Natural reserve or classroom: do short environmental education programmes and excursions influence primary schoolchildren knowledge and attitudes in West Africa?

Short-duration environmental education programmes come with costs both on human and financial resources. We evaluated a two-day environmental education programme for primary schoolchildren (n = 303, age = 12 years) in Senegal, comparing classroom-based learning (n = 135) with nature reserve excursion (n = 168). We assessed changes in environmental knowledge and conservation attitudes through pre-, post-, and one-year follow-up surveys. While children showed lasting knowledge gains, attitudinal shifts were modest and selective. No additional benefit was found from the nature visit; both groups achieved similar outcomes. These findings provide quasi-experimental evidence that contributes to the literature questioning the assumption that short-term nature exposure inherently enhances educational outcomes.