Study of the current state and factors of elementary school students' recognition of Japanese traditional cultural plants

Abstract

In Japanese culture, various plants have been traditionally used, expressed, and appreciated (traditional cultural plants). However, in today's urban life, passing them on to the next generation is an issue. To address this issue, we conducted a questionnaire survey for elementary school students (207 respondents) in the Osaka city regarding their recognition of the traditional cultural plants (20 taxa) and several investigations of factors that influence their recognition, such as the frequency of nearby nature experiences, plantings within the school premises and plants appearing in textbooks. There was a difference in students’ recognition of the plants, with a high percentage of cherry trees and Morning Glory, but a low percentage of grassland and waterside plants, such as the Bush Clover and the Rabbit Ear Iris, which are decreasing in the city. There was a high percentage of recognition for the plants grown at school and students with frequent nature experiences in the neighborhood had seen more plants and knew more plants names. Therefore, increasing the number of places and opportunities to observe the traditional cultural plants in the city might improve students’ recognition of them. In addition, enriches of the content of textbooks about the traditional cultural plants and appropriate explanations for the plants that students were unfamiliar with are necessary because the frequency of appearance differed depending on the plants in the textbooks.