Showing papers in "Environmental Education Research in 2016"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the effect of education for sustainable development (ESD) as an explicit guiding approach in teaching in Swedish schools and find that it has a positive effect on the performance of teachers.
Abstract: During the past decade, numerous schools in Sweden have implemented education for sustainable development (ESD) as an explicit guiding approach in teaching. In this paper, we investigate the effect ...
148 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a systematic literature review of policy research in the area of environmental and sustainability education is presented, which combines quantification of geographic and methodological trends with qualitative analysis of content-based themes.
Abstract: This paper reports on a systematic literature review of policy research in the area of environmental and sustainability education. We analyzed 215 research articles, spanning four decades and representing 71 countries, and which engaged a range of methodologies. Our analysis combines quantification of geographic and methodological trends with qualitative analysis of content-based themes. Significant findings included temporal spikes in published policy research occurring in the mid-1970s, late 1990s, and after 2005, as well as geographic under-representation of Africa, South and Central America, Eastern Europe, and North and West Asia. The majority of articles reviewed were non-empirical; empirical articles overwhelmingly focused on teaching and learning directives, rather than exploring the complexity of policy development or enactment. We conclude our analysis by describing key research gaps as highlighted by the review and propose directions for moving forward policy research in environmental and susta...
124 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined pedagogical principles within a comparative analytical framework and consider how adopted pedagogies reflect and refract the culture in which they are embedded, using a conceptual model focused on purposes, aims, content, pedagogy, outcomes, and barriers.
Abstract: Using a conceptual model focused on purposes, aims, content, pedagogy, outcomes, and barriers, we review and interpret literature on two forms of outdoor learning: Forest Schools in England and udeskole in Denmark. We examine pedagogical principles within a comparative analytical framework and consider how adopted pedagogies reflect and refract the culture in which they are embedded. Despite different national educational and cultural contexts, English Forest Schools and Danish udeskole share several commonalities within a naturalistic/progressive pedagogical tradition; differences appear in the degree of integration within national educational systems. Global calls for increased connection to nature and recent alignment of results-driven school systems in both countries influence their foundational principles, perhaps leading to greater convergence in the future. We argue that close attention to pedagogical principles are necessary to ensure better alignment of purpose and practice to elicit specific out...
86 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the educational proposals in formal contexts that have been published in the two research journals of greatest impact on Environmental Education during the period 2008-2013, and analyse how they contribute to the development of action competence.
Abstract: The current state of the planet’s environmental deterioration calls for formal educational contexts to implement effective environmental proposals which nurture action competence. The aim of this paper is to examine the educational proposals in formal contexts that have been published in the two research journals of greatest impact on Environmental Education during the period 2008–2013, and to analyse how they contribute to the development of action competence. Special attention is paid to research (i) based on real participation by students; (ii) promotes reflection on the complexity of environmental issues; (iii) facilitates critical thinking; (iv) encourages autonomous and responsible decision-making and (v) involves communities. Our results show that these approaches can help improve the development of action-focused environmental education and bring to light a series of challenges for future research.
82 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored experiences that remained salient in the memories of former participants in three nature-based programs in Colorado, five to forty years after childhood involvement, and analyzed these experiences through social practice theory, which has significant implications for the design and evaluation of environmental education programs.
Abstract: This paper explores experiences that remained salient in the memories of former participants in three nature-based programs in Colorado, five to forty years after childhood involvement. Interviews with program founders and staff, archival research, and observations of current activities provided an understanding of each program’s history, mission and educational approach. In this context, 18 former participants were interviewed about program experiences that they remembered and program impacts on their environmental identities and academic or career choices. Results were analyzed through the lens of social practice theory, which has significant implications for the design and evaluation of environmental education programs. Results showed that social practice theory is a useful framework for interpreting the development of a social environmental identity, but an ecological identity that forms through direct contact with the natural world is an important complementary concept.
75 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated 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.
Abstract: 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 ...
74 citations
TL;DR: The sustainable development (SD) concept is based on the idea that economic and social development should be linked to the environment as mentioned in this paper. But controversies about various associated issues often arise and the SD concept is often overlooked.
Abstract: The sustainable development (SD) concept is based on the idea that economic and social development should be linked to the environment. However, controversies about various associated issues often ...
73 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a social cartography that locates intersections of neoliberal, liberal, and critical discourses within an internally contested but enduring modern/colonial imaginary is proposed to map different orientations of internationalism at the interface of sustainability and international development.
