This study included an environmental ethics syllabi research project, an environmental ethics curriculum development survey of all colleges in California, and the subsequent development of tables to compare the results. The curriculum development survey of California colleges includes a listing of all course descriptions of environmental ethics and related courses.

abstract: The purpose of this case study was to explore the barriers, or constraints, to the integration of field-based environmental education (EE) programs in K-8 public elementary schools in Phoenix, Arizona. Research continues to show that field based EE programs improve student outcomes (Bartosh, Tudor, Ferguson, & Taylor, 2006; Cole, 2007; James and Williams, 2017). Despite the empirical evidence, there appear to be obstacles to integrating field based EE into school curriculum. This study used Hierarchical Leisure Constraints Theory (HLCT) to identify and understand these constraints. There were 22 focus group participants and 13 interviewees from ten different schools and five school districts within the Phoenix area. Looking at the constraints identified by all participants, funding and the availability of transportation play a major role barring the use of field based EE programming. However, when applying HLCT, both of these barriers are structural in nature. This means these are constraints beyond the control of the individual but are negotiable. According to HLCT, you must first understand intrapersonal and interpersonal constraints and the effect they have on overcoming barriers. This study found that perception and prior knowledge emerged as the root of most constraints. In other words, while structural constraints are named as the primary issue in integrating field based EE in public schools, this study concludes from the findings that human nature and human values influence whether teachers and administrators participate in field based programming with their students. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Community Resources and Development 2019

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This dissertation investigates the links between lesson characteristics, student engagement, self-determination, and environmental literacy outcomes at a residential environmental education (EE) program. I developed a novel methodology using observations of 81 lessons at the study site to isolate the characteristics hypothesized to influence student engagement, self-determination, and outcomes of environmental literacy. Student surveys provided self-reported data on student engagement, selfdetermination, and environmental literacy. Mixed-methods analyses allowed me to explore these links within the 81 lessons observed in this case study. The results are organized into five chapters: an introduction chapter; three manuscripts planned for stand-alone publication (Chapters 2 - 4); and a conclusion chapter. Chapter 2 reports on the links between student engagement, self-determination, and environmental literacy. Chapter 3 provides insights on the links between the lesson characteristics (e.g., educator characteristics, teaching approaches, and schoolteacher/chaperone behaviors) and environmental literacy outcomes. Chapter 4 investigates the degree to which measures of student engagement, observed or self-reported, are associated with environmental literacy outcomes. Chapter 5 summarizes the findings from this study and presents additional analyses intended to fully synthesize the links between lesson characteristics, student engagement, self-determination, and environmental literacy. This study provides a novel methodology and survey items that may be of use to both practitioners and researchers. This research offers useful information about why and how EE works in this case and some of the specific characteristics and practices that engender positive environmental literacy outcomes. / Ph. D. / This dissertation investigates the links between lesson characteristics, student engagement, self-determination, and environmental literacy outcomes at a residential environmental education (EE) program. I developed a novel methodology using observations of 81 lessons delivered to diverse middle school students at the study site to isolate the characteristics hypothesized to most positively influence student engagement, self-determination, and outcomes of environmental literacy. Student surveys completed at the end of each lesson observed provided self-reported data on student engagement, self-determination, and outcomes of environmental literacy. I performed a variety of mixed-methods analyses to explore these links and have organized the results into five chapters: an introduction chapter; three manuscripts planned for stand-alone publication (Chapters 2 – 4); and a conclusion chapter. Chapter 2 provides details on the links between student engagement, self-determination, and environmental literacy. Chapter 3 provides insights on the influences of a myriad of lesson characteristics (e.g., educator characteristics, teaching approaches, and schoolteacher/chaperone behaviors) on student environmental literacy outcomes. Chapter 4 provides results on the degree to which student engagement, observed or self-reported, is positively associated with environmental literacy outcomes. Chapter 5 summarizes the findings from this study and presents additional analyses intended to fully synthesize the holistic links between lesson characteristics, student engagement, self-determination, and environmental literacy outcomes. This study provides a new novel methodology and survey items that may be of use to both practitioners and researchers, particularly those with time constraints in the field. This research offers useful information about why and how EE works at this study site and provides details on specific characteristics and practices that led to positive student environmental literacy outcomes.

