diagnosing pro-Health and pro-Environmental attitudes in primary School Students based on Their Spontaneous Statements Expressed during Educational activities

The article presents a new approach to free questions and statements of students during educational classes in grades i–iii. attention has been paid to the value of these statements for the education process – they were treated as important sources of information for the teacher about students’ knowledge and pro-health attitudes. a method of reading and interpreting the meanings of students’ questions and statements and the possibilities of using them in the educational process, as presented in selected examples, has been proposed

iNtroduCtioN Man acts as a whole in which cognitive, emotional and volitional processes are closely interconnected.Children's knowledge about health and ecology as well as attitudes towards health and ecology are acquired both through natural experiences and situations in which they participate.Moreover, they are also obtained during deliberately organized activities (Kapica, Kapica 2001, p. 13) being part of the school's health education.The effectiveness of health education depends on well-initiated pro-health and pro-environmental education and its individualization (Chodkowska 2011, p. 109).
The key thread of this study are all the attitudes of first grade students that are manifested through questions and statements, and which are reported during various educational activities.They are a specific complement to the education process, and simultaneously a kind of children's reflection in the process of learning about and understanding nature (różańska 2017, p. 70), as well as health-related problems.They are, therefore, an invaluable value, which the teacher should not treat indifferently.
i am interested in questions and statements pronounced spontaneously, which are the unintentional result of educational activities.Each of the said types of utterances, which can be called "information waste" (Kojs 1994, p. 85), gave teachers hopes for discovery and proper diagnosis of the level of knowledge and types of attitudes of children, better learning about them and the use of new knowledge (on knowledge and attitudes of children) for the purposes of the education process -teaching and upbringing.

HEaLtH aNd ENViroNMENtaL EduCatioN -prELiMiNary EXpLaNatioNS
Health is sometimes included in the group of vital, existential, personal, instrumental values, felt and implemented, as well as one of the categories of universal values.Health and environmental education are inseparable (Frączek 2008, p. 180).actually, while using one concept, a person also means the latter.Therefore, it can be stated with certainty that environmental education is a need of the moment, especially when it allows children and youth to be discoverers, because they will make decisions in the future, the consequences of which will affect the environment (Kulik 2001, p. 11) and, consequently, their own health, well-being and mental resistance.Health education implemented in a conscious and purposeful manner is one of the most important areas to be integrated with other types of education (e.g.polish language, social sciences, natural science, technical education, physical education, etc.) as part of integrated education implemented at the first stage of education.
barbara woynarowska discusses the features of health education as priority education in the programs of governments of various countries.She claims that health education is characterized by: praCE badawCzE (…) a holistic approach to health and consideration of all its conditions; using various circumstances: formal and informal curriculums and pedagogical situations, using all opportunities and services of the school and outside the school; striving to harmonize health information that students receive from various sources; encouraging students to pro-health behaviors, enabling them to practice and create conditions that support health.(woynarowska 2013, p. 228) according to Maria john-borys, health education should run on three levels.The first one is related to increasing the knowledge and skills related to diseases, functioning of one's own body, prevention, coping in difficult situations; the second should increase knowledge and skills related to the use of health care and understanding the principles of its functioning; the third should refer to multiplication of the awareness of social, political and environmental factors affecting health (john-borys 2002, p. 177).Therefore, following the author's assumption, such an understanding of health education and referring it to integrated education, the teacher is aware of the importance of the content and objectives of education in this area, which affects each stage of children's growing up, as well as their adulthood.proper shaping of children's attitudes towards their own, their relatives' and other people's healthy lifestyle results from a universal system of values, for example, in the field of vital values.Health education is implemented in schools on purpose, in connection with the implementation of the core curriculum (regulation of the Minister of National Education of 14 February 2017…) or special programs promoting health 1 .among other things, the primary schools are to implement health issues covered by the curricula, including conditions for the education of pro-health behaviors, improving the skills in dealing with emergencies, acquiring health-related skills, getting acquainted with first-aid rules, civilization threats, and healthy lifestyle rules, etc. (Syrek 2010, p. 340).
according to superior documents justifying the need for health education, health promotion programs pursue the following goals: increasing physical activity; implementing the principles of personal hygiene; learning rational nutrition; sex education; ecological and environmental education (Kolarzyk 2000, p. 155).
Health education can also be implemented through valuable but not previously planned educational situations, for example, initiated by children through questions and statements.Such situations, in which students reveal their knowledge and attitudes towards health and ecology, require the attention of teachers, because they can greatly contribute to shaping the favorable social climate in the class: satisfaction with learning, achieving successes and strengthening students' self-esteem, health 1 on the website of the primary School No. 6 in pierśćiec (Cieszyn district, Silesia province), which is the "Health promoting School" you can read, among other things: "it is worth to take care of our health, because it is our precious good, thanks to which we can live happily, interestingly, actively and creatively. it is also a treasure that can be lost, therefore, the goal and task of our school is to support each student in developing their individual health potential" (piechaczek 2018).and development of members of the class community, participation, partnership and collaboration of students, teachers and parents.
More importantly, they can also contribute to the creation of a physical environment conducive to health, safety and the well-being of the class and school community (Syrek, borzucka-Sitkiewicz 2000, p. 98).

