Lifting the cover: developing an analytical tool to unravel environmental education resources

Abstract

Evaluations of environmental education (EE) programmes and resources are becoming increasingly visible and important. While benefits accrue through evaluation, many programmes and resources have yet to realise these. Issues such as a lack of clear objectives, reliance on traditional, summative approaches and inattention to context have prevented rigorous evaluation occurring. This paper reports on the development of an analytical tool designed to unravel EE resources. Its theoretical basis is a socially acute questions (SAQ) approach and educational configurations teachers use when implementing this approach. Using these configurations, a series of interrogatory questions were developed to unravel a resource writer’s education intent – what type(s) of knowledge are valued, the view of science presented and the view of learning. Two contrasting resources were analysed to test this tool. This analysis revealed that one resource viewed knowledge as universal, had a scientistic epistemic posture and a doctrinal/pragmatic didactic approach whereas the other viewed knowledge as contextualised, had a relativistic epistemic posture and a problematising/doctrinal didactic approach. Consequently, this tool showed that it was able to unravel a resource writer’s intent, identify gaps so teachers could adapt a resource and build capacity for didactics of EE and its evaluation.     

Volunteers as teachers of child management to parents of behaviour‐disordered preschoolers

Ten women volunteers were trained as teachers of child management skills to parents of behaviour‐disordered preschoolers. Families were selected from referrals to a child psychiatric clinic, and included 42 children. Initial assessment of families was undertaken by a psychologist, and specific goals for treatment were set with parents. Volunteers trained in a social learning approach to child management visited the families in their homes to implement and supervise programs aimed at parent and child behaviour change. After 6‐8 weeks families were reassessed at the clinic. Evaluation of the project's outcomes using a consumer satisfaction survey, parent ratings on a problem behaviour checklist, and staff ratings of goal attainment, showed major changes in child behaviour which were maintained at three‐month follow‐up.     

Approaches to Studying in Higher Education: a comparative study in the South Pacific

A short version of the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI), commended as a ‘quick and easy’ means of assessing student learning, was administered to two groups of students at the University of the South Pacific. Measures of its internal consistency and test‐retest reliability were comparable with those obtained in European research, but were not wholly satisfactory. Moreover, its factor structure was found to be qualitatively different in this context and constituted by different forms of motivation for studying in higher education. It is concluded that approaches to studying are culture‐specific and, in particular, that one should be cautious about using this version of the ASI in systems of higher education in non‐Western countries.     

Teachers Using Dialogue to Support Science Learning in the Primary Classroom

Research in Science Education - The importance of using dialogue as a pedagogical tool to enhance student learning in science has been widely recognised in research literature. Effective classroom...     

Implementing concept-based learning in a large undergraduate classroom

An experiment explicitly introducing learning strategies to a large, first-year undergraduate cell biology course was undertaken to see whether awareness and use of strategies had a measurable impact on student performance. The construction of concept maps was selected as the strategy to be introduced because of an inherent coherence with a course structured by concepts. Data were collected over three different semesters of an introductory cell biology course, all teaching similar course material with the same professor and all evaluated using similar examinations. The first group, used as a control, did not construct concept maps, the second group constructed individual concept maps, and the third group first constructed individual maps then validated their maps in small teams to provide peer feedback about the individual maps. Assessment of the experiment involved student performance on the final exam, anonymous polls of student perceptions, failure rate, and retention of information at the start of the following year. The main conclusion drawn is that concept maps without feedback have no significant effect on student performance, whereas concept maps with feedback produced a measurable increase in student problem-solving performance and a decrease in failure rates.     

Development Of A Consultation Profile Of Interventions Perceived As Successful By Human Performance Technology Consultants

The purpose of this study was to develop a consultation profile of interventions perceived as successful by internal or external Human Performance Technology consultants. Members of the National Society for Performance and Instruction [The National Society for Performance and Instruction is currently known as the International Society for Performance and Instruction] and the American Society for Training and Development were asked to describe in detail a single intervention which they considered successful in terms of outcomes for both themselves and their clients. The results indicate that the scope of these interventions is not limited to training but includes a broader range of performance improvement interventions. This supports the notion that professionals in the field are undertaking more systemic approaches in their practice. An average of 40% of total project time is allocated to front-end analysis. The projects reported by our respondents also emphasize collaborative decision-making, especially during the front-end analysis phase. Factors most commonly reported as responsible for the success of projects were support from the client, collaboration between team members, and clear definition of expectations.