Identificacion de especies de vertebrados en la formacion inicial del profesorado

Biodiversity crisis is one of the most important challenges we face. In this sense, education must provide solutions that allow citizens to acquire sufficient knowledge and critical capacity to understand reality and to be able to act accordingly. Teachers, at the most basic levels of the education system, are, responsible for bringing different concepts related to biodiversity closer to their students, as well as for fostering values and attitudes of respect towards living beings. In relation to biodiversity, one of the most basic and intuitive levels for its approach in the educational system is the organism level. However, there are researches that show the difficulties that people have in recognizing certain species through the resolution of a questionnaire of 60 species of vertebrates. The objective of this initial research is to analyse the ability of pre-service teachers to recognize and identify those species in their immediate environment. The results show that closer vertebrate species are recognized much more difficult than other species far away but well known because of their presence in the media. In addition, it is also observed that mammals are the best recognized vertebrates. Because of this lack of knowledge about closer species, we should consider the possibility and convenience of offering to future teachers other contents that facilitate knowledge of the closer species and environment.

Automated summary

The biodiversity crisis is a significant challenge, and education plays a crucial role in equipping citizens with the knowledge and critical thinking skills to understand and respond to this issue. Teachers have the responsibility to introduce biodiversity concepts and foster respect for living beings among their students. It is found that people generally struggle to identify certain species, especially those that are closer in proximity but less known due to limited media exposure. The recognition and identification abilities of pre-service teachers regarding vertebrates in their immediate environment were examined in this research, highlighting the need for additional content on closer species and the environment.