Environmental Science Curriculum Research Articles

GenZs environmental attitudes and ecology behavior nexus: Urgent education message

Environmental education in schools is critical to help decrease plastic litter pollution because plastic pollution could be the most significant health problem of the 21st century. Our research examined the environmental behaviors and attitudes of Generation Z (Gen Z) high school and undergraduate students in South Texas, USA. The research was important because we need to understand what young people believe and value if we are going to see any change in environmental behavior. Results supported research on how teachers can influence student environmental attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge with education. Feedback from students revealed significant attitude change and a rich narrative of pollution and watershed ecology knowledge and behavior themes. These themes disclosed that a holistic environmental science curriculum is necessary to connect Earth systems with the plastic litter pollution cycle.

The importance of cultivating awareness of environmental matters in science classrooms: a cross-regional study

AbstractAs scientific literacy plays a contributing role in identifying, analysing, and solving environmental matters that our world is facing, there is growing consensus to mandate environmental matters in science classrooms following five decades of efforts in promoting environmental education. However, much remains unknown about the relationship between students’ awareness of environmental matters and their science literacy scores on standardised test. Using data drawn from the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) science performance assessment, this study investigates the relationship between students’ awareness of environmental matters and their science literacy scores in the context of established predictors for science learning. In all the regions’ multilevel models ranging from medium to large effect sizes, a significant and positive relationship emerges between students’ awareness of environmental matters and science literacy scores. Among the well-known predictors for science learning, student science self-efficacy associates positively with student science literacy scores across the regions. In contrast, inquiry-based science instruction associates negatively with the scores. Except for these two well-known predictors, variations exist in the relationships between other variables among the regions. Given all the regions’ evidence showing the positive linkage between students’ awareness of environmental matters and science literacy scores, the present study signifies the importance of integrating environmental issues into traditional science classrooms, suggesting that there should be systematic supports that enable both environmental and science educators to collaborate towards the development of an interdisciplinary environmental science curriculum.

A global perspective on soil science education at third educational level; knowledge, practice, skills and challenges

The pivotal role of soil as a resource is not fully appreciated by the general public. Improving education in soil science represents a challenge in a world where soil resources are under serious threat. Today’s high school students, the world’s future landowners, agriculturalists, and decision makers, have the potential to change society’s apathy towards soils issues. This research aimed to compare the level of soil education in high and/or secondary schools in forty-three countries worldwide, together comprising 62% of the world's population. Comparisons were made between soil science content discussed in educationally appropriate textbooks via a newly proposed soil information coefficient (SIC). Interviews with teachers were undertaken to better understand how soil science education is implemented in the classroom. Statistical analyses were investigated using clustering. Results showed that gaps in soil science education were most commonly observed in countries where soil science is a non-compulsory or optional subject. Soil science concepts are predominantly a part of geography or environmental science curricula. Consequently, considerable variability in soil science education systems among investigated countries exists. Soil information coefficient‘s outcomes demonstrated that a methodological approach combining textbooks and the use of modern digitally based strategies in the educational process significantly improved soil education performances. Overall, soil science education is under-represented in schools worldwide. Dynamic new approaches are needed to improve pivotal issues such as: i) promoting collaborations and agreements between high school and universities; ii) encouraging workshops and practical exercises such as field activities; and, iii) implementing technology tools. This, in turn, will prepare the next generation to contribute meaningfully towards solving present and future soil problems.

Alignment of the Environmental Science Textbooks, Examinations and Curriculum Framework to Achieve the Teaching Objectives

Alignment of the Environmental Science Textbooks, Examinations and Curriculum Framework to Achieve the Teaching Objectives

Alignment of the Environmental Science Textbooks, Examinations,and Curriculum Frameworkto Achieve the Teaching Objectives

Alignment of the Environmental Science Textbooks, Examinations,and Curriculum Frameworkto Achieve the Teaching Objectives

The perceptions of students and instructor in a graduate mathematical modeling class: An experience with remote education

