This study was conducted to investigate the effects of eco-school application on elementary school students&rsquo / environmental literacy levels. Besides, effects of the application on students&rsquo / views about environment were explored. The study was carried out during the spring semester of 2008&ndash / 2009 academic year. Data of the study were gathered from 316 students (grades six to eight) enrolled to two elementary schools. One of the schools was determined as experimental group (n = 156) and students attending this school received eco-school application. The other school was set as control group (n = 160) and students enrolled to this school received traditional school application. Environmental Literacy Questionnaire with four subscales / environmental knowledge, attitudes, uses and concerns, was used to determine students&rsquo / environmental literacy before and after the eco-school application. Also, students&rsquo / views about environment were clarified with a draw-and-explain task. At the end of the treatment, interviews were conducted with some eco-school students and teachers to determine their views about the application. The results revealed that there were significant differences between control and experimental groups of different grade levels in terms of the all subscales of Environmental Literacy Questionnaire in the favour of experimental group. Additionally, students&rsquo / pre- and post- drawings showed that elementary school students&rsquo / views about environment mainly focus on three major themes / clean, polluted and both clean and polluted environment. The Chi-Square analysis revealed that there were significant associations between treatment groups and their views about the environment.

This paper describes the creation and validation of a new educational construct. Socioecological literacy, or earth smarts, describes the qualities we need to justly maintain or improve our quality of life in a changing world. It was created using construct analysis techniques and systems tools, drawing on an extensive, transdisciplinary body of literature. Concepts related to environmental, ecological and scientific literacy, sustainability and citizenship were combined with educational frameworks, new research in science education, and modern cognitive psychology. After the initial formulation, the results were considered by a variety of experts and professionals from the fields of ecology, environmental science and education, using surveys, conference presentations and interviews. The resulting qualitative and quantitative feedback was used to refine and validate the framework. Four domains emerged from the analysis: concepts, competencies, sense of place, and values. The first two are common in formal education, although many of the more specific components that emerged are not adequately addressed. The second two domains are unlikely to be achieved solely in traditional educational settings, although they emerged as equally important. Sense of place includes affective components such as self-efficacy, while values includes moral development, respect, and justice as fairness. To make culturally and ecologically appropriate localization as accessible as possible, the earth smarts framework (www.earthsmarts.info) is deliberately nonpartisan and was designed using free and open-source software. It can help educators, policy makers, and researchers interested in more resilient, just and adaptable communities to coordinate their efforts, particularly in the nexus between formal and informal education, which have different strengths and weaknesses.

Today, climate change, has become one of the greatest societal challenges of our time. This challenge requires an accurate understanding of climate change for making informed decisions regarding the environmental issues. The carbon cycle is one of the earth’s complicated cycles that has a critical role in the planet’s climate. Developing a thorough perception about this complex cycle uncovers how human activities impact the planet and reveals the connection between multiple environmental issues.Perceiving this complex cycle requires systems thinking skills that enable students to recognize components of the carbon cycle and understand the interrelating dynamic relationship between them. Establishing systems thinking skills and developing a thorough perception about the carbon cycle is a difficult matter for students. Adaptive visualisation-based tutoring systems have a great potential for facilitating teaching and learning cyclical models and systems thinking in schools. Such systems consider the students’ needs and provide personalised feedback that can guide individuals more effectively throughout the learning process. This thesis project intends to use diagrammatic visualizations, systems thinking, and adaptive tutoring systems as three technical approaches for conceptualising a learning system that aims to teach the carbon cycle. The framework of this thesis project is formed in relation to a research project called ‘Tracing Carbon’ focusing on science education for pupils on grade 7-9.

