Less Known Is More Feared—A Survey of Children's Knowledge of and Attitudes towards Honeybees.

Simple Summary: Children can play a key role in biodiversity conservation as they pass knowledge on to their families who, in turn, can further disseminate it, and as children will be future citizens. This research focused on the relationship between the knowledge and perception of honeybees, which provide essential ecosystem services, in 12–14-year-old children. A survey was conducted with 231 students in Palermo (Sicily, Italy) for which they were given a questionnaire to assess their perception and knowledge of honeybees. The results indicate that the students have a good understanding of the role of honeybees in nature but lack a clear idea of their interactions with the environment. The study also reveals that children feel a certain fear of honeybees but still have respect for them. Interestingly, the average score for ecological knowledge surpassed the average score for perception, indicating that the subjects had a more positive education about honeybees than actual perception. The global decline in the number of pollinators has elicited considerable public attention. To the general public, honeybees are considered to be the primary pollinators. Also, a decline in managed honeybee stocks is alarming and could lead to declining pollination services and reduced ecosystem biodiversity, although the Apis mellifera is the least likely pollinator species on the planet to be at risk of extinction. A less-than-complete understanding of honeybees and their ecology may hinder their conservation. Ascertaining the public's level of knowledge about, and perception of, a problem can help in solving it. This research focused mainly on honeybees because people are unlikely to be able to recognize the different species of Apoidea. Schools are ideal places for understanding the basic knowledge and attitudes regarding this insect. We aimed to understand the perception and knowledge of 12–14-year-old children towards honeybees as well as to verify the existence of a correlation between knowledge level and positive perception. Secondary school students can play a key role in the conservation of biodiversity as they are carriers of knowledge in families and will be future citizens. To this end, 231 students were given a 26-item questionnaire related to their perception and knowledge of honeybees. Results indicate that the students have a good understanding of the role that bees play in nature but do not have a completely clear idea of this insect's interactions with the environment. Results also show that the children feel a certain fear of honeybees, although they respect them. The average score of the ecological branch test exceeded the average score of the perceptual one, indicating that the subjects had a more positive education than perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]