Local biodiversity: students’ interests and perceptions, and teaching materials

Abstract

Local biodiversity can help students develop conservation attitudes regarding biodiversity. However, studies reveal students’ preferences regarding exotic than local biodiversity. Therefore, more research can permit an improved understanding of the reasons for their interest in these organisms. This research aimed to investigate São Paulo state (Brazil) students’ interests and perceptions about their local biodiversity and understand how teaching materials present this topic. A Likert-type questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data regarding students’ interests and perceptions. Textbooks and handouts analysis included counting quoted living beings and verifying their occurrence in local biomes using open-access datasets. Results showed that the students were less interested in local biodiversity than global biodiversity. They further expressed little knowledge about local biomes and their biodiversity. Teaching materials mostly name living beings that exist in Brazil. However, they offer few explicit examples of them in students’ biome. Furthermore, regional teaching materials must deal with more contextualisation. Results from our study support previous research that suggests students need more than proximity to local biodiversity to be aware of it. Therefore, we recommend developing teaching materials focusing on local biodiversity, with follow-up studies examining their impact on student awareness of local biodiversity.