Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Glenn M. Hudak; submitted to the School of Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-197).

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education)) - Rhodes University, 2007.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2009. / Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Natural Resources (Environmental Education & Interpretation), College of Natural Resources. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-84).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 227-265).

<p> It is important that students understand not only how their local watershed functions, but also how it is being impacted by impervious surfaces. Additionally, students need experience exploring the scientific and engineering practices that are necessary for a strong STEM background. With this knowledge students can be empowered to tackle this real and local problem using engineering design, a powerful practice gaining momentum and clarity through its prominence in the recent <i>Framework for K-12 Science Education.</i> Twenty classes of suburban sixth-graders participated in a new five-week Watershed Engineering Design Unit taught by their regular science teachers. Students engaged in scientific inquiry to learn about the structure, function, and health of their local watersheds, focusing on the effects of impervious surfaces. In small groups, students used the engineering design process to propose solutions to lessen the impact of runoff from their school campuses. The goal of this evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum in terms of student gains in understanding of (1) watershed function, (2) the impact of impervious surfaces, and (3) the engineering design process. To determine the impact of this curriculum on their learning, students took multiple-choice pre- and post-assessments made up of items covering the three categories above. This data was analyzed for statistical significance using a lower-tailed paired sample <i>t</i>-test. All three objectives showed statistically significant learning gains and the results were used to recommend improvements to the curriculum and the assessment instrument for future iterations.</p>

<p> Addressing current environmental, economic, and social challenges requires a transformation in thinking. Education, if reoriented toward sustainability, has the potential to promote environmentally responsible behavior and advance society toward environmental, economic, and social well-being. Teachers have an important role in this shift in education, both as models of environmental sensitivity and as agents of change. Beginning and experienced teachers alike struggle to adapt to a model of education that allows young people to build the experience and skills necessary to address the sustainable development goals outlined by the United Nations. </p><p> This mixed-methods case study presents practices from whole-school sustainability programs in four U.S. K-12 institutions, with the purpose of providing resources and examples for further development of K-12 whole-school sustainability programs. Based on results from 35 interviews, four classroom observations, and four campus tours, I provide other school administrations and staff with institution-appropriate pathways towards implementing and refining their own whole-school sustainability education programs.</p><p>

This study probes the ethics-oriented reflexive deliberations of three novice environmental education practitioners in South Africa. Two of the cases examined work in a local government context, and the third in an environmental non-governmental organisation context. All three practitioners are studying a one-year professional development course in environmental education. The research asks how their ethical deliberations ‘come to be what they are’, at the interface of their workplace and course-based learning processes. Working within a relational, social realist ontology, the study takes a sociocultural-historical approach to learning, development and social change. Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) provides theoretical tools and a descriptive language to approach the rich, qualitative data derived from workplace and course observations, extensive interviews, and document review. Critical discourse analysis was used as a secondary analytical tool to probe ethical and environmental discourses that were found to be influential in the course and workplace activity systems. Data from the three case studies was analysed in stages. In the first stage, CHAT provided a theoretical perspective and language of description to analyse the interacting activity systems in which each learner-practitioner’s ethics-oriented reflexive deliberations occurred. This provided a platform for the second stage of analysis which was framed by Margaret Archer’s (1995) social realist theory of morphogenesis/ morphostasis, followed by a summative retroductive analysis, to give an account of the interplay of historically-emergent social and cultural structures and individual reflexivity in relation to the ethical dimensions of environmental education practice. The study traces how ethics-oriented reflexive deliberations occur at the untidy, unpredictable intersection of workplace, course and personal contexts, and are strongest when they are situated in authentic contexts that resonate with learner-practitioners’ ‘ultimate concerns’ (after Archer, 2003; 2007). In this study, the learner-practitioners’ ‘ultimate concerns’ included family, personal well-being, social justice, cultural identity and religious commitments. The scope and depth of learner-practitioners’ social-ecological knowledge was also identified as a key factor influencing ethics-oriented reflexive deliberations, although the mediation of such knowledge can be hindered by language and conceptual ii barriers, amongst others. The study also noted how ethical positions circulating in the workplace, course and personal contexts were diverse, uneven and dynamic. Some ethical positions were found to be more explicitly differentiated than others, either resonating with or being overlooked by the learner-practitioners as they deliberated the ethical dimensions of their environmental education practice. In situations where there was limited depth, conceptual clarity and/ or confidence to engage directly with ethical concerns, there was a tendency towards (inadvertent) ethical relativism. Insights derived from the study suggest that these factors have limiting effects on the ethics-oriented reflexive deliberations of novice environmental educators. These insights point to the need for ethical deliberations to be re-personalised in context and underpinned by depth knowledge. A relational and pragmatic approach to environmental ethics (that recognises the validity of judgemental rationality – which can be fallible – and which seeks out practical adequacy) is put forward as appropriate and potentially generative in environmental education and training processes. This would need to be supported by careful attention to the influence of environmental discourses and practices in shaping ethical deliberations, and may also be helpful in developing a much-needed accessible, everyday language of ethical engagement. This study’s contribution to new knowledge in the field of environmental education is through its account of ethics-oriented reflexive deliberations emerging (in the Archerian morphogenetic sense) in complex, indeterminate ways at the interface of sociocultural and social-ecological contexts. The ethics-oriented reflexive deliberations of novice environmental educators occur in relation to their ‘ultimate concerns’ and are advanced or hindered by the historically-emergent practices, discourses and material realities of their workplace, personal and educational contexts. These insights require that the complex interplay of intersecting contexts and concerns that shape ethics-oriented reflexive deliberations be acknowledged and carefully mediated in both workplace-based and coursebased professional development processes.