Difficulties with adequately teaching mathematics is a challenge not yet overcome by teachers. It is an important subject that directly involves educators and teachers, and indirectly society. New proposals for teaching mathematics have not been completely implemented and must be tested among the many levels of student life. One possibility for bringing teachers in accord with new teaching strategies is by pedagogical development, such as attending specific courses for teaching, to at least become aware of new methodologies and to learn how to apply them. The purpose of this work was to analyze the use of the Mathematical Modeling methodology in a course offered in a graduate Environmental Sciences curriculum using the active methodologies. The aim was to assess the development of cognitive abilities, favoring reflection and questioning into mathematical modeling, that occurred during remote teaching due to the pandemic. A structured questionnaire was given to students and the responses were used to interpretate their perception of the discipline/course and active methodology proposed. The problems cited by other authors, such as limited time and a culture engrained in traditional teaching, were observed by the present study, indicating the need in to introduce mathematical modeling and problem solving in the initial phases of teaching mathematics.

Integrating systems and design thinking in transdisciplinary case studies

In the new Bachelor-level courseUmweltproblemlösen (Tackling environmental problems), a part of ETH Zurich’s Environmental Sciences Bachelor’s programme, we teach students to zoom in on elements of practice (design thinking) and to zoom out on the whole system (systems thinking). Participants take stakeholders’ interests and needs into account and prepare possible measures, thus developing transformation knowledge and anticipating their future role as transdisciplinary sustainability scientists.Umweltproblemlösen (Tackling environmental problems)is a Bachelor-level course that carries on a long tradition of transdisciplinary (td) case studies in the Environ mental Sciences curriculum at ETH Zurich. Td case studies introduce students to key features of transdisciplinarity. Two corres ponding learning goals of the case studies are 1. to not only analyse problems, but to also suggest solutions, and 2. to take the complexity of the tackled socio-ecological system into account. In the new course we address both learning goals by integrating systems and design thinking. We present this approach in detail to show how features of transdisciplinarity are transferred to learning contexts. We compare it to the approaches of other td case studies by asking how each interprets and addresses the two learning goals. The comparison shows that the case study approaches implicitly impart different ideas about how a td environmental scientist should support societal problem solving. A key difference to previous approach es is that the new course asks students to enter deeply into the world of practice and the stakeholders’ divergent needs.

A Case-Study Approach to Teaching Population Management & Conservation

Conservation employers have long valued the in-depth, highly technical training provided by graduate and undergraduate environmental science curricula. However, employers also highly value communication and critical-thinking skills beyond research science, especially the ability to make management decisions within sociopolitical, financial, and ecological contexts. I developed and implemented a budgeted management plan assignment in lower- and upper-level courses in biology and environmental studies programs at an undergraduate liberal arts college. Students must develop specific, assessable conservation objectives to manage a population within a budget that limits available money, time, and sociopolitical will. Students must conduct extensive scientific literature reviews, then decide which of 89 actions will be most cost-effective. Instructors and students responded positively to the assignment, particularly noting difficulty, realism, and interdisciplinarity as defining features, especially in comparison to more traditional field lab reports. The resulting writing assignment involves little class time and instructor supervision, can be customized for both advanced undergraduate and secondary education curricula, and involves high critical-thinking skills in all four cognitive dimensions of learning as described by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001).

Assessing the Impact of a Geospatial Data Collection App on Student Engagement in Environmental Education

A critical component of environmental education is to ensure student understanding and use of available technologies to better experience and analyze spatially distributed features of the environment. Combining mobile technologies with geographic information systems in field data collection may provide a unique opportunity for students to feel engaged in what they are learning and take ownership of their learning process. We customized an open access data collection application using Collector for ArcGIS and investigated its impacts on student engagement and perception of the incorporation of technology within an environmental science curriculum. Analyses of pre- and post-surveys indicate that the inclusion of geospatial technologies as a part of environmental curricula allows students to take the lead on their own research, view field data interactively as opposed to looking at a database in hindsight and analyze multiscale data as it is presented during field data collection. The findings of this study are consistent with previous studies, suggesting a strong association between the inclusion of geospatial technologies as a part of curricula and student engagement.

