Adders are Amazing project evaluation of attitudes and connectedness to nature
Data files
Sep 19, 2023 version files 28.60 KB
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Adders_Are_Amazing_Dryad.csv
24.89 KB
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README.md
3.71 KB
Abstract
- Adder (Vipera berus) populations are experiencing declines in many countries, including the UK. Perceptions of adders and other venomous snakes are generally negative, making conservation of these species a challenge, and persecution remains within the top five perceived causes for adder declines in the UK. Improved understanding and attitudes are needed to support current conservation efforts. However, ensuring these positive attitudes continue into the future relies on addressing children’s loss of connection to nature, and intervention at this early attitude-formation stage can be crucial for traditionally ‘unpopular’ species, such as snakes.
- An adder-focussed public-engagement project, Adders are Amazing!, was carried out in Pembrokeshire, UK, in 2018–19 to improve understanding and attitudes towards adders using a blended science-creative arts approach. The project included half-day primary school-based workshops to inform 111 pupils aged 8 to 11 about adder ecology, alongside creative art experiences. Questionnaires were used to measure the children’s attitudes towards adders and their nature connectedness both before and after the workshops and these were compared with equivalent questionnaires carried out at a control school (57 pupils) where no workshops were conducted.
- The project demonstrated that engagement that blends both art and science can significantly change attitudes towards adders without any direct contact with the animals themselves; specifically, participants’ scores for ‘Wonder’, ‘Learning Interest’ and ‘Conservation Concern’ increased. The workshops also significantly increased measures of the children’s general connectedness to nature (specifically, ‘Enjoyment of Nature’ and ‘Responsibility for Nature’).
- We recommend conservation bodies focus on, and not shy away from, so-called ‘unpopular’ species, to promote understanding and acceptance of these species and support their conservation. Blended arts-science initiatives, which can be easily adapted to suit a wide range of species and the artistic practices of local communities, are an effective way to achieve this.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8931zcrx1
Give a brief summary of dataset contents, contextualized in experimental procedures and results.
Description of the data and file structure
This data set was collected as a pre-post intervention design, comparing schools which received the intervention (coded as 1) against a school which did not (coded as 2).
The questionnaire collected the following demographic variables; Age, Age Group, Gender, School, Conexp (1 intervention, and 2 control), Class, and Teacher.
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Pnum: This was the number allocated to the participant allowing for anonymisation.
- Age: was reported to the nearest complete whole year. For example, eight years and 10 months was recorded as 8
- Age group: simply coded age as follows, 8 as 1; 9 as 2, 10 as 3, etc.
- Gender: was an open question. However only ‘boy’ or ‘girl’, ‘male’ or ‘female’ was reported. These were recorded as male = 1; and female = 2.
- School: Three schools were recruited for data collection. Two received the intervention, one did not. The control school was coded as 1, and the intervention schools as 2 and 3.
- Conexp: This further coded the schools as 1 for control, and 2 (combination of 2 and 3 from the previous variable) for experimental.
- Class: This represented the class students were in at a particular school. This was largely based on age, although some classes could be a mix of ages. For example, Class could include age 8 and 9.
- Teacher: Several different teachers were included in the project. Each teacher was given an individual code.
- In addition, whether a student had a Pet snake, had Seen a snake or Held a snake was recorded. These variables were coded as 1 for yes, or 2 for no. Freetime activity: was coded as a nominal variable: Playground= 1, Bedroom = 2, Beach = 3, Woods = 4, Garden = 5, Living room = 6, and Other outdoor = 7.
- Playspace: This nominal variable reduced Freetime activity to; 1 = Indoors (Bedroom, Living room), 2= Close supervision (Garden, Playground), and 3 = Outdoors (Beach,Woods, or Other outdoors)
- Connectedness to nature was recorded using the Connectedness to Nature Index, Chen-Hsuan Cheng J & Monroe M. 2010. Connection to nature: Children’s affective attitude toward nature. Environment and Behavior, 44(1), 31-49. This instrument comprises four sub-scales Enjoyment of nature, Empathy with nature, Oneness with nature, and Responsibility for nature. The data set is arranged as the pre-intervention and post-intervention total scores, followed by the scale averages.
- Attitudes towards adders were recorded using a 25 item questionnaire developed by the researchers. This generated five sub-scales using a 5 point Likert scale; wonder, fear/dislike, learning interest, interaction willingness and conservation concern. Each subscale was scored and averaged by dividing the score by the total number of questions, in each sub-scale this was five. The data set is arranged as the pre-intervention and post-intervention total scores, followed by the scale averages.
Wonder sums: 1,10,17,20,22
Dislike/fear sums: 5,11,14,19,23
Learning interest sums: 2,7,8,16,25
Interaction willingness sums: 3,6,13,21,24
Conservation concern sums: 4,9,12,15,18
The primary analyses were completed on pre- and post-intervention scores for Connectedness to Nature, and Attitudes towards adders using 2-way analysis of variance (time pre-post X group control-intervention). Other variables were not included in the final publication.
Data was collected using a questionnaire administered before and several months following an art/science-based intervention. The intervention's primary aim was to improve attitudes to the adder (Vipera berus), Britain's only venomous snake. Three schools participated, two were part of the intervention, and the other acted as a control school.
Questionnaires were summed by hand and the totals for attitudes towards adders, and connectedness to nature were inputted into Excel. Statistical analysis was completed on SPSS v20.