School students’ perceptions of trees and wooden objects in their immediate home environment: Possible implications for school environments

We present a county-wide statistically representative survey with 430 Hungarian school students demonstrating that students who have trees in the parental home environment show more positive attitude towards trees and wood than their peers who do not have any. We aimed at finding out about the current attitudes of the upcoming generation with regard to the use of wood and wood materials, and also about the question as to whether they would consciously use wood materials in the future. Results show that school students who have trees in their parental home environment show significantly higher scores on the cognitive, affective, and conative domains of attitude towards trees and wood compared to those who do not have trees in their parental home environment. The present study contributes to outdoor environmental education research in that we provide quantitative evidence for the positive effect of the immediate environment of children on the attitude towards wood and trees. The findings suggest the imperative need for further novel educational interventions in school gardens related to trees and wooden objects.