Informal Environmental Education Research Articles

Enhancing Writing Skills with Social Media-Based Corrective Feedback

This study investigates the effectiveness of utilizing corrective feedback delivered through social media networks to enhance the writing skills of students at Andijan State Institute of Foreign Languages. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, the research explores the integration of platforms such as Facebook to facilitate peer feedback, track student progress, and provide personalized learning experiences tailored to individual needs. The study involved a controlled experiment where participants were divided into an experimental group receiving online feedback and a control group receiving traditional feedback. The findings reveal that corrective feedback provided through social media significantly improves writing accuracy, fluency, and complexity. Students in the experimental group demonstrated marked improvements in sentence structure, grammar, vocabulary, and content organization compared to those in the control group. Moreover, the study highlights the potential of social media as an engaging and collaborative tool that motivates students and supports continuous learning outside the traditional classroom setting. These results underscore the importance of incorporating technology into language instruction, suggesting that social media networks can serve as an effective medium for enhancing the writing skills of learners in both formal and informal educational environments. The implications of this study are significant for educators seeking innovative methods to support student development and improve writing proficiency in the digital age.

Development of a Informal Environmental Education Program for Out-of-School Youth

Development of a Informal Environmental Education Program for Out-of-School Youth

THE INFLUENCE OF EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES ON THE INTEREST OF CZECH AND FINNISH STUDENTS IN BIOLOGY

Extracurricular learning plays a key role in shaping students' interest in (not only) biology. The research examined which extracurricular areas related to biology can make biology more attractive for the participating Finnish and Czech students. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was administered to 178 Finnish and 195 Czech 9th-grade lower-secondary school students. Cronbach's alpha, Varimax rotation and Mann–Whitney U-test were performed. Factor analysis identified 7 areas: Family trips, My career, Biology lessons, Healthy lifestyle, Institutions, Nature-related hobbies, and Information sources. For Czech, hobbies related to nature and family trips are significant contributors to fostering interest in biology, and an informal educational environment is crucial for cultivating a lasting relationship with biology. For Finns, biology classes and career orientation have a more significant influence on students, demonstrating the effectiveness of formal educational strategies in increasing students' interest in biology. Increasing interest in biology among the students observed in both sociocultural environments is significantly influenced by family involvement and the use of information sources. Further research should explore how specific ECA can support the connection between family and school environments and their impact on students' interest and engagement in biology lessons. Keywords: extracurricular activities, interest in biology, lower secondary school students, questionnaire

“Although I was alone, I always felt accompanied”: the experiences of adolescent girls walking in a forest

ABSTRACT How do adolescent girls interact with nature? Which affordances do they perceive and enact in nature-rich environments? Drawing on outdoor empirical research, which mobilises cultural probes, walking, and semi-structured interviews as key methodological devices, this article provides possible answers to the research questions, as well as further interrogations issued from our analysis. Our research contributes to the field by developing new knowledge on the affordances of nature-rich environments for adolescents, in the context of informal environmental education and outdoor learning experiences. In this study, affordances are understood as ways along which the world comes into presence to human beings, providing contingently relational possibilities for interaction. The findings highlight that these teenagers’ experiences, were potentially transformative, bringing a higher sense of connection with more-than-human realms. They extend knowledge on adolescents’ ways of perceiving and interacting with nature, revealing previously unnoticed affordances, such as listen-ability, the affordances of the weather, and depict-ability.

Caring Enough to Counter Extinction: The Work of Volunteer Bat Carers and Educators in Tropical Queensland, Australia

Abstract In the state of Queensland, volunteers perform much of the work needed to prevent the extinction of threatened species who are native and unique to this continent. Acting from an understanding of interspecies justice, caring people rescue and rehabilitate hundreds of thousands of wild animals every year. Many of these same people conduct informal environmental education to bring to community attention the problematics of extinction by seeking the material expression of an ethics of conviviality. Using a document case study approach, this paper narrates aspects of the kindship work of a network of carers and educators of flying foxes who undertake informal environmental education as part of their care practices. Volunteering to care and educate for Australian flying mammals is a form of activism in a nation with a mammalian extinction crisis that still fails to meet its obligations under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15. This paper describes how volunteer run informal environmental education in far north Queensland is driven by a strong sense of multispecies care.

