GENDER-RELATED FEATURES OF ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS OF YOUNG SCHOOLCHILDREN

Abstract

This article is devoted to the theoretical and practical substantiation of the process of researching the gender characteristics of the environmental consciousness of younger schoolchildren, in particular, approaches to its interpretation, the main directions in the formation of the subjective perception of the environment, forms of manifestation of environmental consciousness, its structure and main components. The essence of the concept of “environmental consciousness” in the psychological literature is characterized. It is emphasized that ecological consciousness is a reflection of a person’s attitude towards nature in the forms of a concept, judgment, law, theory, scientific thought and at the same time is aimed at ensuring its vitally necessary ecological conditions of existence, preservation and improvement of its ecological space. It is believed that the assimilation of ecological knowledge is combined with the deep emotional experiences of the individual, contributes to the formation and establishment of his ecological beliefs, views and ideas as a decisive component of ecological responsibility. That is, ecological consciousness is defined as an act of consciousness expressed in a combination of ecological knowledge and corresponding feelings, when the ecological norms learned by a person simultaneously become the norms of his behavior in relation to nature. The features of the development of environmental consciousness of primary school students are considered, which is a certain level of a child’s consciousness, which contains mental abilities to ensure its inclusion in the process of regulation and self-regulation of activity, orientation and self-orientation in the surrounding space, as well as the child’s mastery of social and cultural stereotypes aimed at preserving the natural environment, studying natural relationships. The role of gender in the development of environmental consciousness of younger schoolchildren is analyzed, which is considered as a social construct containing a number of parameters by which a person’s status in society is determined. The methodological foundations of the empirical study of gender features of the ecological consciousness of younger schoolchildren are analyzed: the study of attitudes to environmental problems, the determination of the dominant attitude towards nature, the diagnosis of the level of development of the intensity of the subjective attitude towards nature of the non-pragmatic modality and its structure. This psychodiagnostic complex of methods corresponds to the specifics of the phenomenon under study and allows us to reveal various aspects of the study of gender features of the ecological consciousness of younger schoolchildren. The organization of the empirical study and the results of the psychodiagnostics of gender features of the ecological consciousness of younger schoolchildren are analyzed: analysis of the features of the attitude of younger schoolchildren to environmental problems; analysis of the dominant environmental attitude of younger schoolchildren towards nature; characterization of the components of the intensity of the subjective attitude of younger schoolchildren towards nature.