Protecting Life on Land and Below Water: Using Storytelling to Promote Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes toward Animals

Abstract

The framework of Global Education 2030 Agenda suggests 17 learning objectives for sustainability education. Restoring the human–animal relationship is a core task emphasized by Goals 14 (Life below water) and 15 (Life on land). This study investigated the effect of using storytelling, focusing on the thematic topic of wild animals, as an integrated part of learning about attitude toward wild animals. It addressed the major question: how could the students’ perceptions concerning the human–animal relationship be changed? The participants were 31 university students majoring in a variety of subjects. Qualitative inquiry using a personal meaning map (PMM) and online in-depth focus group interview explored the students’ perceptions of wild animals and their learning experience. The results showed the students’ changing attitudes toward wild animals at the end of the storytelling session. In the focus group interview students reported the process of their storytelling regarding the invention the stories. In conclusion, storytelling, featuring the adoption of multiperspectives, addressed imagination and empathy and promoted an understanding of the ethical relationship between wild animals and human beings. The educational implication of storytelling appealed to a holistic approach, engaging an interdisciplinary classroom practice in defining humanity in relation to the nonhuman world.