Education Commons^™

Science Education To The Rescue? Assessing The Relationship Between Scientific Literacy And Carbon Emissions, Anthony Schmidt

Doctoral Dissertations

Human activities have radically changed the climate, negatively impacting all life on earth. The technical means to address this climate crisis exist, but there are major social and political hurdles that stand in the way. Education has been touted as one possible means for helping to move forward necessary action on climate change. A hybrid model of planned behavior and human capital helps explain how education can affect climate change. The current dissertation sought to assess what relationship may exist between changes in per capita carbon emissions and science education as measured by the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA). …

Evaluating Outcomes Of An Immersive-Field-Study Program On Fifth-Grade Students’ Connectedness With Nature, Laleh Talebpour

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to investigate to what extent an immersive-field-study experience influenced fifth-grade students’ connection to nature. Two instruments were used to collect data: Connection to Nature Index (CNI) obtained pre- and postfield study and students’ field journals with prompts.

The coding of the journals was based on the four components of CNI: Enjoyment of Nature, Empathy for Creatures, Sense of Oneness, and Sense of Responsibility. These components were built on the three basic components of nature connectedness described by Schultz (2002) as “cognitive (connectedness), affective (caring), and behavioral (commitment)” (p. 61).

Data were gathered from 317 …

Effects Of The Green Life Nature Education Program For 4th Grade Students Who Attend Bay Area Title One Schools: A Mixed-Methods Study, Jessica Blundell

Doctoral Dissertations

This explanatory sequential design mixed-methods evaluation measures the effects of the GLNE program on (a) students’ personal and social skills (b) students’ stewardship of the environment (c) students’ knowledge and understanding of science concepts. Quantitative survey data and qualitative data from a phenomenologically-based study are analyzed and compared in order to understand the impact of attending Green Life Nature Education (GLNE) program, the only Bay Area Residential Outdoor School that serves urban youth with no-cost programing.

The quantitative data from student surveys implies that in general, attending GLNE has a neutral impact on students. While there were several negative impacts …