Joe E. Heimlich

Understanding behavior to understand behavior change: a literature review

One view of environmental education suggests that its goal is to ‘develop a world population that … has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations and commitment to work individually and collectively towards solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones’ (UNESCO‐UNEP 1976). Embedded within this charge is the teaching of skills and motivations to implement skills, where a skill refers to performance of an act acquired through extended practice and training (Ericsson and Oliver 1995). However, it is often difficult to articulate clearly what skills we teach in conservation education and environmental education focusing on behavior change or influence. It can be equally challenging to describe the behaviors we are ultimately seeking, identified in the Tbilisi Declaration as ‘new patterns of behavior’ (UNESCO 1978). At a basic level, it is important to explore the grounding for teaching toward behavior – often referred to as behavior change – that supports the work of the field. This literature review attempts to provide a foundation for behavior‐related discussions in environmental and conservation education. A number of the behavior theories, concepts and models discussed in this review have been explored extensively elsewhere; therefore, this review is not exhaustive, but rather is intended to be broadly representative of the literature.

Environmental Education and Preservice Teacher Preparation: A National Study

A national study of colleges and universities offering teacher-preparation programs was undertaken to ascertain how environmental education (EE) might be better incorporated into their curricula. Six questions guided the descriptive, explorative mail survery relating to satisfaction and fit into EE with current program offerings, what environmental issues are included in curricula, barriers to EE in the curricula, awareness and use of EE resources, perceived resource needs, and relationship between barriers and EE course concepts. Although 30.3% of the respondents were private institutions, 74.8% were public and .08% were private/public. Findings support and extend prior research in the area and lead to several conclusions.

Changing minds? Reassessing outcomes in free‐choice environmental education

This paper discusses three case studies – an exhibition on biodiversity, a hotel water conservation program, and a partnership between a nature center and urban public schools – to establish parameters for designing learning experiences that accommodate the varied worldviews and attitudes of learners. Positive outcomes occurred in all three cases, but could best be interpreted if sub‐samples of participants were distinguished based on their readiness to embrace conservation messages. The studies demonstrated the limitations of narrowly defined learning outcomes as benchmarks for success or failure. The role that visitor/participant agendas, needs, abilities and interests play in shaping free‐choice learning experiences will be discussed.

Talking to Visitors about Conservation: Exploring Message Communication through Docent–Visitor Interactions at Zoos

ABSTRACT Education personnel, both paid staff and volunteers, are often used at zoos and other museums as a channel to disseminate educational messages. This exploratory study examined the use of zoo docents to communicate key conservation messages from the zoo to visitors. The study was conducted in 2 phases using an emergent design with mixed methods. The findings suggest that visitors perceive docents to be an important source for conservation messages even though observed message communication through docent–visitor interactions was very limited. Docents view themselves as “facilitators for learning”, but their limited awareness of the institutions messages inhibits their ability to communicate these messages to visitors. Other factors that influence incidence of message communication are duration of the interaction, nature of the exhibit/region, and group composition. In this study, signage was found to be an effective channel for building cognitive awareness of messages among visitors.

Why focus on zoo and aquarium education

The modern zoo or aquarium is a purposeful collection of animals used to further the cause of conservation through systematic education and research [Rabb, 2004]. Although not the case in the early history of zoos, the fourfold goals of contemporary, responsible, zoos and aquariums of conservation, research, education, and recreation [Churchman, 1987] do drive these institutions to present conservation education in a way that inspires the recreational visitor to act in a desired, environmentally responsible manner [Brewer, 2001]. It has only been in the last few decades that education has become critical to how zoos and aquariums perceive their role in society. It is only in the recent years that zoos are beginning to embrace their role as ‘‘perhaps the most qualified of all potential conservation organizations to develop and succeed in the promotion of conservation as a top human priority’’ [Fraser and Wharton, 2007, p 50]. This relative youth of conservation education in zoos and aquariums has a corollary in the relative lack of research on education and its outcomes in zoos and aquariums, at least until the recent past. Until very recently, evaluation and educational research in zoos and aquariums has focused primarily on increasing the cognitive knowledge of visitors, with a lesser focus on changes in attitudes and behavior. As an example, Mony [2007] summarizes this historical research that suggests, to increase recall, a variety of methods are effective, including building

Views from the Field: Conservation Educators' and Practitioners' Perceptions of Education as a Strategy for Achieving Conservation Outcomes.

This article presents data from a mixed-methods study that collected data through surveys (n = 656), interviews (n = 15), and discussion groups (n = 75) to explore the use of social strategies such as education and outreach by non-governmental organizations and government agencies to reach outcomes related to biodiversity conservation and resource management. We examine and juxtapose perceptions of conservation practitioners with those of conservation educators regarding the efficacy of education to reach conservation or resource management goals. We explore how to facilitate integration among policy, science, and education efforts, and we suggest theoretical augmentations for conceptions of education and social strategies within conservation organizations.

Environmental Educators on the Web: Results of a National Study of Users and Nonusers.

Abstract To better understand the needs of environmental education (EE) related to technology, it is important to know how those in the field currently use the technology. The author describes and compares users and nonusers of the World Wide Web in terms of use of the Web, comfort level, perceived barriers, and familiarity with dominant EE sites. A clear majority of the sample are Web users and have moderate levels of comfort with it, primarily concerning basic communiccations tasks. The findings provide insight into the development of training programs and resources for environmental educators in using the Web and offer opportunities for additional research that focuses on specific technology and pedagogical use questions.

Giant screen film and science learning in museums

The authors review the giant screen (GS) film literature to determine if the form has unique attributes that contribute to science learning. They find that four attributes are claimed to contribute to higher learning outcomes: the sense of immersion by reducing peripheral views to a minimum; first person perspective contributing to the sense of presence in the film; narrative structure; and sensory stimulation of mirror neurons that promote kinesthetic learning. They demonstrate that most claims are without support in empirical research but uncover some recent results that give reason to believe these claims may be supportable. The authors conclude with a recommendation for a research agenda to support these claims as necessary, in order to defend the high production cost of GS film over conventional film.

Measuring public value: an instrument and an art museum case study.

ABSTRACT Using Carol Scotts (2006) discussion of museum impact as a frame, a survey instrument was created to measure the value perceived by a community toward an art museum. The survey was administered at a local community arts festival. A factor analysis revealed that 18 out of 19 items used in the survey aligned with the 3 hypothesized areas of value: individual, societal, and economic. Results of the survey suggest that both recent and recent non-visitors of the museum find similar levels of value in having the museum exist in the community. Across the board, the economic items received the lowest score. Female participants gave significantly higher scores than males. Recommendations include marketing messages that highlight the perceived values expressed in the survey, and further investigation as to how to increase the value perceived by males in the community.

Communicating Climate Change to Visitors of Informal Science Environments

This article reports findings on visitors’ preferences for content presentation of a future global warming and climate change exhibit. The study was conducted with two groups: one from the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, and the other at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio. The authors explored visitors’ preferences for message ordering and overall story flow as well as their reasoning for preferring those narratives on these challenging and oftentimes contentious issues. The results showed that adult visitors to both museums were interested in knowing more about individual actions toward mitigation and adaptation, rather than the simple facts and potential gloom-and-doom approach to the topic. Implications for the findings from this study were developed in collaboration with Koshland museum staff members; the authors offer practical strategies for implementing these results into future exhibitions on global warming and climate change.