Is the environmental literacy of university students measurable?

We report the development and piloting of an evaluative instrument and process for monitoring the environmental literacy (EL) of undergraduate students in one large research-led university in New Zealand. The instrument addresses knowledge, affect and competencies in the general area of EL in line with this institution’s adoption of EL as a graduate attribute (or in a US context, a general-education learning outcome, and something to be fostered throughout a student’s education). The instrument and associated processes were designed to fit within conventional institutional mechanisms that manage student feedback on the quality of teaching. The instrument was tested with more than 600 students from more than eight programmes over the course of a year and its use stressed that students were anonymous within the survey. We conclude that evaluating (or in a US context, assessing) the extent to which students acquire EL is an achievable objective and is a reasonable expectation for any higher education institution that claims to foster this attribute.     

Sociocultural anchors for incorporating sustainability in youth movements: Comparison among secular,religious, and ultraorthodox movements

Abstract

In Israel, youth movements (YMs) comprise a main agent for nonformal education of youth and a youth-engagement framework in which civic engagement can be expanded to address environmental challenges. A major source of sociocultural diversity among YMs is their religious identity, based on the categorizations of secular, religious, and ultraorthodox. We compared, among these groups, the environmental literacy (EL) characteristics of “young-guides” and YM-leaders’ perspectives of sustainability in relation to their YM. Differences among groups were found in the young-guides’ EL: members of secular YMs demonstrated greater EL and openness to including pro-environmental activities within their YM. “Judaism as a platform for addressing sustainability” emerged as a major theme from leaders’ interviews. Implications for meaningful incorporation of sustainability and EE within the groups are discussed.     

Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess perceived environmental education (EE) curriculum needs in the United States (K-16). The Environmental Education Curriculum Needs Assessment Questionnaire (EECNAQ) was developed, validated, and direct-mailed to 169 randomly selected professional environmental educators (58.6% return rate). The EECNAQ elicited perceptions about the desired status and the current state of EE curricula, the need for curriculum development, the anticipated use of curricula teachers, and the need for inservice teacher education. These five major questions were posed relative to fifteen goals which reflected the Tbilisi objectives and four levels of environmental literacy. The findings reveal a consensus among the professional participants that the EE goals are important ones, that they are not being met to a large extent in existing curricula, that extensive needs exist for both goal-oriented curricula and teacher education, and that the goaloriented curricula would be used by teachers.     

Community-level environmental projects as learning tools for planners: a case study of graduate planning students

Despite the potential environmental impact of urban planning, there is little research on Environmental Education (EE) in the context of urban planning curricula. This study follows graduate planning students’ learning experience during group projects assigned as part of a planning course at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. These participatory projects, characterized as project-based learning and service learning, took place in several communities in Israel. We examined the types of learning impacts the projects engendered by analyzing the reported experiences of the students using parameters from the field of EE. The main goal of this research is to understand the contribution of such practical, hands-on project exercises to the course curriculum for inculcating environmental education themes. Findings indicate that projects helped students acquire and/or improve professional tools. They enhanced motivation to consider environmental concerns in their work and in some cases changed students’ personal environmental behavior.     

An Assessment of Turkish Young Pupils’ Environmental Literacy: A nationwide survey

The purpose of this nationwide survey was to assess young Turkish pupils’ environmental literacy (EL) level by considering six EL components. The sample of the study comprised of 2,412 fifth graders selected from 78 elementary schools (26 private and 52 public) in 26 provinces of Turkey. Data were obtained through the use of an elementary school environmental literacy instrument (ESELI) including five parts and total of 75 items. The results revealed that the composite EL score of the students was found to be 149.66 (SD = 26.19), suggesting a moderate level of EL among 61% percent of the students (n = 1,545). On the other hand, more than a quarter of the participants (27.3%, n = 659) held high level EL, whereas only 22 students (0.9%) showed low level EL. The implications of the results to policy, practice, and further research were discussed at the end of the study.     

In what ways are teacher candidates being prepared to teach about the environment? A case study from Wisconsin

There is an urgent need for primary and secondary students to develop awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and an environmental ethic necessary to undertake environmental issues and problems. The need to adequately prepare teachers to teach about the environment, and the challenges the field of environmental education (EE) faces lead us to the research question: In what ways are teacher candidates being prepared to teach primary and secondary students about the environment? Using a case study approach of the 33 teacher education programs in Wisconsin (USA), we explored the ways in which EE is integrated into teacher preparation. Surveys, interviews, and the analysis of course documents (e.g. syllabi, assignment sheets) were used to identify two primary ways in which EE is being integrated – courses and activities. After examining the commonalities among programs that are doing more than typical (such as using multiple ways to include EE or having high quality EE), we explored the role organizational resources – material, human, and social – play in teacher education programs.     

How to promote conservation behaviours: the combined role of environmental education and commitment

This study tested the influence of both environmental education (EE) and commitment interventions among teenagers for promoting energy and water conservation at home. Conservation behaviours were measured in two ways – directly and through questionnaires – prior to and after the interventions. Results indicate (1) EE participants may have saved more energy than non-participants and (2) those signing a public commitment saved more energy and water than those who did not. Results from the questionnaire measures demonstrated the importance of EE for promoting ecological self-identity and a personal norm for energy conservation. Based on these results the use of commitment interventions in EE initiatives for promoting conservation behaviours among teenagers is proposed.     

