Children’s conceptions of plants as living things are thoroughly analysed during the last decades. Additionally, many researchers showed interest in ‘Plant Blindness’, the people’s tendency to ignore plants and underestimate them comparing to animals. Aim of this research is to validate plant blindness’ intensity among Greek primary school students and clarify whether this phenomenon can be linked to the young students’ recorded difficulty to recognise plants as living things. One thousand forty-eight primary students from both rural and urban areas of north Greece participated in our study. The instrument of our research was a questionnaire that mainly examined attitudes towards flora and students’ consideration of plants as living things. According to the results, Greek students do find fauna more interesting than flora and plants are not being spontaneously recalled as living things. A relationship between students’ preference in flora and their perception of plants as living things was found, along with several other significant correlations to variables such as gender, age and participation in environmental education projects. The findings of our study enhance the general concern about the reduced interest in plant life as this is determined in the context of the plant blindness hypothesis.

A scale was developed to assess primary school Teachers’ Self-Efficacy on Education for Sustainable Development (TSESESD). It includes four domains of competences: values and ethics, systems thinking, emotions and feelings, and actions. The scale development is consistent with key principles of educational and social psychology research. Nine hundred twenty-four (924) primary education student teachers and 88 in-service primary teachers participated in the study. Findings demonstrated that TSESESD has good psychometric properties, strong validity and reliability scores, adequate internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.97), and satisfactory mean inter-correlation of items within domains (M = 0.78). TSESESD is considered a reliable instrument for teacher preparation programs aiming to develop primary school teachers’ self-efficacy in ESD.

Previous studies have shown that there is what has been called a ‘gap’ between environmental knowledge and a willingness to act in a pro-environmental manner. For the individual, this gap is probably the result of the huge complexity of factors that affect behaviour. The way in which this ‘gap’ is sometimes identified in the literature, however, is also partly a function of the fact that much of the research in this area has compared environmental attitudes in general with a willingness to take actions that are specific. In the present study, we have circumvented this latter issue by exploring links between a declared willingness to undertake specific actions and the level of belief in the efficacy of those particular actions in reducing global warming. Here we report findings on actions concerning personal transport. Because the questionnaire was designed to provide quantitative measures, novel indices could be constructed that indicate, for example, the extent to which persuading people that an action is effective might increase their willingness to undertake it. Responses were obtained from students in 11 countries with different cultural mores. This enabled us to explore possible associations between a readiness to undertake specific actions and previously published socio-cultural indices. The implications for education about these issues are explored.

Fieldwork is widely considered as a vital part of undergraduate science and sustainability education. Virtual field trips (VFT) provide the possibility for students to participate in field trips from remote locations through live conferencing. In this study, we will examine whether drone-based virtual field trips can maintain the advantages of VFT and also address some of their shortcomings in order to become a viable alternative to real field trips. For the purpose of the study, participants in a course for Education for Sustainability of a Primary Education Department were randomly assigned in two groups. 26 students in the first group made a predetermined visit to a city while a second group of 15 students followed their route through the city by watching a live broadcasted video from a drone in the university lab. Students supported that the two approaches are of equivalent value with each one having its own advantages and problems. Students indicated that drone-based VFT offered an enjoyable and intriguing learning way and provided some advantages over the actual field trips, like the more detailed view in higher altitudes and a better overview of the field under examination, both important elements of fieldwork. Nevertheless, drone-base VFT do not offer adequate details of the field in the human-eye level and do not convey the non-visual and aural feelings of being in the place.

This study explores the effect of an innovative course examining Greek elementary student teachers’ (STs’) efficacy beliefs and self-confidence for curriculum-based teaching on ‘Studies for the Environment’ topics. These two variables are influencing teachers’ ability to teach environmental issues for young children. Five new factors were also examined for their influence on STs’ self-efficacy and self-confidence: the role of workshops and simulations, teacher–student interchange role, teaching observation, analysis of other teachings and student-assessed teaching. The study provides useful guidelines for teacher preparation programmes towards the implementation of textbook-free and curriculum-based teaching that maximise students’ learning. A pre/post/6 month-delay-post research design using both quantitative (STEBI and factors’ ranking) and qualitative (interviews) research tools were implemented in two cohorts of pre-service teachers (N₁ = 25, N₂ = 16). Quantitative data were subjected to significance testing and effect sizes analysis, and triangulated with bottom-up categories developed from interviews. Results indicate a considerable and durable increase in STs’ personal and outcome expectancy self-efficacy beliefs scores. In respect of the STs’ self-confidence, pedagogical content knowledge and especially its sub-factors of Studies for the Environment Pedagogy, reflection, and teaching experience were the most influential factors, while some inertia in the increase of self-confidence was also observed.