Abstract: This analysis is situated within a larger project focusing on ethics and internationalisation in higher education. Internationalisation is occurring at a fast pace and encompasses overlapping and contradictory aims largely framed by market imperatives. At the same time, institutions of higher education increasingly promote sustainability. We use a framework informed by decolonial theories to map different orientations of internationalism at the interface of sustainability and international development in the context of neoliberalism. To examine these interfaces we offer a social cartography that locates intersections of neoliberal, liberal, and critical discourses within an internally contested but enduring modern/colonial imaginary. We demonstrate the generative potential of the social cartography by drawing on examples from strategy documents relating to internationalisation from universities in Canada, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK.
72 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use the 2010 General Social Survey (GSS) to study these associations and expand the scope of earlier studies by including additional measures across social demographic, social psychological and behavioral blocks.
Abstract: The associations between social and psychological influences and environmental attitudes, intentions and behavior have generated considerable interest, both in the fields of environmental behavior and of environmental education. We use the 2010 General Social Survey (GSS) to study these associations and expand the scope of earlier studies by including additional measures across social demographic, social psychological and behavioral blocks. The findings highlight the relationships between social psychological constructs and environmental concern and behavior, as well as the relationships between social demographic characteristics and environmental values and beliefs. The findings from this study will be useful to environmental educators and communicators interested in studying the social psychological and social demographic bases of environmental concern and behavior.
63 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the motivation and antecedents of motivation (autonomy, relatedness, competence) of environmentally active people and found that the more participants judged that their needs for autonomy and relatedness were met in relation to performing PEB, the more self-determined their motivation.
Abstract: To identify pathways to lower environmental impacts, this research examined the motivation and antecedents of motivation (autonomy, relatedness, competence), of environmentally active people. Previous research suggests that people with more self-determined motivation for pro-environmental behavior (PEB) should carry out more PEBs, and have lower environmental impacts, than people whose motivation is more externally regulated. Path analysis in Sample 1 (N = 261) confirmed that self-determined motivation was positively related to both easy and difficult PEB. The more participants judged that their needs for autonomy and relatedness were met in relation to performing PEB, the more self-determined their motivation. Higher perceived relatedness was also directly related to reporting more engagement in difficult PEB. Perceived competence was not related to self-determined motivation or PEB. The pattern of results was largely supported when re-tested with a sample (N = 320) who completed a ‘carbon footprint’ mea...
62 citations
TL;DR: The authors focus on the substance and significance of teachers' conceptions of anthropocentrism and related constructs to curriculum, drawing on a range of theoretically-and empirically-based insights.
Abstract: Analyses of attempts to prevent the worsening of environmental problems on Earth often identify two key lines of critique about contemporary school curriculum: first, its role in entrenching anthropocentrism as the dominant paradigm for people-environment relations, and then, also compounding this, their combined role in furthering a loss of connection with nature. However, those who advance such critiques do not always acknowledge that teachers perceive and enact curriculum in a variety of ways, including resisting these possible outcomes or rejecting such conceptions, be that in relation to schooling in general, or environmental sustainability as a particular focus for curriculum policy and activities. In light of this, our paper focuses on the substance and significance of teachers’ conceptions of anthropocentrism and related constructs to curriculum, drawing on a range of theoretically- and empirically-based insights. First, we consider the literatures of environmental ethics and eco-philosophy to exa...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore what thinking with a philosophy of "becoming" might produce in terms of conceptualising Learning for Sustainability (LfS), a recent development in Scottish educational policy.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore what thinking with a philosophy of ‘becoming’ might produce in terms of conceptualising Learning for Sustainability (LfS), a recent development in Scottish educational policy. The paper posits that animism and the immanent materiality of a philosophy of becoming have important ramifications for contemporary approaches to sustainability education. ‘Becoming’ is described and its relationship to prevailing ‘systemic’ approaches to sustainability education explained. LfS is then described and conceptualised with a philosophy of becoming by examining its implications for Education for Global Citizenship and Outdoor Learning. The concepts of communication as expression; the subject undone (as haecceity); the distinction of ‘nature’ as ‘other’; and the centrality of a storied world are discussed as important elements of LfS becoming. Lastly, teaching materials and interviews with two initial teacher educators help create a rhizomatic assemblage of teacher education practice and LfS as becoming. This assemblage creates lines of flight for considering practice, including making explicit the expressivity of communication in course descriptor/teaching/learning relationships; highlighting the place/becoming assemblages of ‘indoor’ and ‘outdoor’ learning environments; and storying the world with learners through haecceity description/experimentation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the premise that environmental education involves raising environmental consciousness rather than simply knowing about the environment in a technical-rational manner and acting for it in mechanistic prescribed ways.
