(1990). Changing Learner Behavior Through Environmental Education. The Journal of Environmental Education: Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 8-21.

Changing Learner Behavior Through Environmental Education

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Jonathan Haidt Pantheon Books, 2012One has likely heard that, for the sake of decorum, religion and politics should never be topics of conversation with strangers. Even amongst friends or even when it is known that others hold opposing political or religious views, why is it that discussion of religion and politics leads to visceral-level acrimony and that one's views are right and the other's views are wrong? Professor Jonathan Haidt of the University of Virginia examines the psychological basis of our "righteous minds" without resorting to any of the pejorative labeling that is usually found in a book on politics and religion and eschews a purely comparative approach. Haidt proposes the intriguing hypothesis that our visceral reaction to competing ideologies is a subconscious, rather than leaned, reaction that evolved over human evolution to innate senses of suffering, fairness, cheating and disease, and that moral foundations facilitated intra-group cooperation which in turn conferred survival advantages over other groups. These psychological mechanisms are genetic in origin and not necessarily amenable to rational and voluntary control - this is in part the reason debating one's ideological opposite more often leads to frustration rather than understanding. Haidt also suggests that morality is based on six "psychological systems" or foundations (Moral Foundations Theory), similar to the hypothesized adaptive mental modules which evolved to solve specific problems of survival in the human ancestral environment.While decorum pleads for more civility, it would be better, as Haidt suggests, dragging the issue of partisan politics out into the open in order to understand it and work around our righteous minds. Haidt suggests a few methods by which the level of rhetoric in American politics can be reduced, such that the political parties can at least be cordial as they have been in the past and work together to solve truly pressing social problems.There are a number of fascinating points raised in the current book, but most intriguing is the one that morality, ideology and religion are products of group selection, as adaptations that increased individual cooperation and suppressed selfishness, thereby increasing individual loyalty to the group. That morality, political ideology and religion buttress group survival is probably highly intuitive. However, given the contemporary focus on the individual as the source of adaptations, to the exclusion of all else, to suggest that adaptations such as religion and political ideology arose to enhance survival of groups is heresy or, as Haidt recounts, "foolishness". While previous rejection of group selection itself was due in part to conceptual issues, one could also point out the prevailing individualist social sentiment, "selfish gene" mentality and unrelenting hostility against those who supported the view that group selection did indeed apply to humans and not just to insects. Haidt gives a lengthy and convincing defense of group selection, his main point being that humans can pursue self- interest at the same time they promote self-interest within a group setting - humans are "90 percent chimp, 10 percent bees". One can readily observe in the news and entertainment mediate that religion is a frequent target of derision, even within the scientific community - Haidt points to the strident contempt that the "New Atheists" hold for religion. They claim that religion is purely a by-product of an adaptive psychological trait and as a mere by-product religion serves no useful purpose. However, the religious "sense" has somehow managed to persist in the human psyche. One explanation by the New Atheists of how religion propagated itself is that it is a "parasite" or "virus" which latches onto a susceptible host and induces the host to "infect" others. As a "virus" or "parasite" that is merely interested in its own survival, religion causes people to perform behaviors that do not increase their own reproductive fitness and may even be detrimental to survival, but religion spreads nonetheless. …

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Scientific literacy is a term that has been used since the late 1950s to describe a desired familiarity with science on the part of the general public. A review of the history of science education shows that there have been at least nine separate and distinct goals of science education that are related to the larger goal of scientific literacy. It is argued in this paper that instead of defining scientific literacy in terms of specifically prescribed learning outcomes, scientific literacy should be conceptualized broadly enough for local school districts and individual classroom teachers to pursue the goals that are most suitable for their particular situations along with the content and methodologies that are most appropriate for them and their students. This would do more to enhance the public's understanding and appreciation of science than will current efforts that are too narrowly aimed at increasing scores on international tests of science knowledge. A broad and open-ended approach to scientific literacy would free teachers and students to develop a wide variety of innovative responses to the call for an increased understanding of science for all. fl 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 582 - 601, 2000

