Book Reviews

Abstract

Educators have invested considerable effort in developing environmental education programs that address students' knowledge, attitudes, and action competence regarding environmental issues. The authors explore the effectiveness of such programs in terms of both student learning outcomes and the intergenerational influence that results when students discuss their learning experiences with their parents and other community members. Six environmental education programs involving 284 students in Queensland schools, from Grades 5-12, were investigated. Students and their parents were surveyed and interviewed regarding their perceptions about the program, the program's influence on their environmental learning, and the extent and nature of discussions that the program stimulated between students and their parents. The authors draw conclusions about key features that should be incorporated into environmental education programs to encourage and empower students to bring about environmental change in their homes and communities.     

A New Ethic of Responsibility

Abstract

The authors compared a qualitative study of teacher decision making during the 1st year of implementation of an environmental education curriculum. The authors examined perceptions of training, the program, of administrative and peer support, and the manner in which the program was implemented in each classroom. Administrators were perceived as supporting the program because it helped to facilitate other school goals. Participants perceived that others did not understand the program. Initially, participants found the training difficult because the program was different from what they were accustomed to doing. The researchers found that teachers' perceptions stemmed from cognitive changes that the program stimulated.     

环境工程专业跨学科特色建设的探索与实践

环境工程专业作为集自然科学、社会科学和技术科学为一体的边缘交叉型学科,本文研究了如何发挥本专业跨学科优势,适应现阶段环境工程人才社会需求,保证环境工程专业的教育质量,推进环境工程专业特色建设和教学改革,并结合本校学科发展的实际情况对环境工程跨学科专业特色建设进行了一定的探索和思考。     

The NatureMapping Program: Resource Agency Environmental Education Reform

Abstract

Environmental education for youth and adults is being redefined at resource agencies. The driving forces are education reform and citizen demands to be involved in environmental management decisions. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife examined its traditional environmental education programs and identified the need to create opportunities for citizen involvement as a means to educate while directly impacting its mission. Through a partnership with the Washington Cooperative Research Unit Gap Analysis Project, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife created the NatureMapping Program. The NatureMapping Program enables volunteers, including schools, to collect environmental data that are valuable to governments and communities for problem solving and decision making. A recent study of schools actively NatureMapping describes increased school-community links, motivated students, and a systemic change in curriculum through interdisciplinary inquiry. Resource experts have benefited from new species information and increased community involvement.     

The Effects of an Environmental Education Program on Students,Parents, and Community

Abstract

This study evaluated the impact of an environmental education program on students, parents, and the community. The program, in place for 5 years in 5th and 6th grade classes, was designed to help learners take an in-depth look at environmental issues in their community, make data-based decisions about those issues, and participate in resolving those issues. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were employed (including student, parent, school personnel, and community member interviews). The authors discuss program connections to students' critical thinking, environmental literacy, and participation in the community; reading, writing, and speaking skills; student and teacher characteristics; and parent and community viewpoints.     

Engaging youth in public lands monitoring: opportunities for enhancing ecological literacy and environmental stewardship

Abstract

The US Forest Service has a long history of youth conservation education. We investigated U.S. Forest Service citizen science programs that involve secondary school students in field collection of monitoring data to understand (1) how the programs integrated science and environmental education and (2) whether these programs advance ecological literacy and environmental stewardship. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the program leads, teachers, and students. Program leads and students said programs produced reliable data and met monitoring and other U.S. Forest Service stewardship objectives. Although these programs varied in design and objectives, our findings suggest these programs were incorporating both science and environmental education, and there is some indication they are creating ecological literacy among participants. Students exhibited environmental stewardship to some degree as a result of all programs, but the extent of this is tied to programs’ objectives and design.     

Identifying Needs,Obstacles, and Solutions

Abstract

Residential environmental education camps provide a setting that can result in beneficial changes in participants' self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, and feelings of connection with the natural world, as well as stimulating greater interest in future low-impact recreation experiences in natural areas. When students learn how ecosystems function and about environmental action strategies that contribute to their maintenance, they develop more environmentally responsible behaviors. Wolf Creek Nature Camp is an environmental education program that integrates awareness of the natural environment, knowledge of environmental concepts and issues, and action on environmental problems. The 2-week program raises campers' self-esteem; increases their interest in, and curiosity about, nature, and fosters outdoor skills. Enhanced self-esteem is a major influence on their desire to take further environmental action.     

Evaluating teachers’ self-perceptions of their knowledge and practice after participating in an environmental education professional development program

Building teachers’ confidence in their understanding of nature and encouraging the use of field experiences with students are important factors in increasing environmental awareness in students. A River Runs Through It (ARRT) is an integrated environmental education professional development program, immersed practicing teachers in hands-on field inquiry while providing them with valuable experiences, tools, and support necessary for raising teacher enthusiasm and self-confidence. The authors begin by taking a broad look at environmental education. They then narrow the focus to their environmental education professional development program – ARRT – and the positive knowledge and attitudinal impacts found from allowing teachers to explore local outdoor environments with a support system that aided them in bringing their ARRT experiences into their own classrooms.     

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).     

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

ABSTRACT

This 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.     

Issues and challenges regarding environmental education policy implementation

Abstract

In this article, the authors have chosen to inquire into a topic that has specific relevance to the status and inclusion of environmental education in the curriculum at a stage when the translation of policy into practice stands at the crossroads: the transition of environment as phase organiser to environment as integral to all learning areas. In education praxis, the translation of policy into practice is in the hands of educators and teachers (using the terminology as suggested in this article). The issues and challenges regarding the implementation of environmental education policy as experienced by educators and teachers are identified through examining this phenomenon as portrayed in two case studies where in-service education and training (INSET) in relation to environmental education occurs. This study is one of the first to provide a researched background that identifies issues and challenges that impact on the implementation of environmental policy in formal education contexts.     

