Anthropomorphism & Learning to Care: Building Nature Stewardship Through Animal Stories
PanelAngela B. Napenas, George M Jacobs | Moderator: Debby Ng
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Do animal protagonists promote care for the other-than-human world? Is there a difference in how various animals are depicted in picture books, and how might they influence children’s perceptions of these creatures? Ultimately, how can children’s literature shape attitudes toward the environment, and how can it be a vehicle for nurturing the nature stewards of tomorrow?
environmentstorytelling
Angela B. Napenas (Philippines)
Angela B. Napeñas is currently a Research Fellow at the Constantino Foundation where she studies how biodiversity is being represented in Philippine children’s storybooks. As a biology major, her university training focused on field methods in ecological research, with an emphasis on assessing biodiversity indicators. Pursuing her true passions, she had also taken academic coursework on children’s literature alongside her science degree. She is an advocate for the use of children’s literature in environmental education and hopes that her research inspires the creation of more diverse and accessible biodiversity media for young Filipinos.
George M Jacobs (Singapore)
George M Jacobs is the co-author of Read Aloud Asia and teaches at Kampung Senang Charity and Education Foundation. He serves on the board of the International Ecolinguistics Association and has written on ecolinguistics and on reading.
Debby Ng (Singapore)
Ecology meets storytelling in Debby Ng’s work, which brings conservation science out of journals and into everyday life. A Singapore-based ecologist, photojournalist, and National Geographic Explorer, she weaves photographs and narrative to translate research on infectious disease into stories about how people, animals, and the environments they share shape community health. She is the author of Marvellous Mammals, a children’s book that introduces families to Southeast Asia’s most elusive wildlife through vivid, research-grounded storytelling. Debby lectures at the National University of Singapore, where she completed her doctoral studies.
Photo by Wallace Woon.
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