This study sought to investigate teacher, learner and parental perceptions and understanding of a whole school approach in environmental education (EE). There were five schools piloting environmental education through a whole school development approach in the Oshana Region of Namibia. The study was conducted in two rural schools in the Oshana Region. The schools were selected because they participated and piloted the infusion of environmental education themes in the curriculum through the whole school approach during the Supporting Environmental Education in Namibia (SEEN) project piloting phase from 2001 to 2005. This study was shaped and informed by international theories, practices and perspectives of a whole school approach as cited in chapter two of this study. In other words a whole school approach has provided theoretical background information and a practical framework on which this study was built. A whole school approach provides a theoretical understanding of how the school community, the biophysical environment, as well as the curriculum can benefit from EE projects through a whole school development approach. The whole school approach, discussed in this study, provides an opportunity to see the link between the whole school approach and ESD in order to understand the role a whole school approach plays in the implementation of ESD in Namibia. The research took the form of an interpretive case study focusing on a study of two teachers, two learners, and two members of the community. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and site observations. This study was undertaken two years later after the Supporting Environmental Education Namibia (SEEN) pilot project phased out. The findings indicate that despite the training and support received by the schools during the operation of the Supporting Environmental Education Namibia (SEEN) pilot project, schools are still experiencing problems with the application of a whole school approach. The findings revealed that the curriculum should provide guidelines and examples to support teachers on how to integrate environmental education in the teaching and learning process. The results of the study indicate that teachers, learners and members of the community have a limited understanding about how a whole school development approach in environmental education is linked to Education Sustainable Development (ESD) and the four dimensions of the environment.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the three (3) extant Environmental Education Centres of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture (KZNDEC) as contributors to the environmental learning, and to education, in KwaZulu-Natal. In the process, it is an exploratory response as to how better the Centres can answer the call of the Reconstruction and Development Programme to "empower all communities to act on environmental issues" (African National Congress 1994:40). The research traces the history, the philosophical background and functions of environmental education, of environmental education centres, and of personnel employed at environmental educators, in the ex-Natal Education Department and in its successor, the KZNDEC. The researcher recommends that environmental education centres should become "agents of change" in the wider environment, and in the educational processes, of the communities of which they are a part. The study suggests methods by which people's lives at a "deep rural" level may be improved by helping restore the balance of "the three pillars of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental - and [in the process, having a positive] focus on poverty eradication" (WSSD 2002). The centres, the researcher contends, can become more effective agents of the KZNDEC for the protection of the environment "for the benefit of present and future generations" (Constitutional Assembly 1996:11). / Educational Studies / M.Ed.

The purpose of this study is to examine Tukish pre-service teachers perceptions about global versus local environmental issues and determine gender and major effect on their perceptions of global and local environmental issues. The information will be collected from Elementary Education pre-service teachers from Middle East Technical University. Their concerns and attitudes toward 9 global and 5 local environmental issues will be measured by using a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire has been adopted from the one originally used by Duan and Fortner (2005). The local issues were selected according to report about the major environmental problems declared by the Ministry of Environment and Foresty of Turkey and the global issues were kept same as the original questionnaire. The results of the study were analysed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that elementary education pre-service teachers mostly gave more importance to global environmental issues / females had higher attitudes and concerns about environmental issues than males and Early Childhood Education students have higher attitudes and concerns for environmental issues than students from departments of Elementary Science Education and Elementary Mathematics Education. In the stage of preparing environmental education courses as a must course for the faculty of education students in Turkey, the outcome of the study is expected to propose an insight for environmental education for the future teachers.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education