Community-driven informal adult environmental learning: Using theory as a lens to identify steps toward concientización

Abstract

This article examines community-driven adult environmental learning in a volunteer watershed stewards program. We look for evidence of elements that portray steps toward “concientización”—the process of individuals and communities directing their own learning in nonhierarchical ways. Leveraging two theories from the learning sciences and community development research, affinity spaces and the Asset-Based Community Development model, we trace participants’ development toward concientización. Data collected through interviews with watershed stewards speaks to parts of these theories that in turn signal elements of concientización. Our findings point to the importance of providing communities with support that is flexible and easy to use for identifying and leveraging the resources in their community. We call for a new framework to understand how to help learners access community-driven environmental learning experiences and supporting resources at opportune times.     

Environmental Education in Rural Central Himalayan Schools

Abstract

This article describes an experimental environmental education course in rural schools in India's central Himalayas. The course was designed to introduce environmental and livelihood issues into mainstream curriculum. The Uttaranchal Environment Education Centre initiated this program in 1987 with the help of national and state departments of education. This practical course focuses on land degradation, which is the region's major environmental problem. Students learn how to manage their village ecosystem to ensure maximum sustainable productivity. Currently, 1,000 teachers in 530 schools offer the course to approximately 68,000 students.     

A Comment on “The Adventures of Lead Commander: An Environmental Education Program to Prevent Lead Poisoning in Young Children”

Abstract

This article comments on a study designed to examine the effectiveness of the family-based, environmental education lead-poisoning program, The Adventures of Lead Commander (Marlowe & Trathen, 1996). Design and methodological weaknesses, such as the use of hair lead concentrations as a biomarker, call into question conclusions reached in the study. The effectiveness of the educational program cannot be ascertained from the data collected. It should be stressed, however, that environmental education projects such as The Adventures of Lead Commander are important in helping to educate the public and school children about lead poisoning and ways of minimizing exposure to this neurotoxin. Education and removal of lead sources are primary methods of reducing lead exposure.     

Foreign languages across the curriculum: A model for the delivery of professional language training

In 1995, Boise State University undertook an interdisciplinary languages program under a FLAC (Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum) grant sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Coordinated through the Department of Modern Languages, the program utilized non-foreign language faculty across the colleges of the campus who were fluent in a foreign language. FLAC courses were conceptualized and designed as “trailer” courses, in which a class offering one unit of instruction in Spanish was attached to an existing course in each department's curriculum. At Boise State, FLAC was extended for the first time to criminal justice. This paper discusses the FLAC program nationally and the FLAC program at Boise State with a focus on the criminal justice department. Positive outcomes and institutional problems in sustaining the program are described.     

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.     

The Teacher Training Program for Doctoral Candidates in History at the University of Wisconsin

Abstract

One question of interdisciplinary education is how to encourage students to draw connections between disciplines and to engage in critical thinking. The authors developed a team-taught interdisciplinary course examining the history and literature of modern revolutions. The first time the course was given, students had difficulty making interdisciplinary connections and did not critically re-examine their assumptions. The authors restructured the course, re-thinking its emphasis, procedures, texts, and assignments, with substantial positive results. They also learned that teachers need to reassess their own ideology and teaching strategies to make interdisciplinary education effective.     

Engaged environmental science for underserved youth

Abstract

The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences has called for targeted efforts to engage underserved youth in environmental education programs that support environmental literacy and contribute to the development of a diverse workforce pipeline for environmental science-related occupations. Evidence suggests that career knowledge among low income and minority youth is more likely to be incompatible with post-secondary educational opportunities than other racial and ethnic groups. One approach to attenuating discordant college and career expectations among underserved youth is building networks for information sharing between secondary and post-secondary students. The purpose of this commentary is to describe the development and implementation of a high school curriculum on environmental science and environmental justice by Texas A&M University in collaboration with community engagement partners, students, and teachers at Furr High School, an innovative XQ Super School in Houston, Texas.     

An Environmental Education Program for Teacher Trainers in Finland

Abstract

Finland's Ministry of Education sponsored the development of an environmental education (EE) course for practicing educators of teachers. One to 3 persons from each teacher training unit at various universities and training schools attended a tutor training session, during which a course for other teacher trainers was developed. The course focused on personal development and curriculum development. Tutors used distance education with some locally arranged contact teaching to teach the course. Tutors also led local study groups. Teacher trainers who attended the course learned and applied new teaching practices and produced new model lessons. They also reflected on their personal environmental philosophy and gained in environmental knowledge. Preliminary evaluation of the program indicated that high-quality learning experiences occurred. This 2-step distance education model could be used for large-scale implementation of EE for in-service teacher training.     

Differences in competencies between doctoral students on‐campus and at a distance

Abstract

This article describes differences between on‐campus and distance learners by knowledge, skills, and abilities. On‐campus doctoral students at Texas A&M University were compared with doctoral students enrolled in a distance education program offered jointly with Texas Tech University. Student perceptions of their competency levels were gathered using a mixed mailed/Internet questionnaire. On‐campus and distance education students had different levels of competence. Competency models can serve faculty and administrators as an assessment tool for strategic decision making and development of courses and curricula. This study provides a model for benchmarking competencies and provides baseline data for making such changes.