StudENtS' QuEStioNS aNd StatEMENtS -GENEraL iNForMatioN
Man asks questions, among other things, to get to know the world, the other man, and himself better.one applies them to establish a kind of relationship of superiority towards the interlocutor -by asking the question, one forces the interlocutor to answer.Most often, the term "question" is understood as "a sentence spoken in the intention of learning something, obtaining a permission for something, etc. " (Szymczak, Szkiłądź 1984, p. 1087).The definition of "question" is also found in the thought of Kazimierz ajdukiewicz, who stated: "in the logical sense, an interrogative sentence is always coupled with a certain set of sentences that constitute an answer the question sentence searches for" (ajdukiewicz 2006, p. 278).The unknown indicated by means of an interrogative pronoun (substituted for its place in the answer), creates a sentence function -a scheme for answering a given question, i.e. a question datum (datum quaestionis) (ajdukiewicz 2006, p. 279).
in turn, statements are those kinds of utterances, acts of speech by means of which a person announces and decides about a state of affairs, comments, gives opinions, presents judgments, expresses intentions and emotions (dąbrówka, Geller, turczyn 1997, p. 82).They differ from the questions basically in terms of one feature, namely the degree of certainty.Simply saying "i know" or "i do not know, i do not understand", "it's so nice", "i do not like it", "i would like to do it" (oelszlaeger 2009, p. 233), "i think that", "i state that", the student expresses their judgments, opinions, intentions, wishes, emotional attitude towards given objects, people and activities.They also express their point of view (danielewiczowa 2004;Grzegorczykowa 2004;Muszyński 2004;tabakowska 2004).They reach the subject of cognition, make an "act of conscious capturing of the subject (…), a specific inventory of knowledge drawn from the experience data" (ingarden 1972a, p. 117).
while the literature on the subject abounds in analyzes on the possible goals of the questions asked, the issue of the purposefulness of formulated statements is neglected.However, it is worth noting that roman ingarden writes that the statement is a verbal form of judgment.The content of this judgment results from the subject entity's situation, is adapted to the question, as well as to certain subjective conditions.The judgment becomes the answer to the question (ingarden 1972b, pp. 225-227).
teachers, dependently on the information obtained from the students' questions and statements, have a chance to discover possible gaps in their knowledge, to take praCE badawCzE appropriate corrective or compensatory measures to help students.They can also get information about each student, so important from the point of view of organizing future educational activities (didactic and educational).Questions and statements can be an interesting source of information about the directions of students' thinking (pauzewicz 1969, pp. 90-91).

