AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Table 14: Measure of impact - Environmental education -
methods and forms
AREA
IMPACT SCALE -
M
ean
M
edi
an
1 least impact .........
greatest impact 5
METHODS AND FORMS
1
2
3
4
5
No. of votes from panelists
Absolute number -
Formality, use of monotonous "lecture"
forms
0
0
0
3
9
4,75
5
Education based on instructioning,
without examples of real activities
(children imitate the behavior of adults)
in a real environment
0
0
2
5
5
4,25
4
Lack of critical thinking when selecting
activities ("pseudo environmental
activities")
0
0
3
4
5
4,17
4
Table 15: Measure of impact - Educator of environmental
education (EE ) from the external environment
AREA
IMPACT SCALE -
M
ean
M
edi
an
1 least impact .........
greatest impact 5
1
2
3
4
5
EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL
EDUCATION EDUCATOR
No. of votes from panelists
Absolute number -
Lack of qualified environmental education
(EE) lectors
0
0
3
4
5
4,
1
7
4
Forest teachers and EE workers are
available only for limited amount of time
(restrictions by the employer)
0
1
2
5
4
4
4
Insufficient staff capacity e.g. State Nature
Conservancy for systematic cooperation
with kindergartens
0
0
4
6
2
3,
8
3
4
Availability of forest teachers near to
kindergartens
0
0
5
4
3
3,
8
3
4
In ethnically mixed areas, the ability of a
forest educator and EE worker, to
communicate with children in a language
they understand.
1
3
3
3
2
3,
1
7
3
Table 16: Measure of impact - External factors
AREA
IMPACT SCALE -
M
ean
M
edi
an
1 least impact .........
greatest impact 5
EXTERNAL IMPACTS
1
2
3
4
5
No. of votes from panelists
Absolute number -
Lack of projects for the involvement of
this target group in non - formal
education
0
2
3
6
1
3,5
4
Weather (low temperatures, strong wind,
wet terrain)
0
2
5
3
2
3,42
3
The problem of finding a suitable date
with regard to kindergarten programs
and the kindergarten daily schedule
0
2
6
2
2
3,33
3
It is necessary to pay for the transport of
children to the forest
0
1
8
1
2
3,33
3
Random natural phenomena
2
7
1
2
3,25
3
Bad experience of kindergartens from
the previous program focused on
environmental education
1
2
3
5
1
3,25
3,5
It is required to pay for activities
0
3
5
2
2
3,25
3
Overexposure of offers of educational
programs for kindergartens from
external environment
1
1
8
2
0
2,92
3
The consent of the forest owner / forest
manager to enter the forest is required
4
2
4
1
1
2,42
2,5
Results of the 2nd round of the Delphi research method for
factors with a negative effect
There were significantly fewer factors with a negative impact in
the second round of the Delphi method study, which reached a
value of 4 than the positive factors with this value. Most factors
with an average higher than 4 were achieved by the factors in the
field of: Environmental education - methods and forms (all three
mentioned factors reached the value of 4) - Formality, the use of
monotonous lecture forms; Education based on instructions,
without examples of real activities; The lack of critical thinking.
The last mentioned considered experts to be the most important
of them. It is interesting that for the informal pre-primary
education of children in environmental education in the forest
environment, the factor of The lack of the necessary
infrastructure in the forest for rest is negligible for them.
Similarly, The consent of the forest owner / forest manager to
enter the forest is a negligible factor for them. It should be
emphasized that when talking about the External Factors area,
which has the highest number of factors, none of its factors
reached the value of 4.
Evaluation of the 3rd round of research using the Delphi method
The third (final) round of research using the Delphi method was
carried out in the following period: 08. 04. - 17. 04. 2020. The
purpose of the third round was to review the order of factors in
terms of their impact on informal pre-primary education of
children from environmental education in the forest
environment. As a research tool, we used a questionnaire in
which the factors for each area were sorted in ascending order
from the largest impact to the least impact. The order
corresponded to the results achieved in the second round. The
sums of the order for individual factors were calculated and for
each area of factors also Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance
W was calculated. With its help we could assess the degree of
closeness of the relationships between the evaluation of the
influence of individual factors by experts. The coefficient takes
values from 0 (means no relationship) to 1 (indicates a strong
relationship), according to the formula:
We sent the questionnaire to 13 participants, 12 of them were
sent back. Based on the evaluation of the 3rd round, the final
order of factors in individual areas was defined. The results are
interpreted in the following tables. We proceeded in the same
way as in the previous phases, i.e. we evaluated both the positive
and the negative factors separately. The key factors from the
second round, whose average value reached 4 and more, are
highlighted in bold in the tables.
Positive factors obtained by the questionnaire survey:
Table 17: Sequence of factors – Location
FACTOR
Sum of
order
Final
order
It is important to choose a suitable route in terms of terrain
and relief
24
1
Attractiveness of the forest environment with the
possibility of direct observation, presence of various objects
(feeder, tree stand, nest, anthill)
25
2
Use of the kindergarten environment itself (kindergarten
should be a
real example of a positive attitude towards nature also in
their own processes)
39
3
Residence of children (city, town, village, dispersed
settlement)
44
4
Visiting other places or events focused on environmental
education (e.g. The Museum of Forestry and Wood
Technology, Forestry Days, Forestry Open-Air Museum in
Vydrovská
dolina,
etc.)
60
5
Type of forest (old forests, thicket stands, monoculture forests,
mixed stands, commercial forests, protection forests, special
purpose forests)
60
5
Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance W
- 0.51
Table 18: Sequence of factors - Target group and its
predispositions
FACTOR
Sum
of
order
Final
order
Adequate length of stay in the forest according to the age of
children
16
1
Alternation of short attention spans
20
2
Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance W - 0.11
- 156 -