Browsing by Author "Eerikäinen, Mikko"

The goal of this research was to find out what kind of contents relevant to nature- and environment education there are in Tatu and Patu books. Children’s books have an educational function and they affect the attitudes and feelings of the reader. Thus the contents are conveyed to the reader on several dimensions. The emphasis in early childhood nature- and environment education is on activities in different environments, but emotional and cognitive development are also possible through reading experiences. In the theoretical framework of this research the most important models are Stephen R. Kellert’s classification of nature experiences into direct, indirect and symbolic or vicarious experiences of nature, Joy Palmer’s tree model which Jyrki Reunamo and Liisa Suomela have expanded helps understanding nature- and environment education as a whole and is based on a premise that nature experiences in the early childhood influence the formation of attitudes towards nature and finally KESYP-model developed by Mari Parikka-Nihti and Liisa Suomela it’s name consisting of the finnish words keho, sydän and pää meaning body, heart and head. The model represents the importance of taking into account the holistic nature of a child’s development, including physical, emotional and cognitive development. The analyzed material consisted of twelve Tatu and Patu reading books, published between the years 2003-2014. I was looking for samples that contained both picture and text and which depicted the character’s direct experiences of nature in Finnish environments. I analyzed the informative contents as well as the depicted attitudes and emotions towards nature. Samples meeting the criteria were found in four of the books. The analysis was based on my interpretations and knowledge about nature to emphasize the reader’s perspective. Only few samples got selected but they contained information about different environments and species that were mainly depicted truthfully. The reader can identify to the positive attitudes and emotions which has an affect on the forming attitudes. The material had also content which inspires and directs to activities in natural environments. Tatu and Patu books may be used as part of nature- and environment education.