StudENtS' QuEStioNS aNd StatEMENtS oF pro-HEaLtHy aNd pro-ECoLoGiCaL CoNtENt
Spontaneously reported questions and statements are important manifestations of health and/or illness of children participating in educational activities.Their content is a signal for the teacher if the child is involved in the course of classes, which in turn results, among other things, from the resources of his vital powers -health (or the lack of it).
reporting students' questions and statements should also be treated as an expression of a kind of experience."There are created conducive conditions for the exchange of the roles of the listener and the speaker, the sender and the recipient.The whole process is dominated by sharing of information" (rostańska 1995, p. 32) based on close contact with various environmental objects.as ryszard Kulik suggests, the process of shaping or changing pro-environmental attitudes should focus not only on attitudes towards specific actions, but also those general, towards nature (Kulik 2001, p. 56).
using source materials developed on the basis of observations of educational classes in grades i-iii (the source materials are available in: oelszlaeger-Kosturek 2018, pp.165-328), i made an analysis of students' questions and statements in terms of their knowledge and/or pro-health and pro-environmental attitudes.i prepared lists of both kinds of students' utterances, which in my opinion, reveal: their physiological, vital and aesthetic needs, as well as share information about desired and unwanted pro-health and pro-environmental attitudes.The latter can be read not only as a state of specific knowledge of students, but also the ability to use it (which can be seen thanks to the attitudes they represent).by presenting interrogative and declarative sentences written out of source materials, i want to signal the possible ways of reading them by the teacher.Therefore, i am discussing them in a phenomenological context, showing them as separate objects and using hermeneutic analysis, reflecting on their possible connections with the teacher's messages both in the perspective of the past, present and future of the education process in which they participate, and which is created by students in cooperation with the teacher, determining different types of communication models in the classroom.in total, 937 questions and 1,154 statements account for 40 questions (4.2699%) and 21 statements (0.0009%) presenting students' knowledge and pro-health and pro-environmental attitudes.Thirteen questions concern the physiological need, which is related to going to the toilet.in the first classes, these were the questions: "May i leave?"; "Can i go to pee?"; "May i go to the toilet?";"Can i go to the toilet?";"Can i use the toilet?"; in the second class they were: "please, can i go to the toilet?";"Can i go to the bathroom?";"May i go to the toilet, please?"; "Ma'am, can i go to the toilet?";"Ma'am, can i leave?"; "Can i go to the toilet?"; in third classes: "May i use the toilet, please?"; "Ma'am, can i go to the toilet?"Eleven questions received the teacher's reply confirming the request of a given student.Three of them were additionally provided with commentaries depending on the educational context, in various forms: "i thought that you would say something wise to me.Go, but quickly"; "i thought you wanted to answer my question.There was a break just a moment ago, but if you must, go"; "Can't you wait?" as indicated by the specific type of these questions, none of them was related to currently implemented curriculum content.
twelve students' questions have been qualified as a sign of their vital needs, and seven students' statements have been considered a manifestation of their knowledge and proper attitudes in the same area.among them, there are questions related to the desire to eliminate hunger ("when will we go for breakfast?";"i've already finished my task, can i go for lunch?"; "Ma'am, can we now take food out of our backpacks?"),with the desire to quench their thirst ("when there would be tea?"; "Ma'am, when will we go for tea?"; "Can i drink something?"), with the need to rest ("is it already a break?"; "Can we go out for a break?"; "Ma'am, when there will be a break?";Can we go out for a break?; "Ma'am, can we go out?").The list of these statements is complemented by two questions from students about the general knowledge about nutrition.in most cases, the teacher accepted the child's request hidden behind the question, "Can i?"; "Can we?". in two cases, the teacher did not answer, in one she/he omitted the student's question, continuing the course of classes, in two -the teacher did not agree to the students' request, adding an explanation ("today we have a guest and we will go for tea break later, as the guest will say goodbye"; "you don't have a break yet, don't leave the classroom, we will sing your favorite song").
Statements qualified to this category, just like the questions, concern the feeling of thirst ("Ma'am, they drink juices (…) they drink milk…"; "They brought milk!"), meals ("Ma'am, my mother often makes salads for us, and repeats every time that she serves us a vitamin bomb, but i do not like salads"; "Ma'am, the lady did not have 30 cents and she gave me my change in candies instead"; "i would like to snack, there are so many delicacies here, so delicious!These yellow ones are lemon flavored").The teacher reacted to ten out of twelve questions, and to three out of the seven students' statements noted in this category.The general knowledge about nutrition was included in two questions ("Ma'am, what about the apple that is on the table?";"what will i do with these fruits?"), but only one of them was noticed by the teacher.one of the situations in which a student asks the so-called "on the matter" question (oelszlaeger, 2007), that is a question concerning the content of education provided, is illustrated in example 1. example 1 2 Educational context: in grade i, there is a lesson on the topic: Vitamin Trackers.The educational goals of this example are: to become aware of what products are a source of vitamins; using a knife, keeping the workplace clean.The teacher refers to the homework assigned regarding preparing for classes (bringing the right tools and materials).detailed instructions on how to make fruit shashliks is provided.Children are working on their fruit shashliks.
Student's question: "Ma'am, what about the apple that is on the table?"teacher's response: "take it from the table." Comment: The child has an idea for using the apple.The teacher predicts this by accepting the action that the student will take.However, it does not refer to the subject and purpose of educational activities at all (also in any other part of the course).
development of the educational situation: Children eagerly make fruit shashliks.Then there is a summary of the classes: a reminder of all activities undertaken, cleaning workplace, evaluation of work (shashliks).There is still no reference to the objective of the classes regarding vitamins in fruits and their value for human nutrition.
The next two examples refer to statements regarding the above described category of utterances.one of them is part of the curriculum content implemented during classes (example 2), the other does not refer to the subject of the classes at all (example 3).

