The Use of Simple Language in Informal Forest Education as a Key to the Correct Interpretation of Sustainable Forest Management—The Experience of Poland

Natalia Korcz, Emilia Janeczko and Agata Kobyłka
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Natalia Korcz: Department of Natural Foundations of Forestry, Institute of Soil Science and Environment Management, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
Emilia Janeczko: Department of Forest Utilization, Institute of Forest Sciences, University of Life Sciences in Warsaw, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Agata Kobyłka: Department of Tourism and Recreation, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: In view of the increasing conflict between society and forest management and a significant increase in the social functions of the forest, informal forest education is becoming increasingly important. In Poland, it is carried out mainly based on the field educational infrastructure, which consists, among other things, of forest educational paths equipped with educational boards. The paper presents the results of research on the assessment of the availability of texts presented on educational boards. The study was conducted on the basis of photographs of educational boards located on six educational paths in the forests of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lublin. Using the Google Lans application, the main text from each board was read and then analyzed in the Promovolt software program to determine the level of text accessibility using the Fog Index. The results were then compared with the opinion of respondents using an online survey, which indicated that most of the boards are written in language that is either simple, understandable to middle/high school students, or quite difficult but understandable to first-degree students. On the other hand, the respondents generally indicated the level of accessibility of the text to be easier because, in their opinion, it is enough to have a primary education to understand the content of the boards. This observation leads to the conclusion that in order for education to be more effective, simple language should be used, which can be understood by the less educated members of the population.

Keywords: educational board; forestry; text accessibility; educational infrastructure; fog index; promovolt (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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