The Integrative Nature of Geography

A firm definition of geography is often elusive and at times, the field is criticized for borrowing heavily from other disciplines. However, this article argues that the real strength of geography is its integrative nature. The purpose of this article is to discuss geography's integrative nature and how this strength can be integrated into the undergraduate environmental science curriculum. Two brief examples are provided from the author's own teaching and research experiences. Concept mapping in an introductory environmental science class allows students to visualize the complexity and integrative nature of environmental issues. In the atmospheric science classroom, students are introduced not only to the physical processes of weather hazards, but to the social dimensions as well. It is imperative that future scientists, advocates, and decision makers learn to critically integrate across disciplines to solve the world's most pressing environmental issues.

Improving Eco-literacy through Service Learning: A Natural History Service Project Case Study

Eco-literacy (knowledge of natural history, and direct observation of the natural world and the organisms it contains) is critical to a holistic understanding of biology. Many undergraduate biology students lack this knowledge and experience, often because of a lack of engagement with the environmental science curriculum. The effectiveness of service learning is well established, but few examples of service-learning projects in the context of natural history education have been published. We describe how we used best practices for the development of a field-based service-learning project in a college-level natural history course. The project was built around established learning goals and was conducted through a partnership with a local state park. Students worked in groups to conduct bird biodiversity surveys and prepared a printed bird-watching guide, which was presented to park staff. The project was linked to a series of assignments intended to maximize academic and personal growth, including a project plan, progress report, and reflection paper. Students reported increased engagement in the course curriculum and an increased sense of the relevance of the course content.

Surveying employment listings to inform curricula of environmental science degree programs

Environmental Science has emerged as a common bachelor’s of science (B.S.) degree at colleges and universities throughout the USA, with growing enrollment and more than 1100 degrees offered. Many B.S. degrees in Environmental Science emphasize broad, cross-disciplinary training, but may lack in discipline-specific skills that promote job placement. The objective of this study is to identify characteristics in the job market that will guide curricula decisions and improve career preparedness for Environmental Science students. A survey was conducted of entry level employment listings for students with a B.S. degree in Environmental Science. Listings were obtained from seven unique websites chosen to represent diversity in employer types and were evaluated to characterize job type, title, duties, and qualifications. The survey evaluated 124 job listings out of more than 1000 search returns identified from local, state, and federal governments, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations. In 94 % of the jobs surveyed, one or more different degrees met the educational requirement, showing that environmental science students apply for the same positions as students from a number of other disciplines, including biology, environmental engineering, geology, agricultural sciences, and chemistry. This emphasizes a need for environmental science students to differentiate themselves from students with other science degrees with skills relevant to job duties. Jobs specific to environmental science were more common at state and local government levels than in the private sector or federal government. Technical job duties commonly included soil science, fisheries/wildlife management, research/lab work, and ecological research, all of which are commonly part of environmental science curriculum. Writing regulatory documents, project management, and leadership were identified as important job duties that could be emphasized in environmental science curriculum for better career preparation. More than half of the listings dealt directly with environmental permitting, compliance, or enforcement and emphasize technical writing of regulatory documents. Environmental site assessment was mentioned in many listings as both a duty and a qualification for the job. Supervisory and project management duties were part of almost half of the job listings. These results suggest areas where universities can develop environmental science curriculum to help students gain experience and improve job success.

Influence of an Intensive, Field-Based Life Science Course on Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy for Environmental Science Teaching

Personal and professional experiences influence teachers’ perceptions of their ability to implement environmental science curricula and to positively impact students’ learning. The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine what influence, if any, an intensive field-based life science course and service learning had on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching about the environment and to determine which aspects of the combined field-based course/service learning preservice teachers perceived as effective for enhancing their self-efficacy. Data were collected from class documents and written teaching reflections of 38 middle-level preservice teachers. Some participants (n = 18) also completed the Environmental Education Efficacy Belief Instrument at the beginning and end of the semester. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses indicated a significant increase in PSTs’ personal efficacies for environmental teaching, t(17) = 4.50, p = .000, d = 1.30, 95 % CI (.33, .90), but not outcome expectancy, t(17) = 1.15, p = .268, d = .220, 95 % CI (‒.06, .20). Preservice teachers reported three aspects of the course as important for enhancing their self-efficacies: learning about ecological concepts through place-based issues, service learning with K-5 students and EE curriculum development. Data from this study extend prior work by indicating that practical experiences with students were not the sole factor in shaping PSTs’ self-efficacy; learning ecological concepts and theories in field-based activities grounded in the local landscape also influenced PSTs’ self-efficacy.