Green Man You Owe Me: Surprises using puppetry with rural children in environmental education

Wakkerstroom, Mpumalanga, is a rural South African village, set against the backdrop of a wetland, grasslands and rolling hills (Mpumalanga Information Directory, nd). Sadly, children that live here appear to have little concept of the beauty that surrounds them, and do not care for the natural environment. The reasons for this are that they are not exposed to the natural environment other than for available resources, parents are absent due to work commitments or have passed away, and most children here cannot swim, meaning visiting the wetland is dangerous. There are also no parks where they can play. Th eir view of the environment is litter-infested roads and streams, and informal dumps. This article explores a single moment of clarity during an intervention using a puppet, that occurred during a programme in 2023 which aimed to reintroduce a group of 31 children between the ages of 11 to 15 from The Clay Educentre to the wonders of nature, using the arts, refl ective practice, and immersion into the natural environment. Here I argue that puppetry, in informal environmental education, with reflective practice, has the capacity to be more transformative than other art forms, such as drawing, drama and dance.Keywords: applied arts, reflexivity, stop moment, environmental education

MUVE: A Long-Term Science Museum-Based Environmental Volunteer Conservation Program

ABSTRACT Science museums and similar institutions provide informal science and environmental education, both on museum grounds and out in the community. Since 2007, the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami, Florida, USA, has run Museum Volunteers for the Environment (MUVE) program, a conservation volunteer program that is also an effective method of place-based education for the local community. Here, we document the evolution of MUVE over the past 15 years, from a small eco-art installation to a multi-faceted conservation program that brings the museum into nature, and share the program’s recent achievements. We outline program activities, participation, funding sources, key challenges, and lessons learned. Our goal in doing so is to provide a case study to other museums interested in developing similar programs.

The role of environmental education in formation of environmental literacy of society

The article explores the role of ecological education in the formation of ecological literacy of society at the current stage of development of pedagogical thought. The main approaches to studying various aspects of environmental education are discussed. An overview of the main directions in this scientific field is given and the peculiarities of their interpretation by researchers are analyzed. This research investigates the concepts and meanings associated with environmental education. The study finds that environmental education and learning are practical and interdisciplinary, seeking to facilitate harmonious interaction between humans and the natural world. The paper also emphasizes the significance of the mentioned above concepts within the national education system.

디자인 씽킹을 활용한 비형식 환경교육프로그램 개발 및 효과성 연구

Objectives The purposes of this study were to develop and apply an informal environmental education program based on the design thinking process to improve creative problem-solving skills of out-of-school youth.
 Methods In order to achieve the research objectives, an environmental education program using design thinking process was developed. The developed informal environmental education program was applied to 13 out-of-school teenagers belonging to the G-gun Youth Counseling Support Center. Afterwards, the skills for creative problem solving were investigated by pre- and post-tests accompanying open surveys, and in-depth interviews to judge the achievements of the objectives.
 Results As represented on previous research and literature analyses, three informal environmental education ex-perts designed a draft of education program. For the completion, the program was evaluated as well as validated by other five experts. Afterwards, the program was applied to the 12th educational program of the Busan National Science Museum <Learning Science 2.0> from May to June 2021, and its effectiveness was validated.
 Conclusions In this study, an informal environmental education program using the design thinking process was developed and applied to out-of-school youth. The effectiveness of the program was validated in that creative problem-solving skills and a core competency necessary for out-of-school youth were enhanced.

