Blanche Desjean-Perrotta

The Draw‐An‐Environment Test Rubric (DAET‐R): exploring pre‐service teachers’ mental models of the environment

The use of drawings as representations of personal mental models or images is one method of analyzing personal beliefs. This article discusses the development of the Draw‐An‐Environment Test and Rubric (DAET‐R) for assessing the mental models or images of the environment held by pre‐service teachers. It also provides results of preliminary research using the DAET‐R to assess pre‐service teachers’ personal beliefs and understandings about the environment, as interpreted from their drawings. Results of this pilot study using the DAET‐R for scoring early childhood pre‐service teachers’ drawings of the environment suggest that the participants’ mental models of the environment are incomplete. Results of this study also show that the DAET‐R can provide information about pre‐service teachers’ beliefs about the environment useful to teacher educators in the development and delivery of environmental education.

Exploring Preservice Teachers’ Mental Models of the Environment

A major premise underlying this chapter is that if preservice teachers are aware of their mental models of the environment, they will want to develop more accurate images that inform how they will teach about the environment in the future. This chapter describes how we used drawings as a survey tool to uncover preservice teachers’ mental models of the environment, our findings, and programmatic changes that we implemented as a response to our study. Building on previous science education research using drawings that describe preservice teachers’ beliefs about the subject of science, we developed the Draw-An-Environment Test (DAET). We then developed a rubric based on the NAAEE Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of Environmental Educators (2004) for scoring the drawings, the Draw-An-Environment Test Rubric (DAET-R), to quantitatively analyze the data collected using the DAET.

Project Texas: A Nontraditional Teacher Professional Development Model for Science Education.

wenty elementary school teachers are sitting on hay wagons driven by 7Te as Park Rangers. It is a beautiful moonlit night, and the evening is full of sounds. The teachers hold flashlights, electric lamps, and notepads. The groups task is to locate and record as many species of animals as they can in this ecoregion of Texas known as the Piney Woods. Later, they will record this information, along with their reflections about the experience, in a journal. This expedition is part of a year-long professional development program in science education that immerses teachers in a learning experience quite different from the workshop model familiar to most educators. Funded in part by an Eisenhower Grant for Higher Education, Project Texas is a cooperative effort between the Education Department of the San Antonio Zoo, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the Urban Systemic Initiative. It provides professional development for K-8 teachers from several school districts serving underrepresented populations. One of the purposes of this project is to help develop, through a nontraditional model, teacher knowledge of the seven different ecoregions of Texas. By personalizing their understanding of the Texas ecoregions, the teachers then will be able to develop similar experiences for their students. This program provides a meaningful context that models how to integrate field experiences, investigative activities, problem-solving strategies, and cooperative learning opportunities into K-8 science instruction.

Sense of Place: Is It More Than a Connection to a Physical Place?

What are preservice teachers’ definition of sense of place and what counts as ‘place’ for them? Do their definitions of place mirror the environmental education (EE) literature that purports a one dimensional, biophysical, rooted sense of place? Or do their definitions reflect the conceptual framework expressed in Education for Sustainability (EfS) that view sense of place as being multidimensional and diverse, built on an array of factors, including socially, culturally, psychologically, biophysically, and politically situated practices? This chapter discusses research conducted to obtain a baseline understanding of how preservice teachers define sense of place. Our research supports a multidimensional model of sense of place, an EfS conceptual framework of place consciousness composed of multiple factors. The focus of this inquiry is to contribute to a theory of place consciousness that can advance practice in environmental education teacher preparation.

Programmatic Implementation of Environmental Education in an Elementary Educator Preparation Program: A Case Study

This chapter provides an overview of research regarding preservice teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about the environment and describes one approach to engaging future teachers in environmental education within an educator preparation program curriculum. The successes and challenges of retooling one educator preparation program to include EE are discussed. Also, findings of a national survey conducted to determine the extent of the inclusion of EE in educator preparation programs are reported. Based on this research and survey findings, it is recommended as initial steps that educator preparation programs tap into the greatest identified supports for inclusion of EE, namely collaboration between formal and non-formal education agencies and organizations, student interest, and available curriculum materials.

Raising a Generation of Environmentally Literate Children: Are Preservice Teachers Ready?

Conservation movements of the 1960s stemming from environmental concerns and public activism have greatly influenced the projected educational objectives of the 21st century. Environmental education aiming to develop an environmentally literate citizenry has gained prominence resulting in a demand for environmentally conscious teachers. When education policies do not clarify governmental stance on environmental education, the onus often falls upon teacher preparation programs to bridge the gap. This study, comparing the levels of environmental awareness of 4th-grade students and that of preservice teachers, has implications for shaping teacher education programs of the 21st century. The objective is to develop an environmentally literate teacher workforce that will subsequently influence the earths future by helping to prepare the upcoming generation of environmentally literate citizens.