We conducted a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed research studies published between 1999 and 2010 that empirically evaluated the outcomes of environmental education (EE) programs for youth (ages 18 and younger) in an attempt to address the following objectives: (1) to seek reported empirical evidence for what works (or does not) in EE programming and (2) to uncover lessons regarding promising approaches for future EE initiatives and their evaluation. While the review generally supports consensus-based best practices, such as those published in the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Excellence, we also identified additional themes that may drive positive outcomes, including the provision of holistic experiences and the characteristics and delivery styles of environmental educators. Overall, the evidence in support of these themes contained in the 66 articles reviewed is mostly circumstantial. Few studies attempted to empirically isolate the characteristics of programs responsible for measured outcomes. We discuss general trends in research design and the associated implications for future research and EE programming.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13504622.2013.838749

Environmental education program evaluation in the new millennium: what do we measure and what have we learned?

What is the impact of garden-based learning on academic outcomes in schools? To address this question, findings across 152 articles (1990–2010) were analyzed resulting in 48 studies that met the inclusion criteria for this synthesis. A review template with operational coding framework was developed. The synthesis results showed a preponderance of positive impacts on direct academic outcomes with the highest positive impact for science followed by math and language arts. Indirect academic outcomes were also measured with social development surfacing most frequently and positively. These results were consistent across programs, student samples, and school types and within the disparate research methodologies used. However, a common issue was lack of research rigor as there were troubling issues with incomplete descriptions of methodological procedures in general and sampling techniques and validity in particular. Recommendations for more systematic and rigorous research are provided to parallel the growing ...

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Impact of Garden-Based Learning on Academic Outcomes in Schools: Synthesis of Research Between 1990 and 2010

Although informal learning environments have been studied extensively, ours is one of the first studies to quantitatively assess the impact of learning in botanical gardens on students' cognitive achievement. We observed a group of 10th graders participating in a one-day educational intervention on climate change implemented in a botanical garden. The students completed multiple-choice questionnaires in a pre-post-retention test design. Comparing the test scores revealed a significant short-term knowledge gain as well as a long-term knowledge gain. Consequently, our results show the potentials of botanical gardens as effective learning environments, and for complementing formal school-based learning settings regarding climate change education.

Climate change education: Quantitatively assessing the impact of a botanical garden as an informal learning environment

Using examples from Asia, Africa, and North America, we demonstrate how restoration and stewardship projects, including those with significant community engagement, provide opportunities for environmental and biodiversity learning in cities. Although research on such programs is in its initial stages, several studies show positive impacts of urban environmental education and related field science inquiry experiences on participant environmental attitudes, awareness of urban nature, science understanding, and self-efficacy, with greater effects correlated with degree of involvement in hands-on, field-based experiences. In addition, programs that actively engage participants in restoration and inquiry reflect social equity, participatory, and environmental principles central to global initiatives in environmental education and sustainability. Such projects also reflect current theories of learning including those focusing on the ways children construct understanding of phenomena they encounter in everyday life (constructivism) and those that describe learning as an outcome of interaction with the socio-cultural and bio-physical environment (social learning). While recognizing the importance of school-based learning, our case examples illustrate the myriad of out-of-school learning arenas connected to projects in which civil society groups, government, and volunteers collaboratively engage in environmental stewardship, such as pond restoration to create dragonfly habitat in Japanese cities, indigenous species restoration at the Edith Stephens Wetland Park in Cape Flats, South Africa, and urban community gardening in vacant lots and other degraded spaces in the USA. More formal restoration projects, such as the daylighting of the Cheonggye-cheon River in Seoul, South Korea, as well as botanic gardens that feature biological and cultural diversity, also integrate nature-based, cultural, historical, and science inquiry learning opportunities. Given that many urban environmental education projects are local in scope, partnerships with global initiatives such as the UN Education for Sustainable Development and the Convention for Biological Diversity Communication, Education and Public Awareness, and with NGOs, governments, and business, are needed to leverage these learning arenas to effect broader regional, national, and even global systemic change.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-94-007-7088-1_30.pdf

Urban Landscapes as Learning Arenas for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Management

Garden affordances for social learning, play, and for building nature-child relationship.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Project Green Reach (PGR) is a children's program that has offered garden-based youth education since 1990 PGR focuses on Grade K-8 students and teachers from local Title I schools who work in teams on garden and science projects In this exploratory study, the authors used field observations, document analysis, and past participant interviews to investigate PGR's program, model informal science education, and document the influence of the program on urban youth In all, 7 themes emerged: (a) participants' challenging home and school environments, (b) changes in academic and interdisciplinary skills, (c) changes in science and gardening skills, (d) increased environmental awareness, (e) social and personal growth, (f) a positive life experience, and (g) the cultural significance of the program

Environmental Education in Botanic Gardens: Exploring Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Project Green Reach.

It is vital that healthcare professionals work together in a concentrated effort to help patients achieve tobacco cessation. As such, it is essential that students in health professions programs learn the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies of collaborative practice including communication, teamwork, values and ethics, and professional roles and responsibilities to be effective members of patient care teams. This article describes the development and implementation of an interactive, virtual escape room instructional activity that reinforced important tobacco cessation concepts with pharmacy, dental, dental hygiene and physician assistant students. Interprofessional groups consisted of 6–7 students, and students were given 60 min to work through thirteen escape room puzzles to solve two patient cases related to tobacco cessation and to successfully escape. Puzzle concepts included pharmacology, contraindications and dosing of medications, drug-drug interactions, behavioral modifications, health risks associated with tobacco use, motivational interviewing, risks of vaping, vaccines and neurobiology of addiction. One hundred and thirty-five students participated in the interprofessional activity, and students completed pre- and post-surveys to assess knowledge gains and perceptions of the virtual escape room. Students reported an improvement in four interprofessional competencies of collaborative practice, and knowledge improved on all twelve conceptual questions, with seven questions showing statistically significant improvements. Student perceptions of the escape room were overall positive, with 84% of students reporting that they will use knowledge that they gained from the escape room in their professional practice. In conclusion, the use of this educational instructional activity was an effective way to reinforce and emphasize important tobacco cessation concepts and to promote the core competencies of interprofessional education and practice. Allowing students to work together and recognize the contributions of different members of the healthcare team has vital implications for helping patients achieve tobacco cessation, which has the potential to improve patient health, reduce healthcare costs and prevent both acute and chronic diseases. 

Susan Conlon Morgan

Papers

Environmental Education in Botanic Gardens: Exploring Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Project Green Reach.

Development and implementation of a virtual interprofessional escape room to reinforce tobacco cessation concepts