example 2
Educational context: There are classes in grade ii.Theme of the day is a garden full of colors, whereas the lesson's topic is: In the Vegetable Garden.The educational objectives of this example are: teaching children to distinguish vegetables from other plants; using the correct names for vegetables; understanding how important it is for a man to eat vegetables.The teacher prepares children for a staging jan brzechwa's poem entitled At the Vegetable Stall.demonstrating a basket of vegetables, she gradually introduces them to the subject.She encourages students to express their opinions on the importance of vegetables and fruits for the human body.Children express themselves.Summing up the talk, the teacher explains: vegetables are the source of a large amount of vitamins and microelements that our body needs throughout our lives.
Schoolgirl's statement: "Ma'am, my mother often makes us salads, and every time she repeats that she serves us with a vitamin bomb".
teacher's response: admits the student is right: "your mother is right.by consuming these dishes, we no longer need to buy the vitamins we need in the pharmacy".
Comment: The teacher makes great use of the situation to provide all students with information about the importance of vitamins and healthy human nutrition.in a natural way, it becomes possible to achieve educational goals. 2 in all presented examples, i give an original record of the statements of students and teachers, recorded during the observation of educational activities, as well as original, derived from the class schedule, the subjects and objectives of the educational classes.development of the educational situation: There is a shift to the analysis of jan brzechwa's poem At the Vegetable Stall -extracting the names of vegetables, giving them fairy-tale and real features.Children are very interested in classes, they are happy to participate in them.

example 3
Educational context: There are classes in grade i regarding Christmas.The theme of the course is: the charm and mood of the Christmas Eve evening.introduction of the letter ch.The aims of the classes are as follows: introducing the letter ch printed and written; learning to write the lowercase and uppercase letter ch; training listening with understanding skills; enriching vocabulary.Children color the illustrations of a Christmas tree with decorations.They go out for a break, then color again.
Student's statement: "Ma'am, the lady did not have 30 cents and she gave me my change in candies instead".
teacher's response: She asks the questions: "where? in the shop?"Comment: The teacher leaves this information without discussion.perhaps she does not want to give a negative assessment about the unhealthy properties of candies that the other teacher gave to the child.However, it was possible to link this situation with a brief instruction on when to eat sweets and in what quantities.
development of the educational situation: Children are still coloring pictures.
two of the recorded students' questions are related to giving permission to take actions related to personal cleanliness ("Can i wash my hands?") and keeping the classroom clean ("please, can i get the sponge to wipe the desk?"). in both cases, the teacher gave permission to take the action (examples 4 and 5).Student's question: "Can i wash my hands?"teacher's response: The teacher responds.using the student's question, she formulates an appropriate command to the entire class: "yes, whoever finished, may wash their hands".

praCE badawCzE
Comment: The teacher reacted properly.She appropriately used the situation created by the student. in this way she shapes the aesthetic attitude related to the preservation of personal cleanliness.
development of the educational situation: The teacher labels the students' works of art with the student's names.She begins to discuss them with the children: the colors used, the objects drawn or painted: the tree or the forest.The children explain which of their schoolmates they showed in their works and how they did it.They also speak about themselves.There is a nice atmosphere.

