Environmental Education Experiences Research Articles

Learning at eco-attractions: Exploring the bifurcation of nature and culture through experiential environmental education

ABSTRACTThis article explores informal environmental education (EE) experiences at eco-attractions. A consortium of three UK-based environmental charities designed an eco-attraction-based EE program aiming to inspire responses to environmental change. Over six months, educators at six eco-attractions delivered this two-day program to 430 young people. This article conveys qualitative insights into learning experiences at three participating eco-attractions. The study illustrates that experiential learning at eco-attractions provided unique opportunities to explore nature-culture connections. The program also appeared to enable novel confrontations of current ecological crises, including climate change. Furthermore, the experience influenced some young people's perceptions of how such crises might affect their futures.

Educación ambiental popular para el manejo sustentable de recursos naturales en una localidad rural del subtrópico mexicano

RESUMEN El objetivo principal de este trabajo fue diseñar, ejecutar y evaluar un programa de educación ambiental popular para el manejo sustentable de recursos naturales, a fin de mejorar relaciones entre la comunidad y su entorno natural, a través de la acción participativa, en una localidad rural campesina ubicada en una zona de ecotono, al suroeste del Estado de México. Este trabajo buscó promover una visión crítica, en el conocimiento de los problemas del medio natural y social en su conjunto. Se establecieron las siguientes etapas metodológicas: 1)Investigación, se identificaron las necesidades de aprendizaje y los problemas de interés de la comunidad; 2)Educación, se realizó una propuesta curricular de educación ambiental por medio de dos programas impartidos en doce talleres; 3)Acción, se desarrollaron experiencias de educación ambiental popular, mediante talleres con tres grupos: niños, mujeres y hombres; 4)Acción –Reflexión- Acción, se evaluaron los resultados de las experiencias sobre educación ambiental. En los resultados de la evaluación final de los talleres, los participantes fueron capaces de definir, ejemplificar y plantear alternativas; además, realizaron acciones para el manejo sustentable de recursos naturales en su comunidad.

Reflections on using pinhole photography as a pedagogical and methodological tool with adolescents in wild nature

IntroductionOpportunities for adolescents to participate in extended journeys in remote and challenging environments are rare; as such, our remote 16-day canoe journey in Northern Canada's Yukon Territory afforded a unique opportunity to learn from two adolescent participants (Andrew, 13 years of age, and Stephanie, 15 years of age) about the nature/essence of their experiences in wild nature, and in particular, the use of pinhole photography as a medium to capture and support these experiences. The group members included a family of four comprised of two parent-researchers (co-authors Teresa Socha and Tom Potter), their two adolescent children (Stephanie and Andrew), and two other adults (including co-author Bob Jickling). A description of the river journey is published elsewhere (Potter, 2012).Research acknowledges that children and adolescents experience things differently than adults, even while participating in the same activity, and that gaining insight into their perspectives is valuable (Schanzel & Smith, 2011; Small, 2008). Young people know things that adults do not; they have different perspectives (Matthews, Limb, & Taylor, 1998). As such, researchers need more inclusive and participatory child- and adolescent-centred methodologies that reflect a shift to position participants as subjects of research activities rather than objects to be researched (Farrell, 2005; Schanzel & Smith, 2011). Participantgenerated visual methodologies, such as photo elicitation, are well documented (see Hughes, 2012). Guillemin and Drew (2010) describe these types of methodologies as enabling and empowering, ones that can foster a sense of participation for and give voice to young people and other groups whose perspectives have been often marginalized in research; it is an "... approach that takes seriously participants as knowers" (p. 178). Participant-generated visual methodologies give participants opportunities to produce images that "confer importance" (Sontag, 1990, p. 28) and enable them to express emotions and/ or experiences that are often difficult to express in words, at times resulting in a "positive consciousnessraising effect" (Guillemin & Drew, 2010, p. 178).Participant-generated photo elicitation has become a popular research strategy within qualitative research. Its application has been found particularly useful with young people in a wide range of disciplines, such as sociology and anthropology (Clark-Ibanez, 2007; Rasmussen, 2004; Samuels, 2007), education (Allen, 2011; Clark-Ibanez, 2004), healthrelated fields (Drew, Duncan, & Sawyer, 2010), and tourism (Schanzel, 2010; Schanzel & Smith, 2011), and serves to address gaps within conventional interview techniques. As tangible interview prompts to focus discussion, participant-generated photo elicitation interviews have shown the following benefits in that they can facilitate rapport and communication between participant and researcher, break down power dynamics or bridge the gap between participant and researcher, and enhance the production of rich data (Clark-Ibanez, 2004; Drew et al., 2010; Pain, 2012). However, the application of this method in research examining outdoor and/or adventure education, environmental education or nature-based experiences is less common, albeit some examples exist (see Heppner, 2009; Loeffler, 2004a, 2004b, 2005; Smith et al., 2010, 2012). These studies suggest that the participant-generated photo elicitation interview method, relying on modern style cameras, is well suited to the study of nature-based experiences. However, the benefits of using pinhole photography as a form of slow photography to facilitate the collection of participant-generated research data for conducting interviews with adolescents, are just emerging. In this paper, we develop methodological understandings of this technique, specifically in ways that are pertinent to outdoor and/or environmental education. This is significant, as generally, the outdoor field has done little to contribute to the advancement of understanding in research methods and methodologies (Dyment & Potter, 2015). …

