Abstract:

Environmental education aims to provide the basis for encouraging students to become aware of environmental problems and make informed decisions regarding their environmental conceptions. In relation to sustainability, several studies warn of the limited attention paid by science education in Spain in relation to the global problems of the planet.

Other researches suggest the difficulties and misconceptions installed on education in relation to ecosystem functioning and its problems. The tendency to understand environmental processes from a local perspective and rarely holistic, losing sight of their complexity at different scales is particularly alarming.
Although coastal ecosystems are familiar environments for most citizens of our region (Valencia, SE Spain), we think there is not a global awareness of the real problems that affect the seaside. In particular, we believe that students in our present educational system have a number of specific and unrelated ideas on environmental issues affecting our coastline and there is not global idea.

To test this hypothesis, an open questionnaire, which included questions on the perception of environmental problems of our coastline, was designed and carried out with 125 students (27 students of High School and 98 students of the Degree in Primary School Education, for the 2014-2015 course.
This survey allowed us to know which are the most outstanding environmental problems in coastal areas, from the analysed student’s point of view. Pollution and wastes (47%) were the most frequently mentioned problems, followed by building (20%), appearing only in third place climate change (15%) and the consequent loss of coastal surface due to the rising of sea levels. Although these data are consistent with the results of other studies on the perception of environmental problems –pollution is always positioned in the first place-, they are worrying because they show low awareness of the real problem of the regression of the coastline and the impending danger of disappearance of many of our existing beaches.

The authors of this research suggest the use of model making by students to facilitate a holistic understanding that will link and interrelate this set of specific and unconnected ideas. The use of modeling in teaching science has been proved extremely useful and stimulating for students but has been little explored in reference to the understanding of environmental problems.

Keywords:

Teaching sciences, ecological problems, coastal areas, pollution, climate change, making models.