IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v7y2015i7p8855-8880d52266.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conservation Messages in Speech Bubbles–Evaluation of an Environmental Education Comic Distributed in Elementary Schools in Madagascar

Author

Listed:
  • Torsten Richter

    (Ecology and Environmental Education Group, Institute of Biology and Chemistry, University of Hildesheim, Marienburger Platz 22, 31141 Hildesheim, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Antje Rendigs

    (Madagascar Wildlife Conservation–Deutschland, Postfach 6108, 30061 Hannover, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Claudette Patricia Maminirina

    (Institut Supérieur de Technologie d'Ambositra, Ex-Bâtiment HODIMA, Ankorombe, Ambositra 306, Madagascar)

Abstract

In this paper, we present the results of a survey of an environmental education program applied to a cohort of 542 students in six primary schools at Lake Alaotra, Madagascar. The educational materials used were a comic book and additional materials designed specifically for local conditions in rural Madagascar. The comic book conveyed mostly system knowledge and, to a lesser extent, action-related knowledge. The additional materials posed practical tasks to students and were meant to stimulate teamwork and group discussion of students. There was a control and two treatment groups. A questionnaire was applied to test students’ environmental knowledge at three different points in time. The survey showed a significant increase in environmental knowledge of students receiving environmental education compared to controls. This effect significantly increased with additional education materials fostering peer-to-peer learning by students instead of when teacher-centred learning was provided. Students that used those materials also had the highest scores in tests one year after environmental education ended, thus indicating the usefulness of innovative and locally meaningful materials in environmental education.

Suggested Citation

  • Torsten Richter & Antje Rendigs & Claudette Patricia Maminirina, 2015. "Conservation Messages in Speech Bubbles–Evaluation of an Environmental Education Comic Distributed in Elementary Schools in Madagascar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-26, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:7:p:8855-8880:d:52266
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/7/8855/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/7/8855/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Norman Myers & Russell A. Mittermeier & Cristina G. Mittermeier & Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca & Jennifer Kent, 2000. "Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities," Nature, Nature, vol. 403(6772), pages 853-858, February.
    2. Carleton-Hug, Annelise & Hug, J. William, 2010. "Challenges and opportunities for evaluating environmental education programs," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 159-164, May.
    3. Glick, Peter & Sahn, David E., 2006. "The demand for primary schooling in Madagascar: Price, quality, and the choice between public and private providers," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 118-145, February.
    4. Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite, 2013. "Local Languages of Instruction as a Right in Education for Sustainable Development in Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-24, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lena M. Reibelt & Torsten Richter & Antje Rendigs & Jasmin Mantilla-Contreras, 2017. "Malagasy Conservationists and Environmental Educators: Life Paths into Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Dominik Schüßler & Torsten Richter & Jasmin Mantilla-Contreras, 2019. "Educational Approaches to Encourage Pro-Environmental Behaviors in Madagascar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Jerrod Penn & Hannah Penn & Wuyang Hu, 2018. "Public Knowledge of Monarchs and Support for Butterfly Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Janna Niens & Lisa Richter-Beuschel & Susanne Bögeholz, 2020. "Land-Use and Health Issues in Malagasy Primary Education—A Delphi Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-31, August.
    2. David K. Evans & Arkadipta Ghosh, 2008. "Prioritizing Educational Investments in Children in the Developing World," Working Papers WR-587, RAND Corporation.
    3. Laxmi D. Bhatta & Sunita Chaudhary & Anju Pandit & Himlal Baral & Partha J. Das & Nigel E. Stork, 2016. "Ecosystem Service Changes and Livelihood Impacts in the Maguri-Motapung Wetlands of Assam, India," Land, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-14, June.
    4. McLennan, D. & Sharma, R., 2012. "The Delivering Ecological Services Index (DESI)," Working papers 119, Rimisp Latin American Center for Rural Development.
    5. Sakaue, Katsuki, 2018. "Informal fee charge and school choice under a free primary education policy: Panel data evidence from rural Uganda," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 112-127.
    6. Asadullah, Niaz & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2012. "Going to School in Purdah: Female Schooling, Mobility Norms and Madrasas in Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 7059, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Caviedes, Julián & Ibarra, José Tomás & Calvet-Mir, Laura & Álvarez-Fernández, Santiago & Junqueira, André Braga, 2024. "Indigenous and local knowledge on social-ecological changes is positively associated with livelihood resilience in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    8. Marine de Talance, 2017. "Quality Perceptions and School Choice in Rural Pakistan," Working Papers hal-01663029, HAL.
    9. Maeda, Eduardo Eiji & Clark, Barnaby J.F. & Pellikka, Petri & Siljander, Mika, 2010. "Modelling agricultural expansion in Kenya's Eastern Arc Mountains biodiversity hotspot," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(9), pages 609-620, November.
    10. Allred, Shorna & Stedman, Richard & Heady, Laura & Strong, Karen, 2021. "Incorporating biodiversity in municipal land-use planning: An assessment of technical assistance, policy capacity, and conservation outcomes in New York’s Hudson Valley," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    11. Jaiswal, Sreeja & Balietti, Anca & Schäffer, Daniel, 2023. "Environmental Protection and Labor Market Composition," Working Papers 0736, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    12. Lay, Jann, 2010. "MDG Achievements, Determinants, and Resource Needs: What Has Been Learnt?," GIGA Working Papers 137, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    13. Chomitz, Kenneth M. & Thomas, Timothy S. & Brandão, Antônio Salazar P., 2005. "The economic and environmental impact of trade in forest reserve obligations: a simulation analysis of options for dealing with habitat heterogeneity," Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural (RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 43(4), January.
    14. Ferry Prasetyia, 2019. "The role of local government policy on secondary school enrolment decision in Indonesia," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(2), pages 139-172, June.
    15. Elisa Barbour & Lara Kueppers, 2012. "Conservation and management of ecological systems in a changing California," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 135-163, March.
    16. Tyler M Harms & Kevin T Murphy & Xiaodan Lyu & Shane S Patterson & Karen E Kinkead & Stephen J Dinsmore & Paul W Frese, 2017. "Using landscape habitat associations to prioritize areas of conservation action for terrestrial birds," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, March.
    17. van der Hoff, Richard & Nascimento, Nathália & Fabrício-Neto, Ailton & Jaramillo-Giraldo, Carolina & Ambrosio, Geanderson & Arieira, Julia & Afonso Nobre, Carlos & Rajão, Raoni, 2022. "Policy-oriented ecosystem services research on tropical forests in South America: A systematic literature review," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    18. Brannstrom, Christian, 2001. "Conservation-with-Development Models in Brazil's Agro-Pastoral Landscapes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 1345-1359, August.
    19. Brendan Fisher & Stephen Polasky & Thomas Sterner, 2011. "Conservation and Human Welfare: Economic Analysis of Ecosystem Services," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(2), pages 151-159, February.
    20. Pütz, S. & Groeneveld, J. & Alves, L.F. & Metzger, J.P. & Huth, A., 2011. "Fragmentation drives tropical forest fragments to early successional states: A modelling study for Brazilian Atlantic forests," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(12), pages 1986-1997.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:7:p:8855-8880:d:52266. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.