Assessment of Behavior Change in Turning Off Lights Using Board Game and Visual Prompts for Preschool Children at Home

抄録

  This article presents a study that examines the effects of an early childhood environmental education (ECEE) program targeting “for” the environment. Little is known about the empirical evidence regarding the impact of ECEE on preschool children’s actual behaviors in their home settings. With the involvement of their parents, the program used a paper-board game and visual prompts to promote pro-environmental behaviors in young children, particularly related to lighting use at home. The study was conducted in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan with the participation of 22 parents and 22 young children. They were encouraged to play the board game and then place the visual prompts by the lighting switches at their homes. The study included questionnaire surveys for the parents and interviews with the children to assess the impacts of ECEE. Compared to their behaviors before the program, the children who did not often engage in turning off lights demonstrated an increase in pro-environmental behaviors when leaving an empty room and engaged in pro-environmental communication with their parents. Throughout the program, the children expressed their opinions to their family members, contributing to ripple effects on parents through their children.