eprintid: 10000286 rev_number: 37 eprint_status: archive userid: 587 source: pure dir: disk0/00/00/02/86 datestamp: 2009-05-01 15:01:17 lastmod: 2017-12-07 21:02:08 status_changed: 2009-05-01 15:01:17 type: article metadata_visibility: show item_issues_count: 0 creators_name: Gatt, Suzanne creators_name: Tunnicliffe, Sue Dale creators_name: Borg, Kirsten creators_name: Lautier, Katya creators_id: creators_id: s.tunnicliffe@ioe.ac.uk creators_id: creators_id: title: Young Maltese children's ideas about plants ispublished: pub divisions: B14 keywords: Primary; Plants; Alternative; Frameworks; Children’s ideas abstract: Fifty Maltese children, 25 in the second year of pre-school (4 years olds) and 25 in the first year of compulsory education (5 years old), were interviewed about their knowledge of plants. Analysis showed that they had a restricted understanding of the term, meaning something small, with a thin stalk, leaves and a flower. Trees, cacti and nettles were not classified as plants. Children’s knowledge was observed to increase with age. Parents were identified as the main source of knowledge; schools were rarely mentioned. Maltese teachers should be made aware of children’s limited knowledge about plants and they need to use readily available resources in schools to expose pre-school children to the plants in their immediate surroundings. date: 2007 date_type: published oa_status: green language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green full_text_status: public publication: Journal of Biological Education volume: 41 pagerange: 117-121 pages: 5 refereed: TRUE issn: 0021-9266 citation: Gatt, Suzanne; Tunnicliffe, Sue Dale; Borg, Kirsten; Lautier, Katya; (2007) Young Maltese children's ideas about plants. Journal of Biological Education , 41 pp. 117-121. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10000286/1/Tunnicliffe2007young117.pdf