of the risk, as a public problem, is rarely debated in Romania. In the world, the research related to the risk perception, especially the environment risk, started 59 years ago, on the grounds of the nuclear danger. The environment-risk perception at children depends on the prior perceptions acting as decoding filters, nonetheless it can be influenced by the targeted environment oriented education, correcting the false perceptions and aiding the children to form a set of perennial values and to digest healthy behaviours. The work presents the results of the study made on 446 pupils in the primary classes, in three schools from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, with the purpose to encourage environmental friendly behaviours by combining previous strategies (modifying the attitudes and the values towards the environment) with the consecutive strategies (of recompense for the pro-environment behaviours). The study demonstrates the role and the importance both of the school, and the parents’ level of instruction, in building and consolidating the environment consciousness at children.