Environmental literacy components and their promotion by institutions of higher education: an Israeli case study

The recognition of the key role and moral responsibility of higher education institutions (HEIs) in cultivating the environmental literacy (EL) of their students is growing globally. The current research examined the contribution of HEIs to their students’ EL by focusing on an Israeli college as a case-study. A survey was conducted among a representative sample of 1147 students from all departments in four phases of their academic studies. A moderate level of EL was found. The college’s green agenda attracted more pre-environmentally literate students, but its contribution to the development of students’ EL throughout the learning years was minor. Variation in pro-environmental behavior was better explained by students’ environmental values and attitudes than by their environmental knowledge. It seems that a combination of knowledge, values, and attitudes is needed in order to instill EL among students in HEIs. Commitment to environmental education must be translated into effective contents (what) and ways of teaching and learning (how) EL, which should be adapted to the varied populations of HEIs’ students in the various faculties and departments. Some recommendations are detailed.     

Environmental Pollution: An Ecological Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of participation in a 3-day outdoor environmental education program on preservice teachers' attitudes toward self-efficacy—which is a teacher's belief that he or she can teach environmental education (EE) effectively—and on outcome expectancy—which is a teacher's estimation of his or her influence on student learning. Participants were a convenience sample of 72 preservice elementary teachers taking a science methodology course at a state university. Participants were divided into 2 groups for this modified pretest/2-posttest/control group study. The instrument for all 3 tests was Sia's (1992) Environmental Education Efficacy Belief Instrument. The authors used parametric t tests to compare group means. The results suggested that the preservice teachers' self-efficacy was high before the program and remained unchanged by their teaching experiences but dropped significantly approximately 7 weeks after teaching. The lack of change in self-efficacy from the teaching experience was attributed to the structured nature and success of the teaching experience, but the negative effect of time on self-efficacy was believed to have resulted from the preservice teachers reevaluation of their ability to teach as they learned more about teaching methodologies. In addition, there was no significant change in outcome expectancy as a result of participation in the program or over time (7 weeks).     

An exploration of future trends in environmental education research

This article describes future trends in environmental education (EE) research based on a mixed-methods study where data were collected through a content analysis of peer-reviewed articles published in EE journals between 2005 and 2010; interviews with experts engaged in EE research and sustainability-related fields; surveys with current EE researchers; and convenings with EE researchers and practitioners. We discuss four core thematic findings: (1) EE researchers are highlighting the importance of collective and community learning and action; (2) EE researchers are placing increased emphasis on the intersection of learning within the context of social–ecological communities (e.g. links between environmental quality and human well-being); (3) a pressing need exists for research conducted with urban and diverse populations; and (4) research around social media and other information technologies is of great interest, yet currently is sparse.     

Identifying and developing crosscutting environmental education outcomes for adolescents in the twenty-first century (EE21)

Abstract

While multiple valid measures exist for assessing outcomes of environmental education (EE) programs, the field lacks a comprehensive and logistically feasible common instrument that can apply across diverse programs. We describe a participatory effort for identifying and developing crosscutting outcomes for Environmental Education in the twenty-first Century (EE21). Following extensive input and debate from a wide range of EE providers and researchers, we developed, tested and statistically validated crosscutting scales for measuring consensus-based outcomes for individual participants in youth EE programs using confirmatory factor analysis across six unique sites, including two single-day field trip locations, four multiday residential programs and one science museum in the United States. The results suggest that the scales are valid and reliable for measuring outcomes that many EE programs in the United States can aspire to influence in adolescent participants, ages 10–14.     

Education for sustainable development (ESD): the turn away from ‘environment’ in environmental education?

This article explores the implications of the shift of environmental education (EE) towards education for sustainable development (ESD) in the context of environmental ethics. While plural perspectives on ESD are encouraged both by practitioners and researchers of EE, there is also a danger that such pluralism may sustain dominant political ideologies and consolidated corporate power that obscure environmental concerns. Encouraging plural interpretations of ESD may in fact lead ecologically ill-informed teachers and students acculturated by the dominant neo-liberal ideology to underprivilege ecocentric perspective. It is argued that ESD, with its focus on human welfare, equality, rights and fair distribution of resources is a radical departure from the aim of EE set out by the Belgrade Charter as well as a distinct turn towards anthropocentrically biased education. This article has two aims: to demonstrate the importance of environmental ethics for EE in general and ESD in particular and to argue in favour of a return to instrumentalism, based on the twinned assumptions that the environmental problems are severe and that education of ecologically minded students could help their resolution.     

