DOI: 10.5061/dryad.x3ffbg7pg
title: What can drawings tell us about children’s perceptions of nature?

description: The growing disconnect between children and nature has led to concerns
 around the attrition of ecological knowledge, reduced opportunities for
 developing a connection with nature at a young age and the associated
 potential of waning support for future conservation. Understanding
 perceptions of the natural world among children is vital to engage them
 with local wildlife and mitigate the growing disconnect between children
 and nature. This study investigated children’s perceptions of nature by
 analysing drawings made by children of their local green spaces. We
 collected 401 drawings by children aged 7–11 years, from 12 different
 primary schools (including state-funded and privately funded schools) in
 England, and assessed which animal and plant groups were drawn the most
 and least often. We quantified the species richness and community
 composition of each drawing and identified all terms used in the labels
 and captions to the highest level of taxonomic resolution possible. We
 estimated the greenness of each school’s surroundings and tested whether
 there were differences in taxonomic resolution between taxa and whether
 school type or school greenness affected animal or plant species richness,
 community composition or taxonomic resolution of terms. Mammals and birds
 were the most commonly drawn groups, appearing in 80.5% and 68.6% of
 drawings respectively. The least commonly drawn group was herpetofauna,
 appearing in just 15.7% of drawings. Despite not explicitly being asked
 about plants, 91.3% of drawings contained a plant. Taxonomic resolution
 was higher for mammals and birds than other taxa, with 90% of domestic
 mammals and 69.6% of garden birds identifiable to species, compared to
 18.5% of insects and 14.3% of herpetofauna. No invertebrates other than
 insects were identifiable to species. Within plants, trees and crops were
 the most identifiable to species, at 52.6% and 25% of terms respectively.
 There was no difference in animal species richness or plant community
 composition between school types, but drawings from state-school children
 had higher plant species richness than those from private-school children.
 Animal community composition was different between school types, with more
 types of garden birds drawn by private-school children than state-school
 children, and more types of invertebrates drawn by state-school children
 than private-school children. School greenness had no effect on species
 richness or on plant community composition, but we found an effect on
 animal community composition. There was no difference in the taxonomic
 resolution of terms between school types. Our findings indicate that
 children’s awareness of local wildlife is focused on mammals and birds,
 with significantly less attention given to invertebrates and herpetofauna.
 While plants feature highly in children’s perceptions of nature, their
 knowledge is less specific than that of animals. We suggest that this skew
 in children’s ecological knowledge towards familiar, charismatic animals
 be addressed through better integration of ecology within national
 curricula and more funding for green space within school grounds since
 smaller invertebrate taxa are likely to be more abundant in these spaces.
 Encouragingly, levels of awareness did not systematically differ between
 school types, indicating that similar approaches to engage children with
 nature should be made across school types.