TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ON THE TEACHING PROCESS AND ON STUDENT LEARNING Angela Nicole Castelli December 2004 (48) Directed by: Terry L. Wilson, Steve L. Spencer, and Raymond A. Poff Department of Physical Education and Recreation Western Kentucky University The Mammoth Cave National Park Environmental Education Partnership (EEP) has worked with schools and teachers to provide the students with curriculum-based environmental education programs on a regular basis throughout the school year. Because of this environmental education partnership, this study addresses the following questions: What are teacher perceptions of the impacts of environmental education on student learning and what are teacher perceptions of the impacts of environmental education on the teaching process? Such impacts included students’ enthusiasm, motivation, and attitudes towards learning. The study also addresses the impact on skills such as thinking skills, language skills, and math skills. The study addresses the impacts on teachers such as enthusiasm, lesson planning and design, instructional strategies, as well as scheduling and restructuring of curriculum in the classroom or schools. The methods of investigation included a survey and interview instrument that was administered by the researcher to 35 teachers that participated in the EEP. After gathering the information from the teachers, the researcher then analyzed the data using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and frequency. This information was presented in the forms of tables and graphs. viii The conclusions to this research show that environmental education had a significant perceived impact on student learning and teaching process. The aspects that showed the most impact were on the students’ enthusiasm, motivation, and attitudes towards learning, as well as the teachers’ enthusiasm and lesson planning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:WKU/oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-2107 |
| Date | 01 January 2004 |
| Creators | Castelli, Angela Nicole |
| Publisher | TopSCHOLAR® |
| Source Sets | Western Kentucky University Theses |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Masters Theses & Specialist Projects |
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