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Full-Text Articles in Education
A Causal-Comparative Study Of The Impact Of Meaningful Watershed Environmental Experiences On The Academic Achievement Of Middle School Students, Gina R. Mason
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
Meaningful watershed educational experiences (MWEE) are student-centered, problem solving-oriented environmental educational experiences in which students investigate local environmental issues leading to civic engagement and informed action. The four components of an MWEE include issue definition, outdoor field experience, synthesis and conclusion, and action projects. While multiple benefits have been shown to be gained through participation in environmental education, this study’s aim was to observe the impact MWEEs have on academic achievement in middle school students. This quantitative, ex post facto, causal-comparative study examined the impact MWEEs had on students’ achievement scores, as measured by Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) …
Using Critical Environmental Agency To Engage Teachers In Local Watersheds Through Water Quality Citizen Science, Lacey D. Huffling, Heather Scott
Using Critical Environmental Agency To Engage Teachers In Local Watersheds Through Water Quality Citizen Science, Lacey D. Huffling, Heather Scott
Department of Middle Grades and Secondary Education Faculty Publications
This qualitative study explores teachers’ critical environmental agency (CEA) through deepening content knowledge, engaging in identity development, developing a critical consciousness of place, and moving toward civic action. We explored the meanings secondary science teachers made of an on-going professional development (PD) situated in the Okefenokee Swamp (unique ecosystem that drains to Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean) and focused on local watershed citizen science monitoring and the global implications of all water being connected. Data analyses focused on how the nineteen teachers’ experiences and meanings were leveraged to develop CEA and the constraints that restricted their CEA development. Our …
Quantitative Reasoning Learning Progression: The Matrix, Robert L. Mayes, Jennifer H. Forrester, Jennifer D. Schuttlefield Christus, Franziska Peterson, Rachel Walker
Quantitative Reasoning Learning Progression: The Matrix, Robert L. Mayes, Jennifer H. Forrester, Jennifer D. Schuttlefield Christus, Franziska Peterson, Rachel Walker
Department of Middle Grades and Secondary Education Faculty Publications
The NSF Pathways Project studied the development of environmental literacy in students from grades six through high school. Learning progressions for environmental literacy were developed to explicate the trajectory of learning. The Pathways QR research team supported this effort by studying the role of quantitative reasoning (QR) as a support or barrier to developing environmental literacy. An iterative research methodology was employed which included targeted student interviews to establish QR learning progression progress variables and elements comprising those progress variables, development of a QR learning progression framework, and closed-form QR assessments to verify the progression. In this paper the focus …
The Diffusion Of Environmental Literacy In An American Urban Community Through Children, Kelley Phillips
The Diffusion Of Environmental Literacy In An American Urban Community Through Children, Kelley Phillips
Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses
Environmental literacy is a contentious issue in the United States of America because citizens feel it is forced upon them and interferes with our materialistic culture. Also, many Americans have limited access to green space and little time to devote to increasing their environmental mindset. This project documents a technique to introduce environmental literacy to American citizens by working with single communities in a common subset of American culture. Based on a model used by anthropologists in third world countries, the goal was to diffuse environmental literacy into a community by only instructing the children of that community in environmental …
The Role Of Community College Faculty In Teaching And Learning For Sustainable Development, Anouchka Rachelson
The Role Of Community College Faculty In Teaching And Learning For Sustainable Development, Anouchka Rachelson
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of community college professors regarding education for sustainable development (ESD). In-depth interviews with 14 professors from different disciplines were conducted. The participants taught at Miami Dade College, Florida, a Talloires Declaration signatory since 2006, and all had attended Green Studies professional development workshops. Written documents such as assignments and samples of student work were used for triangulation. The annual report of the college’s Earth Ethics Institute and its Web site served as additional sources. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for common themes. The Talloires Declaration’s …