The catalyst role of school architecture in enhancing children’s environmental behavior

Izadpanahi, P; Elkadi, HA

Abstract

The interrelationships between school design and children learning are well established. Less evident is
the relationship between sustainable school design and the level of environmental behaviour of the
children in attendance. Newly erected primary schools in Australia have been broadly graded as either
sustainable or conventional. This paper evaluates the impact of both sustainable and conventional
school design on children’s environmental behaviour, and examines the correlation between school
design and children’s environmental behaviour.
624 children, aged 10-12 years old, completed a survey. This sample, from seven selected primary
schools in Victoria (Australia), includes four conventional schools and three sustainable ones. The
survey was developed according to GEB (General Ecological Behavior) scale and a few more school
specific variables.
The outcome of the survey was analyzed using an independent sample t-test and two-way between
groups ANOVA in order to assess environmental behavior differences of children in both sustainable
and conventional schools taking into account factors that either explicitly and/or implicitly impact on
their behavior such as sustainable school design, teachers’ environmental behavior and parents’
environmental behavior.
The results show statistically significant differences in environmental behavior of children in sustainable
schools and those in conventional schools. Comparing the means of children’s environmental behavior
indicates that children in sustainable schools posses higher levels of pro-environmental behavior than
children in conventional schools.
The paper highlights the strong relationships between school design and children’s environmental
behavior, and expands recognition of the role of environmentally sensitive school design not only to
improve learning environments but more specifically to engage children ecologically with their
immediate built environment.

Citation

Izadpanahi, P., & Elkadi, H. (2014, December). The catalyst role of school architecture in enhancing children’s environmental behavior. Presented at 30th International Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA) Conference, Ahmedabad, India

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: 30th International Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA) Conference
• Conference Location: Ahmedabad, India
• Start Date: Dec 16, 2014
• End Date: Dec 18, 2014
• Publication Date: Dec 17, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jun 5, 2015
• Related Public URLs: http://www.plea2014.in/
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference; Funders : Funder not known