Abstract: This paper explores the premise that environmental education involves raising environmental consciousness rather than simply knowing about the environment in a technical-rational manner and acting for it in mechanistic prescribed ways. The paper draws on educational theory and data from a phenomenological case study of educators working together at an outdoor education centre in urban Canada, whose practice of environmental education we believe can best be described as environmental consciousness raising. Based on our study’s findings, we suggest that raising environmental consciousness involves connecting people to their environment, fostering care for the environment, and building agency for the environment. Educating for environmental consciousness also requires providing people with deeply engaging experiences that afford authenticity, multidimensionality and serendipity. Our study shows how these features can work to raise environmental consciousness, by creating epiphanies or moments when sudden exp...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the life trajectories of 17 youth climate activists from 14 countries through semi-structured, life memory interviews using Internet-based methods, focusing on the ways in which participants constructed the meanings and functions of experiences and how they represented the nature of the process of their committing to climate activism.
Abstract: This article draws from a study investigating the life trajectories of 17 youth climate activists from 14 countries through semi-structured, life memory interviews using Internet-based methods. The interpretations of the interviews focus on the ways in which participants constructed the meanings and functions of experiences and how they represented the nature of the process of their committing to climate activism. Included in the interpretations are the nature of moments of consciously committing, the role of both concern for nature and for social justice, the dynamic and ceaseless process of committing, and the role of the youth climate movement. The discussion highlights the uniqueness of youth and of climate change in the process of committing. The research contributes to the limited but important literature on the life trajectories of youth climate activists.
TL;DR: The Brundtland report as mentioned in this paper addresses the ethical principles of intragenerational and intergenerational equity as fundamental pillars of sustainable development, and questions whether the benefits of sustainability development should be meant for humans only and whether concern for environmental sustainability should be limited to the environment's ability to accommodate social and economic equity.
Abstract: Commonly conceived, sustainable development is concerned with social and economic equity and maintenance of ecological stability for future generations. The Brundtland Report addresses the ethical principles of intragenerational and intergenerational equity as fundamental pillars of sustainable development. This equity is often defined in economic terms, involving fair distribution of natural resources, and in practice dependent on the workings of a neoliberal market economy. Simultaneously, it is assumed that democratic learning enables students to be critically rational and ethical agents able to make informed choices in regard to sustainability challenges. This article questions whether the benefits of sustainable development should be meant for humans only, and whether concern for environmental sustainability should be limited to the environment’s ability to accommodate social and economic equity. It is argued that the dominant form of pluralism employed within education is essentially anthropocentric...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined Taiwanese university students' marine environmental awareness, focusing on environmental attitudes, understanding of marine and coastal issues, and environmental behavior, and a total of 825 valid samples in a questionnaire survey were used for the analysis.
Abstract: University students are regarded as future decision-makers in society and have a high likelihood of becoming opinion-shapers in terms of the environment. Their awareness of the marine environment will therefore have a significant effect upon sustainable marine development. This study examines Taiwanese university students’ marine environmental awareness, focusing on environmental attitudes, understanding of marine and coastal issues, and environmental behavior. A total of 825 valid samples in a questionnaire survey are used for the analysis. Overall, respondents possess a highly positive attitude towards the marine environment and a moderate self-reported level of marine knowledge, but are not actively engaged in environmental protection endeavors, particularly ones involving spending personal income and taking legal or political action. Experience in marine-related activities and marine knowledge are important in fostering marine environmental awareness, particularly in regard to environmental behavior. ...
TL;DR: The authors studied seven programs that engage youth from 10 to 18 years old in wildfire risk reduction in their communities in the United States through in-depth interviews to examine the nature and role of community-school partnerships in resource-focused environmental education.