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model which could be used to interpret and assist teaching in an environmentally directed way. Its principal aim was to establish the extent to which elements from a variety of paradigms and teaching methods could be used simultaneously when teaching in an environmentally directed way, depending on the topic and the context within which is taught. An in-depth literature review on theoretical perspectives on environmental education, paradigms relating to environmental education and teaching methods appropriate for environmental education indicated that these partially addressed the problem of the study, namely to determine how elements from a variety of paradigms and teaching methods could be used simultaneously to teach in an environmentally directed way.The theory developed from the literature review facilitated the development of the model mentioned above. An amoeba was used as a metaphor to develop a model which can help facilitate the process of teaching in an environmentally directed way. In developing the model, some examples of influential paradigms and teaching methods were used. None of the examples used for the study converged. Each contributed to the research in its own way. Some teaching methods showed common features of conversion and also addressed the problem of the study in their own ways. The amoeba model was developed from this theory. Qualitative research was further conducted to test the amoeba model. People who are knowledgeable in environmental education were selected to participate in the research. It emerged, from the findings of the research, that the amoeba model concurs positively with the hypothesis that no specific paradigm and teaching method(s) could be regarded as exclusively ideal for teaching in an environmentally directed way. Elements from a variety of paradigms and teaching methods could be used simultaneously for teaching in an environmentally directed way, depending on the topic and the context within which a topic is taught. The amoeba model thus serves as a solution to the problem of the study. Respondents further suggested that the amoeba model should be adopted for use in the South African education system. That is, the thesis should be put in the form of a workbook and teachers should be trained to teach in an environmentally directed way by using this model. / Educational Studies / D.Ed.(Didactics)

