Cultural probes for environmental education: Designing learning materials to engage children and teenagers with local biodiversity

occur only in the Azores, resulting in either speciation events (neo-endemics) or extinction of the mainland/source populations (paleo-endemics) [10]. The trail also includes exotic species (e.g., Cryptomeria japonica), introduced by humans [34]. Some of these species are now classi- fied as invasive (e.g., Hedychium gardnerianum) due to their proliferation rate, high abun- dance cover and negative impacts. Participants. We recruited participants, ages 10 to 18, through the help of two local Scouts groups. Participants and their caretakers accessed information and consent forms via their respective Scouts group. Children and teenagers willingly participated in the study, and we informed them that we might request their participation during a post-trail activity. We also reported to them that they could withdraw their participation at any time. For this study, we obtained ethical approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the University of the Azores. A total of 36 participants (19 female and 17 male) participated in visits to the trail, coming from both councils of Terceira Island, Angra do Heroı´smo (Santa Ba´rbara) and Praia da Vito´- ria (Lajes). Considering the islands’ small area (400 km2), all residents are relatively close to the Natural Park, less than a half an hour ride, although there is no public transportation for these locations. Of all participants, 23 Scouts were between the ages of 10 and 14, and 13 were Fig 1. Natural Reserve of Serra de Santa Ba´rbara and Miste´rios Negros—Terceira’s Nature Park. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262853.g001

PLOS ONE Cultural probes for environmental education PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262853 February 10, 2022 6 / 30