Development and Implementation of an Elementary School-Based Indigenous Knowledge Pedagogical Model on Native Tree Species for Environmental Sustainability Education in Ghana

Abstract

Environmental education across countries is seen as the surest means of nurturing pro-environmental behaviours in children so that the conservation of biodiversity in the environment can be guaranteed. Unfortunately in Ghana, there is no indigenous-knowledge inspired pedagogical model that would aid elementary school teachers in carrying out such education. This convergent parallel mixed method study was aimed at developing, implementing and evaluating an indigenous knowledge inspired pedagogical model for native tree education among elementary school learners in Ghana. The indigenous-knowledge inspired pedagogical model was developed by the researchers under the expert guidance of some curriculum planners in Ghana with inputs from elementary school teachers and in tandem with the elementary school curriculum strand on environmental education. It was implemented in classroom and off-classroom contexts and finally evaluated for its potential in inciting elementary school learners in engaging in helpful native tree conservation activities. The quantitative results show high viability scores (100%) of the ESBIK pedagogical model’s capability of impacting significantly on the sustainability consciousness and competence of elementary school learners (Very Important-72.2%, Extremely Important-27.7%). On the other hand, the qualitative findings indicated the model’s capability of imparting knowledge on the essential roles that native tree species play in their lives and the broader benefits to ecosystem. Elementary school learners demonstrated care for native trees through tree planting, making of nurseries and gardens, and engaging in native tree conservation campaigns. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education should adopt, improve and widely disseminate the pedagogical model. Future studies should consider using a larger sample size comprising elementary schools from several regions out of the sixteen (16) regions and engage in scholarly regional comparison of the results after the implementation of the ESBIK pedagogical model.