Environmental education in the school system at elementary schools in Slovakia

Environmental education (EE) in elementary schools (6 − 15 years old) in Slovakia is not systematically defined, it is often dependent on the voluntary efforts and enthusiasm of teachers. Schoolchildren acquire environmental knowledge in a limited form during the teaching of individual subjects, especially Biology, Geography and to some extent, also Chemistry, Physics etc. In elementary schools, the school subject of EE is absent. Therefore, the aim of the presented study is to find out the current situation in formal and informal EE at elementary schools in Slovakia. We gathered data on formal EE in the form of a google questionnaire survey, in which only 18% of all elementary schools in Slovakia were willing to participate. Through some questions in the google questionnaire, these elementary schools also provided informations about the inclusion of formal, informal and non-formal education at elementary schools. Our SWOT analysis indicate a need for systematic EE in elementary schools, as well as improvements of teaching materials and teacher training in this area. At the same time, we present the EE model at the Rakovec nad Ondavou Elementary School with Kindergarten, which is included in the Green School Network and actively involved in Erasmus projects providing the opportunity to implement part of the study and internships abroad.

Source Code Analysis in Programming Education: Evaluating Learning Content with Self-Organizing Maps

Due to the everchanging and evergrowing nature of programming technologies, the gap between the programming industry’s needs and the educational capabilities of both formal and informal educational environments has never been wider. However, the need to learn computer programming has never been greater, regardless of the motivation behind it. The number of programming concepts to be taught is increasing over time, while the amount of time available for education and training usually remains the same. The objective of this research was to analyze the source codes used in many educational systems to teach fundamental programming concepts to learners, regardless of their prior experience in programming. A total of 25 repositories containing 3882 Python modules were collected for the analysis. Through self-organization of the collected content, we obtained very compelling results about code structure, distribution, and differences. Based on those results, we concluded that Self-Organizing Maps are a powerful tool for both content and knowledge management, because they can highlight problems in the curriculum’s density as well as transparently indicate which programming concepts it has successfully observed and learned to recognize. Based on the level of transparency exhibited by Self-Organizing Maps, it is safe to say that they could be used in future research to enhance both human and machine learning of computer programming. By achieving this level of transparency, such an Artificial Intelligence system would be able to assist in overall computer programming education by communicating what should be taught, what needs to be learned, and what is known.

Use of Informal Learning Environments in Turkish Language Teaching

Teaching is divided into two as formal and informal teaching. Formal education is based on the teaching of planned, programmed and predetermined contents. This type of education, training usually take place in educational institutions, which are called schools. In this respect, formal education is divided into primary, secondary, high school and higher education. Apart from the formal education carried out in planned, programmed environments, there are also informal learning and informal education environments that we can consider as lifelong learning. Outside of school, spontaneous learning without any plan, program, realization is defined as informal learning. Informal learning can take place in almost any environment. This type of learning is one whose place and time are not defined. Learning in informal settings is an important stage in the acquisition of mother tongue. A newly born baby learns to speak the language spoken in the family environment into which he was born. When he starts talking, his family and inner circle are his learning and growing environment. Until the school age, this environment shapes it in terms of language acquisition as well as in every field. Thus, the individual performs language acquisition as used in his immediate environment. Informal learning until the school age takes place in a formal way with the school. Our study is important in terms of showing how informal learning environments can be used to carry out an effective Turkish teaching. The method of the research is literature review. At the end of the study, visual and audio tools such as radio, television, cinema, social media; places such as schools, libraries, houses; It has been concluded that activities such as conferences, theater, poetry recitals and discussions are informal environments that can be used in Turkish teaching.

