In considering approaches to education of young children, Hyun (2005) discusses how children’s perceptions of nature are bondings-to-the-earth, as an affinity that children have across all cultures for their natural environment, described by Wilson (1984, 1992) as biophilia, or a love of nature. However, if this natural propensity is not fostered or negative influences are experienced, the opposite, or biophobia, may develop (Orr 1992, 1993, 1994), which ranges from discomfort with natural environments or an actively negative view where nature is seen as inferior to human settings, with nature viewed as an objective resource to be exploited. Kahn (1999) relates this to children’s moral environmental reasoning where they may compare natural organisms to humans (isomorphic biocentric reasoning), so animals warrant similar consideration to humans because they have similar needs. They may progress to a view where natural entities are seen as having needs for their own sake (transmorphic biocentric reasoning) and where moral principles can be applied equally to humans and other creatures.
Developmentally meaningful and culturally meaningful approaches to young children include adults helping children to make meaningful connections with what they want to know and how they wish to make meaningful experiences (Hyun 1998). Adults, therefore, need to demonstrate biophilic traits and support children’s natural curiosity of nature in interacting with children in order to enhance their biophilia and biocentric reasoning. This applies to how teachers interact with children of all ages so that they develop positive attitudes to the environment and behaviour is informed by understanding, while science curricula also need to be compatible with biophilic attitudes to the environment
Teachers’ attitudes to learning can influence children’s responses, hence the models teachers present are very important. Teachers can also foster children’s positive scientific and environmental attitudes to learning, which include: curiosity, interest, enjoyment of learning (affecting motivation to learn); confidence, creativity (fostering independence in learning); criticality, understanding of uncertainty (encouraging evaluation of evidence); awe and wonder, understanding of interconnectedness of living things (nurturing spirituality and a sense of relational identity); empathy/care of self, others and environment (influencing motivation to act positively).