Understanding of the Concept of the Food Chain among Future Teachers

Abstract

This article focuses on the importance of familiarity with the species variety of ecosystems for proper use of the food chain concept. We were interested in whether university students in preschool and primary school education programmes, who will teach children about ecological concepts such as food chains and food webs, can correctly name specific examples of food chains in Slovenian forests. The study included 170 students from the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Education. The students had to list four examples of food chains and explain what a food chain is. The results show that a quarter of the respondents did not offer a single correct example of a food chain. It turned out that students find it difficult to understand the role of arrows in a food chain. The arrows were often missing or facing the wrong direction. Most students do not have as much difficulty understanding the concept of a food chain, but they have limited familiarity with species diversity in the forest and animal nutrition, which makes it difficult for them to adequately structure food chain examples.