Development of research interests of high school students in the process of joint creative activities with students of pedagogical university

Introduction. The study is aimed at solving the problem of substantiation of ways to design continuous educational activities of high school students and students, leading them to the maximum disclosure of their creative potential. The proposed approach to solving this problem consists of using the potential of joint creative activity of high school students and students as a means of developing their common research interests. The purpose of this article is to substantiate the model of organization of this activity. Materials and methods. The study was conducted by methods of scientific literature analysis and modeling of informal educational environment as a system of psychological and pedagogical conditions of development of joint creative activity of high school and college students. The model was tested in the form of the Festival of Creative Ideas. The total number of participants was 150 people. The effectiveness of the created model was evaluated according to the following indicators: satisfaction of the participants with the obtained results; productivity of participation in the process of discussions; expression of research interests of high school and college students; expression of psychological barriers to subject-subjective interactions. Results. The principles underlying the organization of joint creative activity of senior pupils and students: dialogicality, productivity of subject-subject interactions and gamification are substantiated. The model of educational event as a structural unit of joint creative activity of senior pupils and students, including 4 blocks: diagnostic, communicative, content and reflexive, is created. The results of its experimental testing are characterized. It is shown that the majority of surveyed participants are most satisfied with the results of joint creative activity (84.1%), but insufficiently satisfied with their own contribution to this activity (36.4%). A wide range of research interests of high school students participating in joint creative activity with students has been revealed. The dominant interest is in the problems of choosing and mastering the future profession in the modern world (79.5%). The psychological barriers of the subjects of joint creative activity of senior pupils and students are reflected: fear of an unfamiliar situation (81,8%), fear of looking inadequate (75%), difficulty in establishing interpersonal contacts (68,2%). Conclusion. The general conclusion is made that the joint creative activity of high school students and students, carried out in an informal educational environment, has the result of the development of their research interests to the level comparable to the state of modern science.

Expanding Formal School Curricula to Foster Action Competence in Sustainable Development: A Proposed Free-Choice Project-Based Learning Curriculum

A key determinant and outcome of successful environmental education is ‘pro-environmental behavior’, i.e., behavior that involves conscious action to mitigate adverse environmental impacts at personal or community level, e.g., reducing resource consumption and waste generation, avoiding toxic substances, and organizing community awareness initiatives. However, some theorists have sought to move away from rationalist models of behavioral modification, towards holistic pedagogical initiatives that seek to develop action competence. In light of the global push towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emerging evidence suggests that education initiatives should foster action competence so students may be equipped to contribute to sustainable development as part of their education. The UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Roadmap 2030 has also identified key priority areas to strengthen ESD in formal curricula. This article reports two informal environmental education initiatives for promoting action competence and pro-environmental behaviors in school-aged children. The authors recommend that formal education settings (e.g., schools) should incorporate self-directed, free-choice project-based learning to augment environmental education programs and promote students’ action competence for contribution to attainment of SDGs. To this end, we propose a Free-Choice Project-based Learning for Action Competence in Sustainable Development (ACiSD) Curriculum, comprising six implementation dimensions, namely: (1) project duration and teaming arrangements, (2) topic selection, (3) student support, (4) teacher support, (5) learning environments, and (6) digital access and equity. For each implementation dimension, we recommend action steps to help educators implement this curriculum in their own educational settings, with the aid of an illustrative worked example.

Analysis Of The Educational Environments Of Konya Science Center In The Context Of Space And Technology

Recently, informal education environments that support existing schools have been created due to changing educational needs. Science Centers, which are one of the informal education environments, have also started to become widespread in our country in recent years and all this has brought about the design problem of these buildings. The aim of the study is to reveal how the interiors of science centers should be constructed within the context of the relationship between space and technology. As a result, while the study is expected to guide the interior architects for the science center designs, the exhibition areas should be highlighted as the focus point as an educational area. In addition, interactive exhibition dec dec which can be tried by touching and playing between space and technology themed exhibition areas in science centers for students are among the places that make the greatest contribution in terms of informal education. In this direction, the educational units of Konya Science Center are examined.