Fifteen claims: social change and power in environmental studies

Claims about social change and the dynamics of power permeate the environmental science and studies (ESS) curriculum. These claims are frequently implicit, under examined, and contradictory. Their acritical internalization by students and faculty can undermine the efficacy and relevance of an ESS education. This essay describes 15 such claims and summarizes patterns of ESS student response from three workshops. We make no argument about which claims are superior, how social change occurs, or how political power is best analyzed. Instead, we seek to encourage those who design and deliver ESS programs to become more self-critical and intentional when disseminating, however unwittingly, claims about power and social change.

Introduction: unsettling the ESS curriculum

We launch this mini-symposium, “Status Quo, Conflict, and Innovation in the ESS Curriculum,” with a background and overview of essays, closing with recommendations for future trajectories. The notion of Kuhnian paradigms and the related distinction between settled, “puzzle solving” vs. unsettled, “paradigm shift” moments in the history of knowledge is applied to the Environmental Studies and Sciences (ESS) curriculum to explore its own tendencies toward settlement and unsettlement. We argue that the current moment in ESS is less settled than some believe, and understandably so; moving toward settlement is important and timely, but must be done with proper reflection, which thankfully is evidenced in a range of recent literature. This mini-symposium, which builds upon a number of recent related discussions, includes six articles exploring the contemporary ESS curriculum from a variety of perspectives: high school preparation, the undergraduate student experience, curricular assumptions regarding social change, recent national-scale curricular assessments, the need for greater attention to regionalism, and the creative possibilities afforded by teaching through objects. We ultimately suggest, via this introduction and the following essays, that rather than accept the curricular status quo as a settled trajectory, we can embrace the richness and diversity of current engagement contributing to the future development of the ESS curriculum.

Heterodox environments: pre-undergraduate ESS experiences beyond the AP ®

This essay adds to the call to maintain diversity within environmental sciences and studies (ESS) curricula. Using two different examples of how ESS curricula get designed for high school students, this essay points to the diverse learning environments out of which college students emerge in the USA as well as the need to maintain epistemological diversity in ESS in the secondary school level. The essay reviews the AP ® Environmental Science curricula as a proxy for how many high school students experience ESS and contrasts this example with a 9th-grade-level curriculum from an independent school to show an alternate way to maintain epistemological diversity with curriculum design and implementation. In drawing attention to the heterodox environments in which ESS curricula can and does live, this essay stresses the role of epistemological diversity in ESS towards the pedagogical and civic goals of ESS itself.

Theory in, theory out: NCSE and the ESS curriculum

The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) has played a prominent role performing empirical research on the environmental studies and sciences (ESS) curriculum over the last 10 years and in significant ways has helped define the “new normal” of the ESS curriculum—for instance, in foregrounding sustainability as its core theme. Greater attention to the conceptual assumptions and implications of this effort—i.e., how theory informs and follows from NCSE’s empirical research—may help us better interrogate this “new normal” as we collectively chart the ESS curriculum of the future. In this paper, I examine one key recent NCSE report, titled “Interdisciplinary Environmental and Sustainability Education on the Nation’s Campuses 2012: Curriculum Design.” Its theoretical dimensions are summarized via three key steps: (a) the ideal ESS curriculum builds on diverse forms of knowledge, (b) this diverse knowledge can be organized into major curricular models, and (c) sustainability integrates these curricular models. The final step, presented without empirical justification, appears to derive both from earlier NCSE-related publications and theoretical assumptions from the first two steps. I conclude by rephrasing these three steps as questions for continued discussion and debate. Ultimately, theory and empirical research both matter in discussions over the ESS curriculum, which would ideally be informed but not constrained by NCSE’s contributions.

