On species recognition---
Perhaps of interest along these lines: I taught at Cal State Sacramento, the campus of which is located along the American River. The American River Parkway includes all the land between the levees for an approximately forty mile run from Folsom Dam to the confluence with the Sacramento River. Most of this is left relatively undisturbed by human activity, though there are some formal parks and a metropolitan area of around 2 million beyond the levees on either side. I spend a great deal of time walking, canoeing and swimming in the Parkway so know the area pretty well. As an experiment in various sections of classes I taught called Contemporary Environmental Issues and others called Environmental Ethics, I gave a species list to students. This list consisted of all the species I could easily think of off the top of my head that I had observed along the American River. This consisted of about 150 species of flora and fauna ranging from cottonwood and oak trees to beavers and otters. They were mostly very easily observed, with some exceptions such as the elusive otters, such that students resident in Sacramento for any period would have been expected to have observed most of them hundreds if not many thousands of times. Their task was to check off every species that they thought could be found in the American River Parkway. I used the ordinary common language names universally used in the region, not the Linnean names. The best answer was the one that checked all of the species. I had expected an average of something, say, between fifty and a hundred. Instead, the average number checked was eleven. In a few classes one or two students checked all or something close to it, but as the average of eleven attests, most of the students went well below fifty. Some checked two or three. A few thought that it was a trick and answered "none." On discussion, some of those who had checked none said that they had assumed that the purpose of the exercise was to show how people had devastated nature and they didn't recognize many of the species in any case. Perhaps even more discouraging was that the students in the Environmental Ethics class were almost all Environmental Studies majors, while those in the Contemporary Env. Issues class came from diverse backgrounds, but that made very little difference in the responses. That is, Environmental Studies students did only slighly better than a more diversified selection of students. Nor, on average, did biology students do notably better. The good part about the exercise was that it proved a very useful starting point for discussion, leading in a variety of directions. A very common response was that "we don't have time for that," although it was the rare student who would not then confess to spending a lot of time watching sports, playing video games, drinking beer....Many contested some species, arguing that it was simply not possible that there were such things as beavers and deer in the midst of a city--these, they thought were rare and only to be found in "the wild" or that place called "nature." These folks were sometimes devotees of such television shows as "Nature" where they trusted the real species could be observed. But most ended up reflecting that they simply didn't pay much attention when they were outdoors, were embarrassed to ask the names of species, weren't really very interested. At least some did seem to conclude that it might be worth spending more time and more attentive time on the Parkway and outdoors in general. So, for what it is worth. I gave up doing this after a time as it tended to make me feel rather demoralized. Angus Angus Wright Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies California State University, Sacramento ________________________________ From: owner-gep...@listserve1.allegheny.edu [owner-gep...@listserve1.allegheny.edu] On Behalf Of Gupta, Aarti [aarti.gu...@wur.nl] Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 10:41 AM To: Thomas Eatmon; Gary Gardner Cc: gep-ed@listserve1.allegheny.edu; Erik Assadourian Subject: RE: logos and birds This is really fascinating, thanks! Of interest to us not only as scholars but also as parents... Best regards, Aarti Gupta ____________________ Aarti Gupta Assistant Professor Environmental Policy Group (175) Wageningen University Hollandseweg 1 6706 KN Wageningen, Netherlands Phone: +31-(0)317-482496 / 484452 Fax: +31(0)317-483990 Mobile: +31-(0)628729382 Email: aarti.gu...@wur.nl<mailto:aarti.gu...@wur.nl> Web: www.enp.wur.nl<http://www.enp.wur.nl/> ________________________________ From: owner-gep...@listserve1.allegheny.edu [mailto:owner-gep...@listserve1.allegheny.edu] On Behalf Of Thomas Eatmon Sent: 03 September 2009 19:14 To: Gary Gardner Cc: gep-ed@listserve1.allegheny.edu; Erik Assadourian Subject: Re: logos and birds Gary, Also see Children and Nature 2008: A Report on the Movement to Reconnect Children to the Natural World<http://www.childrenandnature.org/downloads/CNMovement.pdf> , which Louv coauthors. From the report (pg 15): "Children at eight years old can identify 25 percent more Pokemon characters than wildlife species (Balmfold, Clegg, Coulson and Taylor, 2002). The natureknowledge gap extends into the teen and college years. A researcher in England tested nearly 800 advanced level biology students (secondary school students in the United Kingdom who are generally 16 to 17 years of age) on their ability to identify 10 common wildflowers that were illustrated in color on a sheet of paper. The vast majority of these advanced biology students (86 percent) could not name more than three common wildflowers, and none could name all 10" -TE On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 12:58 PM, Thomas Eatmon <teat...@allegheny.edu<mailto:teat...@allegheny.edu>> wrote: > > Hi Gary, > The reference that I know of comes from Richard Louv's Last Child in the > Woods (pg. 141) where he describes his observations from a classroom visit in > Alpine, California. > "Some of these young people, and their parents, are more likely to know the > brand names of ATVs than the lizards, snakes, hawks, and cacti of the > desert" > I don't know of a particular study though. Hope this is helpful > > TJ Eatmon > Allegheny College > > On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 12:10 PM, Gary Gardner > <ggard...@worldwatch.org<mailto:ggard...@worldwatch.org>> wrote: >> >> Hi everyone-- >> >> Here is what I think is an easy information request--except that it's not >> been easy for me to nail it down through my own efforts. >> >> We all know the story of the study that found that students can identify >> hundreds of corporate logos, but not the species of birds or trees in their >> own neighborhood. >> >> I would love to find that study, but am wondering, after some internet >> searches and conversations with colleagues, if the study is an urban legend. >> Surely the findings are true (I know I can identify many more logos than >> species), but is it really documented somewhere? >> >> Thanks for any leads. >> >> Best wishes for a great semester... >> >> >> Gary Gardner >> Senior Researcher >> Worldwatch Institute >> >> California office (to reach Gary) >> 411 Central Avenue >> Grass Valley, CA 95945 >> TEL: 530-273-7027 >> ggard...@worldwatch.org<mailto:ggard...@worldwatch.org> >> >> Main office >> 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW >> Washington, DC 20036 >> TEL: 202-452-1999 >> www.worldwatch.org<http://www.worldwatch.org> >> >>