Assessment of visual sub-competencies through Visual Rubrics: case studies based on the Common European Framework of Reference of Visual Competencies (CEFR-VC)

In the second version of the Common European Framework of Reference for Visual Competence (CEFR_VC) discussed in this journal issue, the main competency dimensions: creation and reception are represented in 16 sub-competencies, with an overarching competence dimension of metacognition. Visual Rubrics (VRs) support the assessment process of visual competency through an in-depth understanding of the content and levels of competences developed in an art education programme. Activities and their quality are captured in symbolic visualizations (images and explanatory textual rubrics) that scaffold the learning path and turn the competence development process into a metacognitive experience. Based on the first version of the Common European Framework of Visual Literacy (CEFR-VL), VRs for secondary-level art education were successfully employed in five European countries as summative assessment tools. In Hungary, the VR development continued with the new version of the framework, the Common European Framework of Visual Competency (CEFR-VC to explore the adaptability of VRs in a variety of educational settings. The tool proved to be useful in formal, school-based education as well as in the informal educational environment of museums. In this article, we explain the structure and imagery of the VRs and discuss their reception by art educators.

ЕКОЛОГІЧНА ПІДГОТОВКА МАЙБУТНІХ ФАХІВЦІВ ДЕРЖАВНОЇ СЛУЖБИ НАДЗВИЧАЙНИХ СИТУАЦІЙ

The article is devoted to the problem of preparing future specialists of the State Emergency Service of Ecology for professional activity by means of information and communication technologies. The concept of "ecological culture", which is considered as a basic element of the system of environmental education, equips a person with the necessary knowledge about the peculiarities of the interaction of society and nature, the course of natural processes, the influence of anthropogenic loads on them and the adverse consequences of such influence, is considered in detail. This especially applies to civil defense specialists who, by virtue of their professional duties, must possess not only specialized knowledge and skills, but also a developed environmental culture. Ecological culture contributes to the development of an ecologically oriented strategy of life and regulates the attitude to the natural environment by moral and scientific means. The basis of the formation of ecological culture is ecological education and upbringing, therefore, precisely in the process of professional training, it is most appropriate to instill ecological culture. The formation of ecological culture should take place by involving specialists in active, creative activities. Such education should be carried out in an active form, using "direct contact" with the natural environment. Specialists should qualitatively build the educational process, select such material that will be understood by the audience and reinterpreted in a valuable way by it, which will contribute to the formation of socially valuable motives in the attitude to nature, instilling the necessary abilities and skills of interaction with the natural environment, raising the level of environmental culture in general. Summarizing what has been said, it should be said that the level of environmental culture of specialists remains low and society needs to intensify the process of forming an ecological culture by means of formal and informal environmental education and training. Environmental education is represented by a system of knowledge aimed at mastering the theory and practice of general ecology, and includes elements of geographical, socio-economic, technical and legal fields of knowledge. Environmental culture of a person is a complex psychological formation, which consists of a system of knowledge, practical abilities and skills, beliefs and learned norms of interaction with the environment. Ecological culture as a basic element of the system of environmental education equips a person with the necessary knowledge about the peculiarities of the interaction of society and nature, the course of natural processes, the influence of anthropogenic loads on them and the adverse consequences of such influence.

Long-Term Effects of an Informal Education Program on Tourist Environmental Perception

Tourism is one of the most important economic sectors worldwide, with significant overarching impact on the environment, including negative effects caused by tourist inappropriate behavior while on vacation. By providing informal educational activities, tourism also has an educative role that leads to positive learning outcomes and beneficial environmental effects. Here we present the short- and long-term outcomes of a project for environmental education (Glocal Education) carried out in three travel destinations, aimed at promoting sustainability variables (knowledge, attitude, and awareness) in participating tourists. Since psychological components can affect learning outcomes, we also considered tourist satisfaction in participating in the project and identification with its values, as well as the intention to travel with the hosting tour operator again in the future. Tourists were asked to complete evaluation questionnaires three times: before Glocal Education activities, right after activities (i.e., while still on vacation), and after at least one year from initial project participation. Short- and long-term learning outcomes were tested, and possible relations between these variables and psychological components (satisfaction, identification, and intention) of the learning experience were verified. Overall, knowledge, attitude and awareness increased in the short term, while in the long term, knowledge and attitude decreased, and awareness remained constant. In most cases, psychological components showed positive relation with sustainability variables, which suggested their important role in structuring and carrying out environmental education activities. This study suggests that informal environmental education activities can be advantageous for tourism stakeholders in terms of customer loyalty. Such activities can contribute to enhance environment literacy, by allowing tourists to observe the environmental impact caused by human activity, and understand how their day-to-day actions, even if small, might help address some of the current concerns for environmental conservation.