Abstract: We studied seven programs that engage youth from 10 to 18 years old in wildfire risk reduction in their communities in the United States through in-depth interviews to examine the nature and role of community-school partnerships in resource-focused environmental education. While the programs use a variety of strategies, from Scout badge to summer school, they exhibit several common dimensions: they all engage youth in community projects; they all arise from partnerships between resource agencies, community organizations, and educators; they all began when people familiar with both wildfire and youth education saw an opportunity to improve the community and educate youth through action; and all partners are able to contribute to the common program yet retain their individual identity as they meet their own mission-based goals. We use themes and quotes to illustrate these common dimensions for establishing community-school partnerships that could build action competence through environment-based education p...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the democratic paradox in environmental and sustainability education by drawing on Bruno Latour's conceptual distinction between "matters of fact" and " matters of concern" and the notion of attachments that goes with it.
Abstract: In this article, we address the democratic paradox in environmental and sustainability education (ESE) by drawing on Bruno Latour’s conceptual distinction between ‘matters of fact’ and ‘matters of concern’ and the notion of attachments that goes with it. We present an analysis of three cases (nature excursions, workshops that promote ecological behavioural change and making documentary films) focusing on how diverse educational practices deal with sustainability issues as matters of fact, matters of value and/or matters of concern. We examine how these Latourian concepts incite an analysis of educational practices that enriches the discussion about the democratic paradox in ESE. This finally brings us to point out how a concern-oriented ESE might take shape.
TL;DR: This paper used systemic functional analysis to study the language of the chapters related to climate change in four sixth grade science textbooks adopted in the state of California and found that these textbooks framed climate change as uncertain in the scientific community, both about whether it is occurring as well as about its human-causation.
Abstract: Middle school students are learning about climate change in large part through textbooks used in their classes. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how the language employed in these materials frames this topic. To this end, we used systemic functional analysis to study the language of the chapters related to climate change in four sixth grade science textbooks adopted in the state of California. The linguistic variables investigated were: types of nominal groups; processes; circumstances; and the modality system. Our findings showed that these textbooks framed climate change as uncertain in the scientific community – both about whether it is occurring as well as about its human-causation. The implications for science education are discussed in relation to how the current political and public discourses of climate change, rather than the scientific discourse, is influencing how textbooks discuss this topic.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an environmental identity development model, which considers the progression of young children's self-cognitions in relation to the natural world, and argue that cognitions of comfort in the environment vs. discomfort, provide the foundation for healthy environmental identity.
Abstract: This article presents an Environmental Identity Development model, which considers the progression of young children’s self-cognitions in relation to the natural world. We recontextualize four of Erikson’s psychosocial stages, in order to consider children’s identity development in learning in, about, and for the environment. Beginning with Trust in Nature vs. Mistrust in Nature, we argue that cognitions of comfort in the natural world vs. discomfort, provide the foundation for healthy environmental identity development. This trusting bond/relationship with nature allows children to gain Spatial Autonomy through collectively or independently creating their own sense of place in nature vs. feelings of doubt or Environmental Shame. As children progress, they gain Environmental Competencies, creative innovations to use the environment for both personal and social purposes vs. separation from nature or Environmental Disdain. Such competencies promote children’s agency in exercising Environmental Action, appli...
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found that viewing animal portraiture improved feelings of kinship with animals and enhanced perceptions of animal behavior, and that viewing animals in art and literature improved emotional responses to animals.
Abstract: Visual depictions of animals can alter human perceptions of, emotional responses to, and attitudes toward animals. Our study addressed the potential of a slideshow designed to activate emotional responses to animals to foster feelings of kinship with them. The personal meaning map measured changes in perceptions of animals. The participants were 51 students enrolled at a pre-university college in Montreal, Quebec. Major conceptual themes were developed based on students’ responses on the PMM both pre- and post-slideshow. Ninety-two percent changed their perceptions of ‘Animal’ after viewing the slideshow. Pre-slideshow perceptions of ‘Animal’ were described primarily as Pets/Symbols, Biological/Wild Nature, Commodity/Resource, and Dangerous. After the show, the perceptions shifted to Kinship and Sentience/Individuality, with substantial increases in the depth and emotion associated with responses. Thus, viewing animal portraiture improved feelings of kinship with animals and enhanced perceptions of animal...
TL;DR: In this paper, the over-arching aim of the study was to elucidate and interpret topics that are relevant to how we understand children's experiences and creation of meaning in natural landscapes and places within these landscapes.