Development of a Metric to Test Group Differences in Ecological Knowledge as One Component of Environmental Literacy

Abstract

Environmental literacy has been defined in numerous ways and attempts have been made to measure how environmentally literate people are. Many attempts to measure literacy have instead measured people's knowledge about pollution and their attitudes toward the environment. According to many environmental education experts, knowledge and attitudes are important components of environmental literacy, especially if the goal of environmental education is to change behavior. However, the experts also indicate that, to change an individual's behavior, knowledge about the environment must be associated with environmental sensitivity, personal beliefs, and decisionmaking and problem-solving skills. The research presented in this article contributes to environmental literacy research by offering a tested, valid survey instrument to measure ecological knowledge—one component of environmental literacy. In this article, we provide an example of how this instrument can be applied by comparing knowledge levels among diverse groups of Ohio citizens.     

Practitioners’ perspectives on the purpose of environmental education

Since the 1980s, scholars have suggested that environmental education (EE) has a ‘definitional problem’ represented by a multiplicity of perspectives that have critically impacted its discourse, practices, and outcomes. This study sought to investigate how North American EE practitioners from backgrounds ranging from formal and non-formal institutions think about their work. We focused on folk narratives and emerging urban environmental concerns of community education rather than reliance on academic opinion alone. Using Q methodology, the study identified five distinct perspectives that appear to represent different ways of prioritizing EE outcomes. All five perspectives were concerned with promoting sustainable living and improved human well-being, but the nuances suggest that an individual who adheres strongly to one may feel someone holding a contrasting perspective is working at cross-purposes. The authors suggest that understanding these perspectives can help reduce misunderstanding within the EE field.     

环境审美融入中学地理课程环境教育的思考

中学地理课程在环境教育中有着独特的优势与作用,因此地理课程已成为了中学环境教育的主要课程之一。基于地理教学目标下的渗透式教学模式的中学环境教育在一定程度制约了环境教育的快速发展,影响中学生环境素养的提升。为提高环境教育的效果,环境审美以其独特魅力将根植于学生内心深处,激发其学习热情,同时通过审美空间营造和审美体验活动,促进中学生环境素养的提升。     

Infusion or confusion: A meta–analysis of Environmental Education in the 21st century curriculum of Botswana

The purpose of this article is to examine the integration of environmental education (EE) in the secondary school curriculum of Botswana. In order to achieve effective environmental literacy, EE needs to be integrated into all aspects of students’ learning experience. The article draws on a variety of qualitative meta-analyses of Botswana government documents and journal articles, published between 2002 and 2012. Although EE is integrated primarily in social studies and science subjects, the findings suggested that it is in a state of confusion due to ineffective professional development of teachers and neglect of educational authorities. Teachers at the secondary level rarely include EE because students are not tested on it. The study suggested that teachers’ values towards EE, subject flexibility, integration and child-centred learning should be enhanced as strategies for halting the confusion of its infusion into the curriculum     

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.     

An Inventory for Assessing Environmental Education Curricula

Abstract

Since Gardella's Environmental Education Curriculum Inventory was developed in 1986 (J. Gardella, 1993), it has been used to evaluate environmental education (EE) curricula and programs to determine how well they represent EE's substantive structure as expressed in the Goals for Curriculum Development in Environmental Education developed by H. R. Hungerford, R. B. Peyton, and R. J. Wilke (1980). In recent years, environmental educators have called for environmental sensitivity and social sciences to be added to the foundation levels of environmental education and the Goals for Curriculum Development. The Inventory for Assessing Environmental Education Curricula is an attempt to revise the Gardella inventory so as to incorporate both environmental sensitivity and social components.     

Developing a critical consciousness of race in place-based environmental education: Franco’s story

Environmental education (EE) has a history of support for critical place-based pedagogy as a means of learning through engagement in space, both cultural and biophysical. In this paper I tell the story of how Franco – a non-white, non-American undergraduate – engaged with local discourses in a watershed-focused EE program in the rural Midwestern US. I examine how the five tenets of critical race theory (CRT) can be used to interpret Franco’s experience, where he encountered multiple instances of racism and xenophobia. I argue that without a critical analysis of race in place-based EE programs, instructors may (a) privilege their own ways of knowing in local settings, (b) rely on ‘grit’ narratives as mechanisms for mediation of racism, and (c) send non-white students home having learned that they cannot effect meaningful change for sustainability. I conclude with recommendations for faculty in predominantly white institutions on how CRT might foster the development of critical consciousness of race in place-based EE programs.     

Physical environment as a 3-D textbook: design and development of a prototype

The use of the physical environment as a three-dimensional (3-D) textbook is not a common practice in educational facilities design. Previous researches documented that little progress has been made to incorporate environmental education (EE) into architecture, especially among the conventional designers who are often constrained by the budget and building area requirements. This article presents an exploratory project to develop a prototype for the 3-D textbook. The author does not formulate ideas and concept based on the pre-determined specs in a design brief. Instead, the design solution evolved through a qualitative case study conducted at the Green School in Bali, Indonesia. Data were collected through a series of interviews and on-site observations. The qualitative findings uncovered four design features for the 3-D textbook. A prototype was subsequently developed using the design features as a blueprint. The prototype serves as a testing ground for new ideas as well as a platform to promote awareness and acceptance of the 3-D textbook among the practitioners. Consequently, this article attempted a significant proposition to bring together architecture and EE, thus potentially contributing to a field of knowledge that embraces design and education.