Conceptual and theoretical foundations of personalised learning

Introduction. The urgency of the problem related to personalised learning in future teacher training is associated with the creation of an optimal range of choices in the conditions of intensive development of the informal and non-formal educational environment in the global (interstate) educational space. At the same time, the slogan “teach everyone and everything” is disappearing into the past; instead, the importance of unique specialists, who are able to implement their own pedagogical startups and introduce them into educational practice, is increasing.Aim. The aim of the article is to describe the development and testing of a structural and functional model of personalised learning in education of future teachers.Methodology and research methods. The methodological research framework is based on V. A. Petrovsky’s concept of personology, methodology of nonlinear educational systems and transdisciplinary approach in science and education. In the course of the research, the following tools and methods were used: analysis, comparison and generalisation, the authors’ interpretation of psychological and pedagogical literature in the field of accounting for individual characteristics of the student, structural and functional modelling of pedagogical systems. The method of studying the advanced pedagogical experience of Internet education based on the analysis of open online platforms was applied. During the testing of the structural and functional model of personalised education, 178 students (1st–5th year students) were involved in the educational programme “Preschool Education” of full-time and part-time forms of education at Shadrinsk State Pedagogical University. The analysis of students’ diaries and the final questionnaire were employed to determine whether students were satisfied with the personalization in education.Results. The conceptual and theoretical characteristics of personalised learning are defined: nonlinearity, redundancy, transdisciplinarity, adaptability, openness. The parameters of personalised learning are highlighted: at the level of the subject of social and professional development, the purpose of education, and the content and applied educational technologies. The approbation of the structural and functional model of personalised learning in future teacher training demonstrated a high and average level of satisfaction of students; however, the recorded insufficiency of their own ability to determine the main characteristics of personalized learning was reflected in the quantitative data of satisfaction.Scientific novelty. In contrast to the existing research in the field of individual approach and personalisation in education, a model of personalised learning in education for future teachers is proposed, which allows them to independently design an individual educational route in the current time and to take into account changing cultural and educational needs in the conditions of the modern global educational space in a broad sense and conditionally divided into interuniversity (international and intra-state interuniversity competitions, forums, conferences, etc.), digital (digital online platforms, electronic educational environments), and professional and personal (participation in individual projects).Practical significance. According to the intensive development of the global educational space, it is proposed to integrate the available resources to develop personalised learning in future teacher training.

A guided tour in the Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory of the University of Coimbra: setting-specific practices in an informal educational environment

ABSTRACT This paper examines the praxeology of informal educational practices (i.e. how participants produce setting-specific practices to make a tour happen) in the Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory of the University of Coimbra through close analysis of a video-recorded excerpt of a guided tour. Guided visits in informal science settings are important educational events that take place every day in many institutions. Even so, research addressing these activities in detail remains scarce. It is assumed that tours are “structured” interactions, having a stable format in which participants follow predetermined actions. Nonetheless, the results of this study show that the guided tour observed here is highly interactive, with educational practices being co-accomplished by participants (guides and students) with different levels of astronomical expertise. The present study aims to contribute to our understanding of guided tours, and in so doing shows the importance of methods for data analysis sensitive to naturally occurring events.