Environmental education

About: Environmental education is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 14551 publications have been published within this topic receiving 211056 citations. The topic is also known as: environmental learning.

Wilderness-Related Environmental Outcomes of Adventure and Ecology Education Programming.

Abstract: The similarities and differences between adventure and ecology education programming are explained with respect to participants' wilderness knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behavior. A longitudinal study was conducted to compare an outdoor adventure program (Outward Bound) with a field ecology program (Audubon). A model of reasoned wilderness behavior was developed on the basis of the foundational work of Fishbein and Ajzen. The model suggests that behavior in (recreational) and for (environmental) wilderness depends on the interaction of a number of predisposing factors and on the development of relevant beliefs, attitudes, and intentions. The study findings provided support for the proposed model.

Toward Constructivist Research in Environmental Education

Abstract: A review of environmental education literature reveals a paucity of constructivist-based research. To support the case for this approach, the author reviews theoretical aspects of science education research of this type. It first situates different approaches to educational research in relation to different epistemologies and then reviews constructs used in constructivist science education research. Issues associated with the adoption of this epistemology—topics deemed worthy of research, importance given to the learner's pre-instructional knowledge, and perspectives on learning and understanding—are considered. The article concludes with proposals for constructivist research in environmental education across the educational commonplaces.

A National Investigation of Teachers’ Environmental Literacy as a Reference for Promoting Environmental Education in Taiwan

Abstract: Taiwan's government enacted the Environmental Education Act in June 2011. In the beginning of the implementation of the Act, a national assessment of schoolteachers’ environmental literacy was performed in order to establish the baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental education policy. This large-scale assessment involved a large sample size of in-service teachers across schools at all levels and regions in Taiwan using the stratified random sampling method. Data showed that the teachers have satisfactory levels of environmental knowledge and attitudes, but presented low degrees of environmental action. Differing from previous research results, elementary teachers performed better than high school teachers on this assessment, which may be attributed to their teacher training experiences. Results from this study may provide implications for teacher professional development programs and school environmental education policy.

Investigating elementary school students' technology acceptance by applying digital game-based learning to environmental education

Abstract: In order to improve and promote students' environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour, integrating environmental education into the primary education curriculum has become a key issue for environmental education. For this reason, this study aimed to investigate elementary school students' acceptance of technology applying digital game-based learning (DGBL) to environmental education. A total of 32 fourth graders in an elementary school participated in a seven-week DGBL teaching experiment. After the experimental teaching session, a survey concerning "perceived ease of use", "perceived usefulness", and "user intentions" was conducted. The results show that the DGBL system is suitable for both genders at all levels of experience. In addition, the 4th grade students' "perceived ease of use", "perceived usefulness", "attitudes toward use", and "intention to use" reveal a high degree of positive and significant correlations. Furthermore, a path analysis verifies that DGBL acceptance will be directly influenced by a learner's "attitude toward use" and "perceived usefulness." Finally, when designing DGBL for 4th graders, the rich learning content and ease of use should be taken into account because they significantly contribute to a learner's intention to use the system, which may result in greater learning effectiveness.