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Scientific literacy: Another look at its historical and contemporary meanings and its relationship to science education reform

In this review of the published literature in English on the concept of scientific literacy, the net is cast wider than just the professional science education com- munity, and the diverse works on scientific literacy are brought together in an interpretative synthesis of this literature. Scientific literacy is first placed in an historical context, and a number of different factors that influence interpretations of this concept are discussed thereafter. These factors include the number of different interest groups that are concerned with scientific literacy, different conceptual definitions of the term, the relative or absolute nature of scientific literacy as a concept, different purposes for advocating scientific lit- eracy, and different ways of measuring it. The overview yields a fuller understanding of the various factors that contribute to the concept of scientific literacy, and makes clear the relationships between these factors. 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci. Ed 84:71- 94, 2000.

Scientific literacy: A conceptual overview

This paper examines connections between childhood involvement with the natural environment and adult environmentalism from a life course perspective. Approximately 2,000 adults age 18-90 living in urban areas throughout the United States were interviewed with respect to their childhood nature experiences and their current, adult attitudes and behaviors relating to the environment. Model testing and cross-validation procedures using structural equation modeling suggest that childhood participation with nature may set an individual on a trajectory toward adult environmentalism. Specifically, childhood participation in “wild” nature such as hiking or playing in the woods, camping, and hunting or fishing, as well as participation with “domesticated” nature such as picking flowers or produce, planting trees or seeds, and caring for plants in childhood have a positive relationship to adult environmental attitudes. “Wild nature” participation is also positively associated with environmental behaviors while “domesticated nature” experiences are marginally related to environmental behaviors.

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Nature and the Life Course: Pathways from Childhood Nature Experiences to Adult Environmentalism 1

The science education reform movement: Implications for social responsibility

This study reports the instructional effects of a formal environmental education methodology, issue investigation and action training (IIAT) on middle school students. Can issue investigation and action training improve responsible environmental behavior of middle school students? Can variables identified as critical contributors to responsible adult environmental behavior be enhanced in middle school students as a function of issue investigation and action training? If middle school students demonstrate increased environmental behavior as a result of issue investigation and action training, will there be a parallel increase in those variables contributing to responsible environmental behavior? These questions are the focus of the discussion that follows.

The Effects of Issue Investigation and Action Training on Environmental Behavior in Seventh Grade Students

Significant progress has been made in the United States in including the environment in government, business, household, and individual decisionmaking. Unfortunately, there is no parallel trend in the nation's K-12 schools. This article reviews the basic precepts of environmental education, summarizes state-level efforts directed at its establishment, and makes suggestions for systematically incorporating it into the K-12 curriculum.

Environmental Education in the K-12 Curriculum: Finding a Niche

(1981). The Effects of Environmental Action and Environmental Case Study Instruction on the Overt Environmental Behavior of Eighth-Grade Students. The Journal of Environmental Education: Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 24-29.

The Effects of Environmental Action and Environmental Case Study Instruction on the Overt Environmental Behavior of Eighth-Grade Students

This article reports the instructional effects of a formal environmental education methodology, issue investigation and action training (IIAT), on eighth-grade students and follows a similar study of seventh-grade students. The author focuses on whether IIAT can improve responsible environmental behavior in middle school students and whether variables associated with responsible adult environmental behavior will be concomitantly enhanced. The findings indicate that both effects are possible.

John Ramsey

Papers

The science education reform movement: Implications for social responsibility

The Effects of Issue Investigation and Action Training on Environmental Behavior in Seventh Grade Students

Environmental Education in the K-12 Curriculum: Finding a Niche

The Effects of Environmental Action and Environmental Case Study Instruction on the Overt Environmental Behavior of Eighth-Grade Students

The Effects of issue Investigation and Action Training on Eighth-Grade Students' Environmental Behavior