The politics of environmental education. Critical inquiry and education for sustainable development

Ten of us with extensive experience in environmental education (EE) and its research (EER) in different parts of the world are “assembled” (Law, 2004) in this Special Issue (SI). We individually an...

发达国家环境教育模式探析及经验借鉴

20世纪60年代以来，全球环境问题特别是发达国家日益突出，发达国家最早开始着手进行多方面的治理探索，并取得了较好效果。长期的环境治理经验使发达国家逐步认识到环境教育是进行环境治理的首要任务，高等院校是环境教育专题研究的主阵地，积累了丰富的环境教育经验。总结发达国家环境教育的实践经验，为创新我国的环境教育模式，创造有利的环境教育氛围，最终推进我国环境教育事业的新发展作出努力是本文探索的落脚点和归宿。 Since the 1960s, the global environment problem is increasingly prominent, especially in devel-oped countries. At the same time, developed countries began the governance exploration early and got good effects. Long-term environmental governance experience makes developed countries gradually realize that environmental education is the priority of environmental governance. In-stitutions of universities are the main land for environmental education research, having accu-mulated rich experiences in environmental education. The aim of this paper is to summarize the practice of environmental education experience of developed countries, to create new mode and establish favorable environmental education atmosphere, and ultimately to promote the devel-opment of our country’s environmental education.

Exploring Educators’ Environmental Education Attitudes and Efficacy: Insights Gleaned from a Texas Wetland Academy

It has been determined that some 60% of wetlands worldwide have been destroyed in the last 100 years, and, for more than a decade, researchers have warned of a global freshwater imperative. In the context of these environmental deteriorations and ecological crises, teaching about environmental issues and ways to preserve the world's environment has become increasingly important at both national and international levels. Additionally, these issues highlight the necessity of developing wetland centers and determining a means for building understanding of wetlands, water conservation, and water reuse. This study investigated the impact of an onsite wetland environmental education (EE) experience on educators’ attitudes and efficacy. Participants were 13 selected educators currently teaching elementary, middle school, and high school level students. Pre- and post-experience data were collected through an environmental teaching perceptions instrument [Ko, A., & Lee, J. C. (2003). Teachers’ perceptions of teaching environmental issues within the science curriculum: A Hong Kong perspective. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 12(3), 187–204] and a 12-month post-experience focus group interview. Results suggested that the experience did not significantly impact the educators’ attitudes but did impact their EE efficacy; specifically, the educators’ indicated enhanced self-efficacy in teaching EE and heightened perceptions of their abilities to incorporate teaching practices that would positively change students’ EE knowledge, attitudes, and skills. The significant, positive, sustained changes in participants’ efficacy were attributed to the distinctive design of the workshop; an inquiry-based research experience situated within a specific context (a 1,840-acre constructed wetland system) and addressing water reclamation and reuse with a targeted group of educators who have a personal investment in these topics.