example 5
Educational context: There are classes in grade i on the topic: At the Cinema.Educational goals regarding the example are: perfecting the language form of the description -description of the cinema; oral creation of a rich description based on a picture story (puzzle).Children do puzzles and color a picture story.The teacher informs students and issues the command: "Now, i'll give you the notebooks you gave me yesterday.a lot of you still have letters to write, so if someone finished coloring, then you can start writing letters".
Student's question: "Ma'am, can i get the sponge to wipe the bench?"teacher's response: accepts the student's proposal and replies shortly: "yes, take it".
Comment: The teacher assessed the situation well.She praised the student's proposal regarding the preservation of the classroom's cleanliness.However, she could suggest children to follow their classmate's behaviour.
development of the educational situation: Small chaos is taking place.Some students have finished doing puzzles and coloring, some not yet.Some students write letters.when the bell rings, the teacher gives the order: "Everyone who did not finish the task, please do at home.tomorrow i will check how you made it". a separate category of questions are those that testify to the students' interest in the natural environment, nature and a healthy lifestyle.interestingly, almost none of them was left without comment from the teacher.For 13 questions, 6 were "off-topic" questions ("Ma'am, will we go to the yard today?"; "Ma'am, we will go outdoor today?"; "will there be today pE classes?or will not?";"and when will we go for pE classes?"; "is it time for pE classes?").There was only one question the teacher did not answer (next to last).other questions constituted important links in the developing communication acts, thanks to which the educational tasks were carried out ("Can you mend a cut down tree?"; "Ma'am, how about a forest?";"Can i open the window?";"How about going for a walk?"; "How are they put in a pot?"; "How do they grow in the yard?"; "Ma'am is hacquetia also protected?"). of note are those that caused a change in the teacher's thinking, sometimes they even suggested to her a new form of classes ("How about going for a walk?") (example 6).

example 6
Educational context: The classes in grade iii concerning the topic of spring are over.The topics of the day refer to: Life in Śpiewowice; Songbirds; Spring in the Forest.The implemented educational objectives include: the student can explain why forest is necessary for birds; differentiates the seasons and knows what their signs are.The teacher gives the order and announces: "Let's get into pairs, and go for lunch.after lunch, we still have pE classes".
Student's question: "How about going for a walk?" teacher's response: responds, approving the student's proposal: "This is a good idea.we'll look for the signs of spring together." Comment: The teacher reacted correctly.However, she could explain the purpose of the walk in the context of the implementation of the pE curriculum, including taking care of health.
development of the educational situation: as described above.
i have also noted the statements of students of grades i-iii regarding the rational spending of free time ("you have to plan the day"; "i get up at six, because my grandfather gets up"; "i do my homework at school to have more free time, sir"; "i get up on Saturday at six o' clock, because my dad goes to work") and sport exercises taking place in free time ("i jumped and jumped"; "Me too but i want more"; "This hotel is called «Gołębiewski» and i was there with my parents and sister.There is an aqua park and a restaurant, i swam in this pool and it was fun").There were seven such statements, two remained without the teacher's reaction (the last two examples of the statements).
The last category of students' declarations are those regarding health and illness ("i think that all this is because of this disease, if he didn't have it, everything would be all right"; "when i had a fever, my mother gave me a thermometer, but that was for the temperature"; "Ma'am, can i go to the school nurse because i have a headache?"),healthy lifestyle ("My uncle lives in a forest and has a wooden house"), caring for health and safety ("My brother always eats snow"; "Snow is good, because it's cold"; "Ma'am, Marcin is swinging in a chair"; "Ma'am, it's so cold!"; "i watched a movie in which hail killed a man"; "Ma'am, the day before yesterday was snowing, and now it's hot and isn't snowing"; "i used to play and i called an ambulance").two statements from the above were ignored by the teacher.two others are interesting examples of children's understanding of the concept of health and illness (examples 7 and 8).Student's statement: "i think it's because of this disease, if he didn't have it, everything would be all right".praCE badawCzE teacher's response: "i will talk to Sylwek's parents.and now we're back to work".Comment: The teacher realized that she unjustly assessed the student's behavior, which was noticed by another student.She took note of the suggestion and, trying to go with the honor of this situation, decided not to deal with this problem in class.However, she informed the class that she would explain the matter with the parents of the student who she was talking about.it was possible to react so, but also to add a short commentary to the whole situation, and discuss how a person works when he feels bad, how it affects learning and work.
development of the educational situation: The teacher recommends opening another task card and informs students about the new task to be done.Students cut sentences, arrange them and try to write a letter to Mrs. winter.example 8 Educational context: Grade iii classes are underway.They concern the topic of What Is Happiness?Educational objectives are: acceptance of other people, culture of being, assistance to animals, sensitivity to the needs of others.The teacher initiates a discussion on the concept of happiness.Then she discusses with her students fragments of Hans Christian andersen's fairy tale entitled The Ugly Duckling.She gives the order: "please, write a short text on a duckling and a large swan.Make a description of this swan.please use complete sentences".
Schoolgirl's question: "Ma'am, can i go to the school nurse because i have a headache?"teacher's response: The teacher accepts and gives the order: "ok.ania, go, but be careful".
Comment: The teacher correctly reacted to the question of the student, however, she carelessly allowed the girl to leave the classroom (without adult supervision).The schoolgirl question is indicative of her knowledge of where to find medical help at school when the need arises.it can be seen that the teacher did not attach too much importance to this question and the well-being of the student, as it disturbed her explaining the task (as below).
the development of the educational situation: The teacher ends the previously started, extended command with the words: "(…) Formulate sentences with the sentences you underlined".Children undertake independent work.
The two above examples show that two students are aware of health care and they have knowledge about the relationship between human health and lifestyle, as well as the physical and social environment (Cybulska 2007, p. 200).

