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.

This thesis reports on a study designed to investigate the nature of environmental education (EE) at one well-established school board operated outdoor education centre called Faraway Dale located in Ontario, Canada. The specific research questions that guided the study were: (a) What are the structures that characterize environmental education for educators at the outdoor education centre? (b) What are the main understandings of environment and education that guide outdoor educators work with environmental education? (c) What are the tensions and contradictions of providing environmental education through an outdoor centre? The primary data sources for this study were the nine outdoor educators who work at the facility. A variety of data collecting strategies were used, over a period of five months, to re-present their experiences of providing EE. Analysis of the data revealed that the nature of EE at the outdoor centre is significantly different from what occurs in mainstream, indoor settings. The overall goal for environmental education at the outdoor centre is to foster a culture that leads to healthy people and healthy environments by encouraging a more equitable interplay among people and nature. This overall goal can be divided into three structures that characterize EE at the centre. These are: connecting people to the environment, encouraging a care-based relational orientation towards the environment, and building agency for living low consumption low impact lifestyles. The findings also confirm that the nature of EE which educators espouse and practice is directly linked to their understandings of the terms ‘environment’ and ‘education’. The major tensions and contradictions of providing EE in an outdoor context are also illuminated. The discussion focuses on the implications of the findings for theory, practice and research in EE and the work of outdoor educators in the field.

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.

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Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 228 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-210).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-174).

The purpose of this study was (1) to describe the beliefs of environmentally-concerned community leaders regarding community needs for education about the environment, and (2) to describe the environmental education provided in the past, present, and planned for the future in Pima County, Arizona. Respondents believed that there were many environmental issues of importance to Pima County and that efforts to educate the community about these issues were inadequate. The issues considered most important tended to be those regarding environmental problems--air pollution, toxic substances, waste management. The most frequent topics of the environmental education provided by the respondents, however, tended to be those regarding natural resources--habitats, wildlife, water. Respondents believed in the need for an environmental education council and master plan. Most felt that lack of funding and absence of a master plan were major obstacles to providing adequate environmental education in the community.

This study focuses on reviewing Environmental Education (EE) research that has been conducted by M. Ed and PhD postgraduates from selected South African universities during the period 1995 to 2004. This period 1995-2004 has been characterized by transformation, restructuring, and change in different educational areas of South Africa. This research is premised on the notion that such transformation, restructuring and change may have had an impact on research. The research questions were on the focus, methodologies and, gaps and silences in postgraduate Environmental Education research during the period 1995 to 2004. The study was informed by Homer-Dixon‘s (1994) theory of Resource Capture and Ecological Marginalisation which claims that environmental problems that exist in South Africa today emanated from apartheid and other marginalisation policies. Firstly, the study has argued that knowledge produced through postgraduate research can be useful in addressing these problems if it includes issues in all the environmental dimensions, biophysical, social, economic and political, as understood by O‘Donoghue (1995). Secondly, it further argued that the methodologies that are used to research on these issues can be useful in addressing these problems if they involve the participation of affected people so that they are empowered with appropriate attitudes, skills and knowledge to deal with these. Thirdly, the study argued that unless new knowledge is produced that will address issues of marginalisation as were created by the past, environmental problems experienced in South Africa will persist. Because of its reliance on documents as the source of data, I describe the design of this study as unobtrusive documentary small scale study. Masters and PhD theses and dissertations that were produced at the University of Johannesburg and Rhodes University during the period 1995-2004 were reviewed, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study identified some gaps in the reviewed postgraduate Environmental Education research. For example, more focus on schooling issues resulted in the overlooking of problems that emanated from marginalisation in the contexts where the sampled institutions are located. Little was done to empower people with skills and knowledge that would be useful in addressing environmental problems. Keywords: Environmental Education research, Education for Sustainable Development, marginalisation, Transformation, / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.