Abstract: The over-arching aim of this study was to elucidate and interpret topics that are relevant to how we understand children’s experiences and creation of meaning in natural landscapes and places within these landscapes. Following two nature-kindergarten groups regularly over ten months, the data for this ethnographic study consist of constructed narratives and narrative maps. Key topics relate to children’s multi-sensory experiences and the development of environmental consciousness, and their ‘sense of wonder’ as a driving force for exploration, interpretation and creation of meaning. Implications of the study for discourses of environmental education in the early years and local practices of taking children into nature are also discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship of three types of interactions in an urban environmental education online course, i.e., participant-participant, participant-instructor, and participant-content, to four course outcomes: participants' motivation to learn, intent to adapt ideas and information learned through the course in their practice, actual adaptation of ideas in their work, and development of professional networks.
Abstract: Online courses play an increasing role in professional development of environmental educators, yet little information is available on the interactive processes involved in online learning. We examined the relationship of three types of interactions in an urban environmental education online course – participant–participant, participant–instructor, and participant–content – to four course outcomes: participants’ motivation to learn, intent to adapt ideas and information learned through the course in their practice, actual adaptation of ideas in their practice, and development of professional networks. Content analysis was used to characterize participants’ and instructors’ weekly online posts and comments, and generalized estimation equation modeling was used to explore the relationships between interactions and outcomes. The results showed that participant–content interaction had significant positive relationships with participants’ motivation to learn, intent to adapt ideas, and adaptation of ideas. Part...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore empirically an alternative set of logics in order to conceive of this process of globalisation, and investigate articulations of ESD and sustainable development in Vietnamese and Thai policy-making, and reflect upon how these articulations can be seen to relate to globalisation.
Abstract: The article explores education for sustainable development (ESD) as a policy concept in different spaces and how it is re-articulated as part of a process of globalisation. The objective is to explore empirically an alternative set of logics in order to conceive of this process of globalisation. With this objective in mind, the article investigates articulations of ESD and sustainable development in Vietnamese and Thai policy-making, and reflects upon how these articulations can be seen to relate to globalisation. In so doing, it addresses concerns about the globalising potential of ESD within the field of environmental education research, and aims to open up for an alternative understanding of the processes associated with the rearticulation of ESD in different national education policy settings. The alternative conception that is put forward promotes an understanding of these re-articulations of ESD as contingent, opening up a space for contestation and counter-hegemonic articulations.
TL;DR: The authors investigate how six teachers with experience of international professional development reflect on and incorporate global sustainability issues in their teaching and conclude that these teachers' experiences can help us to understand this work and how it can be developed.
Abstract: Over the last 20 years, international organisations and national governments have stressed the need for education policies to be (re)oriented towards social change, sustainability and preparing students for life in a global society. This area of pedagogy is not problem free. When policy is turned into practice teachers need to take a number of factors into account, especially when global sustainability issues are complex. In this article I investigate how six teachers with experience of international professional development reflect on and incorporate global sustainability issues in their teaching. These teachers articulated different ways of utilising the curriculum and enacting pedagogies relating to colonialism and complex global issues. The conclusion is that these teachers’ experiences can help us to understand this work and how it can be developed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the influence of ResourceSmart Schools, a sustainable schools program in Victoria, Australia, and illustrate and reflect upon their approach to conceptualising, investigating and generating evidence about the program's impacts and influence in participating schools.
Abstract: This paper focuses on our experience of researching the influence of ResourceSmart Schools, a sustainable schools programme in Victoria, Australia. Drawing on ideas from programme theory and realist synthesis, we illustrate and reflect upon our approach to conceptualising, investigating and generating evidence about the programme’s impacts and influence in participating schools. This distinction is deliberate: it helps distinguish between efforts to understand the impacts that a programme has within schools (programme impact), and efforts to understand what it is about a programme that is influential in bringing about those impacts (programme influence). Drawing on evidence from our work in this project and the wider literature, we argue for a more nuanced discussion and more sophisticated investigations into the complexities of programme influence, rather than impacts only. Our conclusions suggest key areas of development for our own work, the provision of environmental and sustainability education, and ...
TL;DR: A Virtual Special Issue (VSI) focusing on studies of environmental and sustainability education (ESE) policy has been published in the journal Environmental Education Research (http://explore.tandfonline.com/content/ed/ceer-vsi).