Enhancing Argumentative Skills in Environmental Science Education

Dealing with complex problems often requires advanced argumentative skills. We sketch how to reconstruct and evaluate arguments and outline how fostering argumentative skills is implemented in the Environmental Sciences curriculum at the Department of Environmental Systems Sciences (D-USYS)of ETH Zurich.

An investigation of the goals for an environmental science course: teacher and student perspectives

This investigation uses an ethnographic case study approach to explore the benefits and challenges of including a variety of goals within a high school Environmental Science curriculum. The study focuses on environmental education (EE) goals established by the Belgrade Charter (1975), including developing students’ environmental awareness and behavior, but also explores alternative goals including empowerment, presenting a balanced perspective, improving critical thinking skills, and developing an emotional connection with environmental issues. This research, which was conducted at a public high school in the northeast United States, aims to understand the teacher’s reasoning for including the above goals within the curriculum and the students’ reactions to the enactment of these goals. Interview data from 10 student participants and the teacher reveal areas of alignment between teacher and student perspectives regarding goals such as presenting a balanced approach, as well as misalignment in areas such as the teaching of environmentally friendly behaviors.

The Future of Professional Development Will Be Designed, Not Discovered

We were pleased read the response our Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) article (Fishman et al., 2013) by Moon, Passmore, Reiser, and Michaels (2013). We believe that Moon et al. have properly identified both the value in our study and the importance of moving beyond not only our study, but similar studies, better serve the urgent need for professional development (PD) designs that are effective in helping teachers successfully enact curricular reforms, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS; Wilson, 2013) and the Common Core State Standards in mathematics and English language arts (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010; Porter, McMaken, Hwang, & Yang, 2011). We agree wholeheartedly that the field would benefit from scholarship that leads research-based design principles guide the ongoing development, implementation, and evaluation efforts in online (Moon et al., p. 1). Below, we briefly recap our study and address the issues raised by Moon et al. in their commentary. We then expand on the ideas introduced by Moon et al. for how take advantage of the opportunity for studying teacher learning related the NGSS presented by the Next Generation Science Exemplar System (NGSX) PD platform. The heart of our study was the experimental of PD delivered in two different media. Our study was a comparison study, the value of which has been hotly debated in the field of educational technology (Clark, 1983, 1994; Kozma, 1994). We worked make the two conditions in our study balanced with respect opportunities learn, while not limiting the natural affordances offered by each medium. Random assignment ensured that the teachers in each condition had equivalent characteristics. Our focus was on addressing the ongoing policy debate about how invest in teacher PD and whether the imagined risks of online PD outweigh suggested benefits. We thus do not address the call by Dede, Ketelhut, Whitehouse, and McCloskey (2009) for a focus on theory building articulate design principles. Perhaps most importantly, we designed our study address a conceptual framework for studying PD that links the features of the PD changes in teachers' knowledge and beliefs, changes in classroom practice, and changes in student learning outcomes (Desimone, 2009). Student learning might be the most policy-relevant area for study in relation PD, and yet is perhaps the least studied, in large part because it is so difficult identify common student learning outcomes and measures related the PD. We were opportunistic in this respect, building our study around the adoption of a new environmental science curriculum (Edelson et al., 2005). This curriculum represented challenging inquiry-based science (Crawford, 2000), with many new techniques and tools be learned, and our PD would be teachers' primary information source for learning how use the new materials. Best of all, because everyone in the study was using a single curriculum, we had a common measure of learning in the curriculum-aligned test. We observed significant growth in teacher self-efficacy, classroom practice, and student learning in both conditions, but difference between conditions. This finding was welcomed by many as a sign that it is safe employ online PD, in light of concerns about what might be given up by districts in with face-to-face PD (e.g., Herold, 2013). In our article, we were somewhat more conservative in our conclusions, observing that a finding of no significant differences indicates that we can be less concerned with media effects than with the specific needs and demands of particular contexts in which PD is needed. We absolutely agree with Moon et al. (2013) when they state that to take [our] findings as applicable all online PD would be an overreach (p. 2). In fact, we were careful make the same argument ourselves and appreciate the chance highlight this, given its importance. …