This study investigated the recontextualising of the NISTCOL environmental education curriculum module for the Primary Teachers’ Diploma by Distance Learning (PTDDL) in Zambia. It focused on three case sites, the NISTCOL EE curriculum module for PTDDL and the University of Zambia, the National In-Service Teacher’s College (NISTCOL) and four basic schools: chalimbana, Bimbe, Chongwe and Silver Rest. The study looked at teacher professional development in environmental education in Zambia. The aims and goals were to investigate the NISTCOL EE curriculum and identifying issues that were associated with lecturers in the recontextualising process and further examine what issues were associated with curriculum recontextualisation in Zambian schools. For the conceptual constructs, the research drew on Bernstein’s (1990) framework of pedagogic discourse, it traced how the pedagogic discourse was de-located from the field of production and re-located into the pedagogic practice of each stated case above. It further examined the continuities, discontinuities and changes in the official environmental discourse as it was recontextualised. The study particularly focused on Bernstein’s conceptual constructs of selective appropriation and ideological transformation. In each case the Bernstein framework is used to analyze the process to identify recontextualising issues influencing pedagogical practice in the Zambian schools and college. The study revealed that each case under focus was unique but through examining the environmental discourse and pedagogical discourse in each case recontextalising issues were identified. Each case was influenced by different factors, such as lack of policy synergy, lack of EE vision at national level in Zambia, experience and knowledge, ideologies and emphasis, and depth of engagement. These factors provided me with a deeper insight into the curriculum recontextualising processes in Zambian schools.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-09-01Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:31:01Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_al_me_rcla.pdf: 681752 bytes, checksum: 36fa4784320909a9bf73cee67a294bf9 (MD5) / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo caracterizar a temática ambiental presente no currículo proposto pela Secretaria Estadual de Educação do Estado de São Paulo para a modalidade de Ensino Fundamental (Ciclo II) na rede de ensino oficial a partir de 2008, analisando a educação ambiental que ela permite contemplar. A investigação, uma análise documental, realizou-se através da metodologia de pesquisa qualitativa, tendo sido escolhida a análise de conteúdo (BARDIN, 2009) para a apreciação do conjunto das documentos, quais sejam, o “Caderno do Professor” de todas as disciplinas que compõem o Ciclo II (5ª a 8ª séries) na rede paulista. Nosso olhar apóia-se nas três dimensões apontadas por Carvalho (1999, 2006) como fundamentais para se trabalhar com EA: os conhecimentos, os valores éticos e estéticos e a participação política do indivíduo, bem como na opção pela EA crítica como capaz de formar/transformar os indivíduos. Consideramos, ainda, como fundamental para este trabalho as reflexões de Amaral (2004, 2010) acerca do currículo escolar e da EA realizada na educação formal. Para a apreciação do material foram definidas três categorias de classificação da temática ambiental nele presente: sociedade e natureza, sociedade e natureza/problemas ambientais e natureza (sem foco na ação humana). Através da pesquisa verificamos a possibilidade de acontecer uma EA escolar com base nesse currículo, uma vez que temas ambientais estão presentes em todas as séries. Consideramos ainda enquanto um aspecto positivo, a abordagem da crise ambiental e a presença da temática ambiental em disciplinas “não tradicionais” em tal prática, como matemática e língua portuguesa. No entanto, foi verificado no currículo analisado uma grande ênfase na transmissão de conhecimentos e nos aspectos naturais do ambiente... / The objective of this research is to characterize the environment issue present in the 2008 proposed curriculum by the State Board of Education – Secretaria Estadual de Educação – of the State of São Paulo to the official Fundamental School – Cycle II- analyzing Environment Education and its implication in the individual development. The investigation considered here as a documentary analysis, was carried out through the qualitative research methodology, having been chosen content analysis (Bardin, 2009) for assessment of all documents of the Caderno do Professor – The teacher‟s notebook – which includes all disciplines of Cycle II (5th up to 8th grade) in São Paulo State School. Our view is supported by the three dimensions highlighted by Carvalho (1999, 2006) as fundamental to work with Environmental Education: knowledge, ethical and aesthetical values, and the political participation of the individual; moreover the critical option was also taken into account as capable of build/transform the individual. This work is also based in the thoughts of Amaral (2004, 2010) about school curriculum and environmental education within formal education. In order to assess the material three classification categories were defined: society and nature, society and nature/environment problems and nature (no focus in human action). The research showed the possibility of learning about environment education in all levels from 5th throughout 8th grade since environment aspects are present in all grades. It was considered as a positive aspect the involvement in approaching the environment crisis as well as the environment issue in „non-traditional‟ disciplines such as Mathematics and Portuguese Language. However, it was verified a great knowledge transmission of environment issue where human being is presented as... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)