Assessing impacts of locally designed environmental education projects on students’ environmental attitudes, awareness, and intention to act

This study investigates whether consistent effects on students’ environmental attitudes, awareness, and behavioral intentions could be discerned in an initiative that supports environmental education (EE) designed at the classroom level. Students of grades four, five, and seven participated in an assessment at the beginning and end of the school year. Quantitative assessment questions were adapted from the Children’s Environmental Perception Scale. Factor analysis identified three factors related to intentions for environmental learning and behavior, environmental appreciation, and awareness of the potential to impact nature. Qualitative items assessed students’ perception of their EE experience. Over one school year, fourth- and fifth-grade EE students gained awareness of the potential to impact nature, but EE students did not exhibit changes to environmental appreciation or intentions for environmental learning and behavior. With increasing years of EE experience, students demonstrated slight increases in environmental appreciation and intentions for environmental learning and behavior. Students’ recollection of in-class discussions primarily related to cognitive and psychomotor domains, with minimal mention of social or affective themes. Student perspectives highlighted individuals’ unique interests, which may not be fostered when all students conduct the same activity. Over a third of all students most enjoyed the EE experience for the chance to be outside, and only five percent most enjoyed gaining environmental knowledge.

Everyday Environmental Education Experiences: The Role of Content in Early Childhood Education

In recent years discussions surrounding early childhood curriculum has focused on the movement from developmental to sociocultural theory. A further area worthy of investigation involves the role of content in early childhood education, specifically the relationship between content, context and pedagogy. The paper draws on teacher vignettes to consider how environmental education can be represented as a content area in early years education. Issues associated with environmental education as an emerging area of importance in early childhood education are also discussed.

Critical place as a fluid margin in post-critical environmental education

Positive claims about place pedagogy in education are problematized through this small-scale interpretive study of internationally mobile students’ experiences of outdoor environmental education. Of specific interest in this empirical study of learners’ pedagogically constructed experiences of place are the fluid subjectivities, cultural dispositions, environmental consciences, and ecological assumptions they already bring ‘globally’ to the ‘place’ of the educational intervention, and the hybrid ‘splaces’ we conclude they then temporarily embody – at least, during and after the experience. The study empirically advances an ongoing need for post-critical inquiry in environmental research by incorporating a range of theoretical and conceptual resources that work the boundaries, ‘margins’, and tensions that lie somewhere ‘in-between’ the spatially projected place/local and planet/global discourses.

La investigación en educación ambiental en América Latina: un análisis bibliométrico

This article describes and analyzes the state of research in environmental education in Latin America based on the review of articles published in journals of education indexed in SciELO and Redalyc from 2000 to 2013. A database was constructed considering the year in which the article was published, the name of the journal, the abstract, the country and the methodology used in the study. The results evidence that despite the boom of programs and experiences in environmental education in the region, there are few articles that explore systematically their effectiveness in educating people. We discuss the methodological strategies that researchers use to assess the impact of environmental education programs in Latin America and the importance of researching the evidence that can be obtained on their effectiveness.

Success in Fulfilling Greek Teachers’ Needs in Environmental Education through an In-service Training Course in the Maraslios Teacher Training School

This paper illustrates a 4-year case study (2008 - 2012) regarding a course in environmental education that was designed for the training of 58 practicing Greek in-service elementary teachers. The aim of the study was to reveal if a six-month Environmental Education training course succeeded in fulfilling Greek in-service teachers’ needs in Environmental Education. This was achieved through an assessment of the course by the participants. Their answers to four open-ended questions were analyzed following the principles of content analysis. Results revealed that in-service teachers considered their participation in the course as useful for their professional development and mostly valued their active engagement in learning activities, the experience they gained being a learner, the fact that the course was designed so that they could – with minor adjustments –transfer it to their classroom. They also valued the fact that the course was designed trying to connect theory with practice and it was based on collaborative group work and experiential activities according to appropriate methods and approaches. Challenges in developing the course included the teachers’ different previous experience in environmental education and teachers’ need for practical work.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL FREE-CHOICE LEARNING AND STUDENTS’ LEARNING, ATTITUDES, AND POLICY VIEWS ABOUT WATERWAYS

Environmental free-choice learning is a strategy that has been shown to have positive short-term impacts upon participants' attitudes and understanding of desired educational outcomes. However, longitudinal studies in this area are rare due to difficulties inherent in data collection and vast differences in participants in these kinds of educational experiences. This study examined the effectiveness of participation in the Skunk River Navy, a free-choice environmental education experience, 1 - 4 years afterward to determine longitudinal effects of the experience on participants' attitudes toward waterways and content knowledge. Importantly, participants were compared to non-participants who were also biology majors in the same program, completed the same coursework, and who likely shared similar dispositions, interest in biology, and are of similar demographic backgrounds. Results indicate that attitudes toward waterways and content knowledge were higher among participants, but that content knowledge remains lower than desired by program developers. Therefore, when reducing the impact of selection and variance within the study population, longitudinal positive effects can be seen from free-choice learning experiences when they are coupled with formal classroom experiences that address similar concepts.

