No description available.

This study begins with a discussion of environmental education. Various definitions, aims objectives and guiding principles for effective environmental education are included. The term environmental literacy is introduced with its. defmitions and three levels of environmental literacy (nominal, functional and operational). The study also provides an overview of the definitions, aims, principles and goals of sustainable development. The relationship between environmental education, environmental literacy, environmentally responsible behaviour, and education for sustainability is outlined. It appears that many teachers are not well informed about environmental concerns. Therefore, in this study an attempt is made .to develop and standardize an instrument to measure the level of environmental literacy of teachers, from both primary and high schools. Ten concepts related to environmental literacy were developed. A questionnaire was developed using these identified concepts. Content validity was established before the questionnaire was presented to the teachers. An item analysis was carried out for each aspect of environmental literacy as well as for the questionnaire as a whole. It was determined that the questionnaire could be considered as both a reliable and valid instrument to measure the level of environmental literacy of teachers. An important fmding from this study is that there is a significant difference between environmental literacy of teachers who received training in environmental education and teachers who did not receive any training in environmental education. It was also found that there is a significant difference between environmental literacy of teachers teaching in the different learning areas. The instrument developed for this study can be used as a baseline to improve the pre-service and in-service training of teachers in environmental education. The study concludes with recommendations for teacher education and empowerment of local communities through environmental education. Possible further research is also highlighted. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: James E. Swasey, Dept. of Plant & Soil Sciences. Includes bibliographical references.

The United Nations General Assembly declared the period from 2005 to 2014 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The reason for the decade is a growing concern for future generations and their ability to deal with the very real and adverse consequences of decades of environmentally unconscious decisions made by their predecessors. When curricula are not focused on sustainable development, what role do teachers have in educating students to make ecologically sound decisions? This qualitative study was composed of a series of semi-structured interviews with four teacher participants at both middle school and high school who all strove to teach about sustainable development in their classrooms. Six themes were identified: motivations, teaching style, teachers perceptions of the impact on students learning, modeling, spirituality, and challenges to teaching about sustainable development. The teacher participants perceptions on empowerment, action projects, student response, and assessment are also discussed.

The United Nations General Assembly declared the period from 2005 to 2014 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The reason for the decade is a growing concern for future generations and their ability to deal with the very real and adverse consequences of decades of environmentally unconscious decisions made by their predecessors. When curricula are not focused on sustainable development, what role do teachers have in educating students to make ecologically sound decisions? This qualitative study was composed of a series of semi-structured interviews with four teacher participants at both middle school and high school who all strove to teach about sustainable development in their classrooms. Six themes were identified: motivations, teaching style, teachers perceptions of the impact on students learning, modeling, spirituality, and challenges to teaching about sustainable development. The teacher participants perceptions on empowerment, action projects, student response, and assessment are also discussed.

NONE

none

Only a few decades ago, people spent considerably more time engaged in outdoor activities, fostering connections with the natural environment. Currently, many people regard themselves as separate from the natural world instead of maintaining a connection to the earth. Today‘s youth face a plethora of factors that discourage them from developing significant relationships with nature. This study was designed to determine which factors had significant impacts upon rural (n=50) and urban youths‘ (n=42) connectedness to nature. During this mixed methods research, respondents participated through an online survey that included 'Connectedness to Nature Scale' statements. Ten semi-structured interviews further explored youths' connectedness to nature. A comparison of the rural and urban findings suggests that rural youths have more opportunities to connect and develop more significant relationships with nature whereas urban youths may be slightly less connected to nature overall but have similar concerns for the environment.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Kent State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed March 31, 2010). Advisor: Linda Hoeptner Poling. Keywords: art education and nature; environmental art education; art; art education; outdoor art education; nature based art education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-118)