Challenges in measuring “connectedness to nature” among indigenous children: lessons from the Negev Bedouin

Abstract

Culturally adapted tools for measuring connectedness to nature are important, since attitudes and perceptions toward nature cannot be universalized. They are influenced by a wide range of factors, like individuals’ experience in their home environment, safety concerns and a variety of other sociocultural factors. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model for a cultural adaptation process, through which suitable nature connectedness questionnaires can be created. Our approach is based on “Third Space Theory,” which laid the groundwork for the development of culturally adapted questionnaires that combine Western categories for measuring nature connectedness with elements that specifically reflect the local culture of an indigenous community. The paper details the adaptation process of a questionnaire designed to learn about the nature connectedness of 5th grade students living in unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev Desert. The process enlisted the input of 58 fifth grade students (28 boys and 30 girls) and four professionals from the fields of education and environmental education. It incorporated two different types of interviews, personal, semi-structured interviews, and interviews with small groups of students as they orally completed different iterations of the questionnaire. Thematic content analysis was conducted to reveal the various sociocultural aspects of the relationship between Bedouin children and their natural environment. The results of the paper include: (a) the seven-stage development process of the culturally adapted nature connectedness questionnaire, and (b) examples of the types of information that the culturally adapted questionnaire reveals, which a standard nature connectedness questionnaire might not provide.

الخلاصة

Appendices

Appendix 1: Coding table: list of categories derived from interviews

The table below presents the categories that were constructed based on the semi-structured interviews with the students and the professional who work with the Bedouin community.

Category	Sub-category	Description	Example
Categories that were constructed based on the semi-structured interviews with the students
Experiences in nearby environment	Enjoyable experiences	Positive experiences arising from physical contact with the natural environment	“We play in the weeds, play hide and seek … we also make toys and play with them … like swings, make houses out of wood” “I like the green trees, the pasture, the flowers that grow, I like to play in the flowers”
	Disappointing experiences	Negative experiences arising from physical contact with the natural environment	“I don’t like to go to the stream bed, because they always throw trash in it and dead animals” “I don’t like playing in the dunes, because the sand makes me dirty” “When it’s hot outside, we go out to pasture with our animals for a little while and then go home because it’s very hot”
Experiences with living creatures (plants/animals)	Enjoyable experiences	Positive experiences arising from contact with plants/animals	“We have lots of animals … we ride the horses, sometimes ride the donkeys, I herd the sheep, I have dogs and puppies that are always chasing me. I sometimes take the camels to the hill where there are olives to feed them” “I like herding the goats, it’s my nature. I feel happy”
	Disappointing experiences	Negative experiences arising from contact with plants/animals	“I like playing in the field, but now when we play in the weeds, we choke on the smell of dead animals and animal poop” “I don’t like herding the sheep. It makes me tired”
Experiences connected to feelings of concern and responsibility toward the environment	Experiences connected to positive feelings of concern and responsibility toward the environment	Expressions of concern and responsibility for the environment in the course of their everyday lives	“Some birds have nests in the olive trees. The children hunt pigeons, I tell them “don’t,” and my father takes their slingshots” “I like everything, but the garbage I don’t like because it makes the place dirty, and the smoke I don’t like because it makes me throw up, people burning the garbage”
	Experiences connected to lack of concern and responsibility toward the environment	Expressions of lack of concern and responsibility for the environment in the course of their everyday lives	“Sometimes I pick flowers and put them in a vase” “I like to hunt. The village children make traps for birds … and there’s also a wild pigeon. I take the eggs. I know of five trees that have pigeons”
Categories that were constructed based on the semi-structured interviews with the professionals who work with the Bedouin community.
Cultural characteristics of Bedouin children		Cultural characteristics of students in the Bedouin community	“The child lives in a family with many children and that’s a problem. The parents need to care for their kids, but they go to work in the morning, come back in the evening and it’s hard for them to educate them. There’s been some improvement but it’s not enough.” (teacher) “The parents are not attentive to the child emotionally. They’re concerned with providing for their children’s most basic material needs – food, bread … as a psychologist, I also conduct interviews and use questionnaires about feelings, and I see that they have trouble expressing emotions.” (psychologist) “The children play in the wilderness … the mother is not concerned about it because there are no roads outside and they’re not afraid of strangers. ‘Outside’ is safe, there’s nothing to worry about. I see mothers talking amongst themselves and cooking and not going to check on their kids. The village is perceived as a safe place. In the Bedouin community, in the family’s space, all the adults know all the children, they’re all responsible and anyone can lay down boundaries for the kids.” (psychologist)
Bedouins students’ connection to nature		The Bedouin students’ connection to nature in their daily lives	“The children are connected to the land … they hear their parents’ conversations about protecting the land. Their education at home is to protect the land, to plow and care for it, as private property that needs to be protected.” (teacher) “The children have a connection with animals … it’s part of the Bedouin society’s mentality. They raise and care for animals.” (teacher)
Challenges of working with children from the Bedouin community		The difficulties arising in the course of the professionals’ work with the Bedouin community	“Environmental education is a low priority in the Bedouin community … the students live in a polluted environment … there’s no organized waste disposal and infrastructure, which makes it difficult for them to apply the things they learn in the educational activities.” (SPNI coordinator) “The students are very strongly connected to sheep and camels and donkeys. This positive connection comes at the expense of other things. Takes away from their study time. They don’t do their homework, a lot of them have trouble in school, they’re not connected to technology. My son is four years old and he uses the computer. Here we have 7th graders in school who don’t know how to use a mouse.” (teacher)
Recommendations for improving the culturally adapted questionnaire	The professionals’ recommendations for improving the design and contents of the questionnaire		“I recommend using pictures in the questionnaire … the children feel that the questionnaire is a kind of test, and pictures would make it feel more fun and less threatening.” (psychologist) “I would prefer that the statements about environmental behavior be phrased as “willingness” to act and protect the environment rather than actual behavior … It’s hard for Bedouin student to take actual action. Their environment doesn’t allow it.” (SPNI coordinator) “The children won’t understand the word ‘field.’ They don’t use it. You can write the word ‘bura’ in parenthesis.” (teacher)

Appendix 2: Connection to nature questionnaire