CoNCLuSioNS
one of the important manifestations of health (or lack of it) in children participating in educational activities are spontaneously formulated by them interrogative and declarative statements.Their content is a signal for the teacher, whether the child is involved in the course of classes, which results from his vital strength -health (or the lack of it).Many of the students' questions and statements concern such categories of attitudes that could be described as pro-health and pro-environmental.Making this basic distinction, i have made lists of the students' statements that cover several areas.
Making an attempt to categorize children's statements, i would like to draw attention to the need to care for shaping pro-health and pro-environmental attitudes in all situations, not only those planned by the teacher for the implementation of the curriculum and the adopted class schedule.Similarly to Kulik, i think that "[problems -b.o.K.] related to the relationship of man and nature concern everyone, so understanding and realizing these problems, and further -discussing and taking certain actions -should be universal and include as many people as possible" (Kulik 2001, p. 48).Noticing every question and statement of a student about health and ecology means noticing each child's attitude towards something important.only such truly responsible activities of teachers can lead students to ask deep questions, regarding life processes on the planet and presenting a non-superficial, inquisitive and reflective attitude to important issues, including life.arne Naess, the creator of the type of approach, which Kulik refers to, gives examples of questions about the meaning of life, about the most important life goals, about the future of the human species, about the right way of life, about the place of man in the world, nature and space, and finally -about motives of the destruction of nature.it is worth educating students of pedagogy -future teachers of early school education -so that to make them reflect on such questions (Kulik 2001, p. 48, after: Naess 1992)
słowa kluczowe: pytania i wypowiedzi uczniów; wiedza i postawy prozdrowotne i proekologiczne; edukacja wczesnoszkolna Educational context: There are classes in grade ii concerning the theme of the day: play with numbers and your own imagination.The subject of the classes carried out during the observation, and referring to an example is: Playing with One's Own Imagination -Visual Compositions Showing the Image of Oneself.The goals of the course are: developing children's creative work; shaping self-esteem.Children are doing artworks.The teacher instructs the children what to do.Their task is to show themselves as a growing tree alone or as a tree in the forest.They have cards, crayons and paints at their disposal.Students are happy to do the work.Some use only crayons, others only paints, several children use crayons and paints.
Educational context: There are classes in grade i concerning the topic of the day: We Say Goodbye to Winter and Evaluating the Students' Behavior.The teacher gives the order: "Sylwek goes to the spider's web place to think about what he has done and what to do about it now".