Denna kunskapsöversikt syftar till att undersöka begreppet environmental literacy, en slags förståelse för och handlingskompetens inför olika miljörelaterade frågor och problem, samt dess betydelse inom undervisning. Vi använder det engelska begreppet för att det inte finns någon vedertagen svensk översättning. I dagens samhälle har frågor om miljö och hållbar utveckling blivit centralt vilket gör att elever som framtida samhällsmedborgare, behöver utveckla kunskaper och ökad handlingskompetens för att hantera dessa frågor. Syftet har således varit att undersöka hur lärares miljöundervisning kan bidra till att utveckla lågstadieelevers environmental literacy. För att kunna undersöka detta har tre delfrågor formulerats i syfte att ta reda på vad environmental literacy är, varför det är viktigt och hur undervisning kan se ut i relation till environmental literacy.  För att besvara dessa frågor har vi systematiskt sökt utifrån databaserna ERIC, ERC, Swepub, Libsearch och Google scholar genom att kombinera olika relevanta sökord. Främst har vi sökt utifrån begreppen sustainable development, environmental education och environmental literacy. Vi har även använt oss av sekundärsökningar för att finna ytterligare relevant forskning som kan belysa frågeställningen. Denna sökprocess gav oss 14 artiklar som underlag till kunskapsöversikten. Dock bör det lyftas att environmental literacy är ett begränsat begrepp, vilket kan bidra med brister i metoden.  Resultatet visar att environmental literacy består av flera förmågor som innefattar att ha kunskaper, ansvarskänsla och handlingskompetens inför att hantera miljöproblem och leva hållbart. Dessutom har det blivit tydligt att environmental literacy är viktigt att utveckla för att skolan ska kunna fostra framtida samhällsmedborgare till att verka för en hållbar miljö både för nutida och kommande generationer. Slutsatsen är således att environmental literacy är viktigt att utveckla redan i lågstadiet och att läraren får en avgörande roll i att anpassa undervisningen så att eleverna kan utveckla kritiskt tänkande och en självständighet inför att lösa miljöproblem. Däremot är environmental literacy ett begränsat begrepp inom den svenska skolan vilket gör att det kan vara intressant att forska vidare om dess betydelse och påverkan på undervisningen i Sverige.

The theoretical part of the thesis summarizes the concept of environmental education in Czech curricular documents and compares the concepts of Finnish and Slovak concepts of cross-cutting issues. The aim of the diploma thesis is to find out what is the usability of educational centers of ecological education and to find out the reason why schools do not use educational centers. The research part deals with the usability of the Recommended Expected Outcomes for basic education and how the teaching of EVVO in schools really takes place. Research has shown that a certain vagueness of the FEP ZV allows schools a very free concept of EVVO. Educators lack methodologies in their subjects, where they should precisely include EVVO. The reason why teachers do not visit ecological education centers is the prices of program offers for schools.

Environmental Literacy of ISCED 2 Pupils in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Germany Mgr. Ing. Silvie Svobodová ABSTRACT The concept of environmental literacy is based primarily on the principles of environmental education. It is a measure of environmental knowledge, attitudes, sensitivity and environmentally responsible behavior. It represents a relatively broad multidimensional construct, which can be summarized into three main dimensions (cognitive, affective and conative). This dissertation is focused on the environmental literacy of ISCED 2 pupils in the Czech Republic and selected Central European countries. The main contribution of the work lies in the construction and verification of a sophisticated authorial analytical tool for comprehensive testing of environmental literacy and its application in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria and Germany. The tool is based on a range of tools established and published abroad, the applicability of which in the Czech environment has been verified, namely the Middle School Environmental Literacy Survey and 2 Major Environmental Values. The research analyzed the relationship between the dimensions of environmental literacy and the identified significant determinants that can fundamentally predict the level of environmental literacy, in the...

This study departs from the assumption that the environmental literacy of educators is significant in the effective implementation of environmental education. The study explores and interprets the environmental literacy of currently serving educators (in-service educators) in the towns of Makwassie and Wolmaransstad. Semi-structured and unstructured interviews were used for data collection in this qualitative, case study-based research inquiry. The interview schedule was designed to cover six concepts/issues, namely, pollution, global warming, the ozone layer, water, human population growth, and sustainable development. The findings reveal that the level of environmental literacy varies from educator to educator and that various factors influence the environmental literacy of educators. The study recommends meaningful, ongoing educator training and support, more research in the area of educator environmental literacy, as well as an investigation into classroom practice in order to determine the level of the implementation of environmental education. / Science and Technology Education / M.A. (Comparative Education)

