Promoting Sustainable Fish Consumption in Portuguese 4th-Grade Students

Abstract

Consuming fish sustainably means consuming less and better, considering environmental, social, and economic impacts. This demands more knowledge to make informed decisions. In this study, the main goal was to understand how environmental sustainability education can be used as a tool to increase the knowledge and promote sustainable behaviour and consumption habits of 4th-grade students. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the use of two different learning methods, face-to-face and online learning, leading to two different groups of students, and we attempted to measure if the mode of implementing the activities affected the knowledge of the students. A sequential explanatory mixed methodology was applied with a pre-test/post-test design combined with focus group interviews. Between the pre- and post-tests, three activities modules were performed. The results showed that the students were unaware of many aspects related to sustainable fish consumption, but the developed activities significantly increased their knowledge of the subject and impacted students in terms of changing their consumption behaviours. It was also found that the construction of knowledge by the students after the activities was achieved either via face-to-face or online learning. Interviews from the focus group sessions showed that students got to know new fish species, learned about the concept of minimum landing size and closure season and that fish are labelled like other types of food.