Nature connectedness and green transition teaching in basic schools

This first study of measuring nature connectedness of schoolchildren in Denmark is based on a new and explorative approach using a questionnaire with vignettes about green transition teaching issues. This study aims to identify associations between nature connectedness and a range of factors like salient background factors (age, gender, and cultural capital), knowledge about green transition issues, students’ dispositional attitudes (self-efficacy, responsibility, and principle of cautiousness), pro-environmental behavior (civic action and recycling phones), and emotions (climate anxiety, optimism). Also, the study measures affective reactions to simulated green transition teaching by two polar scales (pleasant/unpleasant and activation/deactivation). All these factors show highly significant associations with NCI. The study confirms results of similar studies for a Danish context. To further advance the field, dedicated comparative studies of NCI between countries or cultural regions are needed to support the exchange of results.