Thesis (MPhil (Sustainable Development Planning and Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Conventional environmental education programmes appear to have limitations in precipitating the radical change needed to solve major environmental problems. In this study the potential of wilderness experience (WE) as a catalyst for developing ecoliteracy and consequent adoption of environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB), are discussed. Attitudinal changes and adoption of ERB by adult participants, following a weekend WE conducted in the Pilanesberg National Park, located in the North-West Province of South Africa, were probed through group and individual interviews over a period of time. Results indicate that WE may be a significant catalyst in developing ecoliteracy, while effects on adoption of ERB are diluted by several factors – both personal and structural (societal). The role of the wilderness guide in facilitating effective re-connection with nature, and stimulating the development and growth of ecoliteracy in individual participants in the WE, is highlighted. It is suggested that WE provides a substantive addition to the mechanisms available for experiential environmental education programmes, in that it accesses different ways of learning that focus on the emotional and spiritual elements of the human connection to nature.

This mixed methods study evaluated the validity, and reliability of an instrument designed to assess a middle school student's proficiency in systems thinking as described in the 2010 Oregon Environmental Literacy Plan. In Stage 1, a forum of middle school students, formal, and non-formal educators used the Delphi technique to reach consensus regarding which skills were important to include in a scoring guide for systems thinking. In Stage 2, the scoring guide was field tested by formal and non-formal educators using a sample of students' work. The two groups' scores were compared using Cohen's kappa to make inferences regarding inter-rater reliability. Concurrently, an autoethnographic narrative was written to explore issues of equity related to the assessment of environmental literacy. The commonalities between formal and non-formal educators revealed a high level of validity for the construct of proficiency with systems thinking, and a moderate level of reliability between the scores assigned by two groups of educators. In the words of the middle school students, formal, and non-formal educators, who volunteered to create the scoring guide, the ability to make responsible decisions with natural systems, community, and the future in mind involves: creating solutions for systems that are not in balance, presenting the complex inner workings of a system in a simple and succinct way, collaborating, exploring multiple solutions, and sharing ideas in a way that people will understand you.

Abstract A WATERSHED MOMENT: IMPLEMENTING STATE ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY POLICY INTO A CENTRAL VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT By Melinda J. VanDevelder, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2018 Director: Charol Shakeshaft, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Educational Leadership Policy goals may be impossible to achieve at the classroom level (Ravitch, 2014), as policy depends on those who implement it (Lipsky, 1980). The purpose of this research was to investigate how the voluntary environmental educational executive order, EO42, was implemented and executed in a Central Virginia Public School district. The requirements of EO42 were former Virginia Governor MacAuliffe’s response to a multi-state policy he signed called the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, which called for all Virginia public education schools to implement Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) with students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Interviews of state educational and environmental policy-makers indicated EO42 was a hurried process that came without funding and which was done, in large part, to make a political statement. An interview of the Central County Public School’s science specialist portrays the practices used with local environmental outreach educators in order to prepare 64 middle and high school science teachers to implement MWEE lessons required by EO42 for the 2015-2016 school year. A 2 x 2 Chi-squared analysis done on data collected from teacher surveys indicated a statistically significant difference [Chi-squared (1 d.f.) = 4.17, p < 0.05] between teachers’ professional development attendance and teachers’ perceived ability to complete a MWEE lesson with their students. Analyzed teacher survey data also indicates that teachers who had attempted MWEEs in prior years were more likely to attempt a MWEE with their students [t (61) = -2.846, p = 0.006] than were teachers who had not. Though 83% of teachers reported completing a MWEE with the majority of their students, analysis of teacher-reported lessons indicated that only 22% of teachers completed the four components required of a MWEE (environmental issue definition, an outdoor field experience, an action project, and project synthesis and conclusion). Results indicate that there is much work to be done when introducing new policy into secondary schools (Ball, Maguire, & Braun, 2012).