Children and Young People's Experience of the Natural World: Teachers' Perceptions and Observations

AbstractThis study explores the observations and perceptions of environmental education centre officers and teachers regarding children's experiences with nature. The study also explores the officers' and teachers' perceptions of the potential of using nature experiences in environmental education. A thematic analysis of data from interviews with 13 officers and 8 high school teachers in Sydney, Australia, revealed a widely held perception that children and young people have limited experience with natural settings in nature reserves and national parks. The interviewees suggested that although their students were interested in learning in natural settings, many were uncomfortable, afraid, and only had a vicarious understanding of Australian ecology, flora and fauna. The participants' view of the potential of nature experiences was twofold: nature experiences were fundamental for developing a connection with nature and establishing environmental concern, and experiences in nature facilitated ecological knowledge, which was considered to be a component of understanding and developing place identity in the Australian environment.

Comparative Study of Environmental Education at Home and Abroad

Since 1960s and 1970s, with the rapid economic and social development, the relationship between man and nature become unprecedented strained. In this case, environmental education in the world has been on the rise. The main purpose of environmental education is to cultivate environmental sense of the public. It is an important symbol of human society's advancement, foundation work of environmental protection and hinge of sustainable development from concept to act. Depth study and learn from the successful experience of foreign environmental education, environmental education in China to further promote the development of great significance. The paper briefly relates the historical development of the external and internal environmental education, analyses the problems of the environmental education, and put forward the corresponding development suggestion.

Environmental Education and the Role of Media in Environmental Education in Turkey

Abstract Environmental education starts within the family with the birth of the individual and continues throughout his primary and higher education. However, environmental education cannot be limited to formal educational institutions since an individual also acquires awareness through his social life and his social relationships. In this context, the media is an important tool in environmental education. It may even be thought of as a kind of school. In Turkey, discussions of the concepts of environment and environmental awareness are a very recent development. Therefore, Turkey's experience in environmental education is fairly new. While primary school provides a semi-planned environmental education, it is obvious that in institutions of higher education environmental education is not adequate at all. Even though there are a great number of organizations engaged in environmental issues, their environmental education activities are inadequate. The purpose of this study is to examine Turkey's environmental problems and how environmental awareness and education is conducted; to address the economic, social and communicative dimensions of environmental education; and to evaluate the media's contribution to environmental education and to environmental awareness.

横浜市の小学校に通う児童の節電行動に関する実態調査

Our previous study revealed that students of junior high schools with photovoltaic (PV) systems tend to increase environmentally conscious behavior. In particular, students in schools that install PV systems and are enthusiastic about environmental education, have a high tendency to engage in environmentally conscious behavior. In order to verify the above possibility, questionnaire surveys were conducted with children of 26 elementary schools in Yokohama city. Children were asked about their electricity-saving behavior and the reason for it, interests in PV systems and environmental issues, experience of environmental education, and so on. The present article describes the results of the questionnaire survey, and preliminarily analyzes the influences of the existence of the PV systems and environmental education on electricity-saving behavior of children using simple statistical methods.

小学校校庭の巨樹を用いた環境教育実践経験が教員の意識に及ぼす影響

小学校校庭の巨樹を用いた環境教育実践経験が教員の意識に及ぼす影響

大学生の環境教育体験と環境教育の教科化に対する意見

大学生の環境教育体験と環境教育の教科化に対する意見

Examining Teachers' Attitudes Toward a Required Environmental Education Program

Requiring teachers to partake in environmental education (EE) may generate negative reactions since elementary teachers can be overloaded with meeting standards and student performance goals. This study explores teachers' attitudes toward a required EE program, Lagoon Quest. We compare attitudes among teachers with and without prior Lagoon Quest, EE, and science experience. The results suggest that previous voluntary Lagoon Quest and other EE experience does not associate with teachers' attitudes toward the required Lagoon Quest program, but teachers with science experience are more enthusiastic about the program than those without. Less experienced science teachers indicate that they need more support and instructional aids to implement the program. Providing more training opportunities for teachers and making recommended adaptations in the written supplement may help more teachers develop competence to engage with EE programs.

Development on Experiential Environmental Education Program for Lower Secondary School Student Concerning the Natural Cycle

Development on Experiential Environmental Education Program for Lower Secondary School Student Concerning the Natural Cycle