Abstract: Environmental Education Research has developed a Virtual Special Issue (VSI) (http://explore.tandfonline.com/content/ed/ceer-vsi) focusing on studies of environmental and sustainability education (ESE) policy. The VSI draws on key examples of research on this topic published in the Journal from the past two decades, for three reasons. First, to provide readers with a series of snapshots into the genealogy of ESE policy research in this field. Second, to encourage renewed attention to previously published work. And third, to offer commentary on the evolution of research trends, approaches and findings.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the social-psychological determinants of climate change risk perceptions, intentions and behaviours using a longitudinal UK national survey (N = 808, wave 1) and N = 501, wave 2).
Abstract: Although human-caused climate change is one of the greatest societal challenges of the 21st century, insights from social and environmental psychology remain underrepresented in the mitigation debate. This is surprising given that the collective potential for reducing national carbon emissions through changes in individual lifestyles and behaviours has clearly been demonstrated. Accordingly, this PhD thesis aims to provide a more systematic and detailed understanding of individual mitigation behaviour. It does so specifically by examining the social-psychological determinants of climate change risk perceptions, intentions and behaviours using a longitudinal UK national survey (N = 808, wave 1) and (N = 501, wave 2).
In total, three separate analyses were conducted using the national survey data. In the first analysis (chapter 4), a social-psychological model of climate change risk perceptions is advanced. The model proposes that public risk perceptions of climate change are influenced by three key psychological dimensions, namely; (i) cognitive, (ii) experiential and (iii) socio-cultural factors. Results confirm the model’s validity and show that nearly 70% of the
variance in risk perception can be explained by the model’s components. Main findings also provide empirical support for a distinction between personal and societal risk judgements and highlight important differences in their psychological antecedents. The second analysis(chapter 5) specifically investigates the interrelation between personal experience with extreme weather, affect and risk perception and situates their conceptual relationship within the cognition-emotion debate. Results provide strong support for a dual-process model, where risk perception and affect mutually influence each other in a stable feedback system.
In the third analysis (chapter 6), a domain-context-behaviour (DCB) model is advanced. The purpose of the model is to causally conceptualize and systematically organize the social-psychological determinants of climate change mitigation behaviours. A key aspect of the DCB model is the notion that environmental values (i.e. the “domain”) and climate change cognitions, norms and emotions (i.e. the “context”) do not influence specific mitigation intentions and behaviours (e.g. energy conservation) directly. Rather, they influence a broad and general orienting intention to help reduce climate change. This general intention in turn
activates and predicts specific mitigation intentions directly as well as indirectly via behaviour-specific determinants. Important differences emerge between high-impact and low-impact behavioural changes. Overall, results from this thesis have important implications for public policy, risk communication and behavioural change interventions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between environmental knowledge (EK) and behavioural outcomes of students studying ecotourism in Sydney, Australia, and three competing models were tested to examine the relationships between EK, participation intention (PI), landscape likeability (LL) and social interactions (SI).
Abstract: Our study examines the environmental knowledge (EK) and behavioural outcomes of students studying ecotourism in Sydney, Australia. Three competing models were tested to examine the relationships between EK, participation intention (PI) in ecotourism programs, landscape likeability (LL) and social interactions (SI); and the study also tested the moderated mediation influence of gender differences and relationship length on mediators. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the data collected from 173 residential tourism students. Key findings suggest whilst LL and PI are significant outcomes of EK, LL has a stronger mediating effect on PI compared to SI; and all mediation effects are further moderated by gender differences. However, only Model 3 confirms the moderating effect of the length of relationship. Noting the key role that EK plays in influencing their PI and LL, our study also suggests ways of developing the tourism students’ EK, through various expe...
TL;DR: In this paper, a theoretical framework for sustainable education and academic development (SEAD framework) was constructed based on an analysis of the literature in the areas of sustainability education, academic development and organisational change in higher education.
Abstract: Academic development is one means of reorientating education within higher education (HE) to include sustainability principles. This paper identifies the requirements of academic development programmes that will provide educators with the skills to engage students in the ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. In order to determine what an ideal academic development programme for sustainability education might look like, a theoretical framework for sustainable education and academic development (SEAD framework) was constructed. This was based on an analysis of the literature in the areas of sustainability education, academic development and organisational change in HE. The aim of this paper was to present and analyse the theoretical SEAD framework against three international academic development programmes in sustainability education for HE, which utilised different approaches and delivery modes. From this analysis, it is possible to determine the elements of academic development that would m...