Sarah J. Carrier

Environmental Education in the Schoolyard: Learning Styles and Gender

The author examined the impact of environmental education lessons in a study that compared activities conducted in the schoolyard with traditional classroom activities involving elementary school boys and girls. Participants were 109 4th- and 5th-grade students. Researchers conducted a 2 (group: traditional/treatment) X 2 (gender) multivariate analysis of variance with gain scores for environmental (a) knowledge, (b) attitudes, (c) behaviors, and (d) comfort levels as dependent variables. Boys demonstrated statistically significantly greater gain scores in the outdoor treatment group than in the traditional classroom curriculum for all 4 outcome variables. Boys also scored statistically significantly greater in the treatment group on attitudes and behaviors than did girls in that treatment group. The author discusses the unique learning styles of girls and boys and the findings that indicate the potential for schoolyard lessons to enhance instruction, meeting the needs of boys and girls.

Overcoming skepticism with education: interacting influences of worldview and climate change knowledge on perceived climate change risk among adolescents

Though many climate literacy efforts attempt to communicate climate change as a risk, these strategies may be ineffective because among adults, worldview rather than scientific understanding largely drives climate change risk perceptions. Further, increased science literacy may polarize worldview-driven perceptions, making some climate literacy efforts ineffective among skeptics. Because worldviews are still forming in the teenage years, adolescents may represent a more receptive audience. This study examined how worldview and climate change knowledge related to acceptance of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) and in turn, climate change risk perception among middle school students in North Carolina, USA (n = 387). We found respondents with individualistic worldviews were 16.1 percentage points less likely to accept AGW than communitarian respondents at median knowledge levels, mirroring findings in similar studies among adults. The interaction between knowledge and worldview, however, was opposite from previous studies among adults, because increased climate change knowledge was positively related to acceptance of AGW among both groups, and had a stronger positive relationship among individualists. Though individualists were 24.1 percentage points less likely to accept AGW than communitarians at low levels (bottom decile) of climate change knowledge, there was no statistical difference in acceptance levels between individualists and communitarians at high levels of knowledge (top decile). Non-White and females also demonstrated higher levels of AGW acceptance and climate change risk perception, respectively. Thus, education efforts specific to climate change may counteract divisions based on worldviews among adolescents.

The Effects of Outdoor Science Lessons with Elementary School Students on Preservice Teachers' Self-Efficacy.

Teachers’ self-efficacy develops based on their appraisal of their experience with a task or similar tasks. Elementary science education should provide opportunities for students to experience science learning opportunities in authentic settings. This retrospective study describes one example of preservice teachers teaching elementary school students environmental science lessons in the outdoors during their science methods course. The preservice teachers’ recognition of the students’ enthusiasm and excitement of learning science in the outdoors positively impacted their confidence level as future teachers of science and helped them recognize the potential for using the outdoor setting as an effective location for science instruction.

Implementing and Integrating Effective Teaching Strategies Including Features of Lesson Study in an Elementary Science Methods Course

Teacher preparation programs have been under attack by policy makers in the last decade, and teacher educators are constantly striving to improve their programs. Yet, there are several research-based practices that have been shown to be effective for developing teachers. In this article, the author summarizes a study in one science methods course that included adaptations and updates of several of these practices integrated with newer strategies featuring elements of Japanese lesson study. Some of these practices include collaboration, critique, revision, and reflection. Video technology is utilized for reflection and to record updated forms of microteaching. The voices of the preservice teachers illustrate the value and challenge of these practices.

Role of Significant Life Experiences in Building Environmental Knowledge and Behavior Among Middle School Students

Significant life experience research suggests that the presence of role models, time outdoors, and nature-related media foster pro-environmental behavior, but most research is qualitative. Based on a random sample of middle school students in North Carolina, USA, we found limited positive associations between presence of a role model and time outdoors with behavior and a negative association between watching nature television and environmental knowledge. The strongest predictors of environmental knowledge and behavior were student/teacher ratio and county income levels, respectively. We also found that Native Americans engaged in environmental behaviors more than Caucasians, and that African American and Hispanic students had lower levels of environmental knowledge. Accordingly, life experiences appear less important than promoting small class sizes and addressing challenges associated with lower incomes in schools.

Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Science Vocabulary: Knowledge and Application

Science vocabulary knowledge plays a role in understanding science concepts, and science knowledge is measured in part by correct use of science vocabulary (Lee et al. in J Res Sci Teach 32(8):797–816, 1995). Elementary school students have growing vocabularies and many are learning English as a secondary language or depend on schools to learn academic English. Teachers must have a clear understanding of science vocabulary in order to communicate and evaluate these understandings with students. The present study measured preservice teachers’ vocabulary knowledge during a science methods course and documented their use of science vocabulary during peer teaching. The data indicate that the course positively impacted the preservice teachers’ knowledge of select elementary science vocabulary; however, use of science terms was inconsistent in microteaching lessons. Recommendations include providing multiple vocabulary instruction strategies in teacher preparation.

Summer Methods in Summer Camps: Teaching Projects WILD, WET, and Learning Tree at an Outdoor Environmental Education Center

Elementary and secondary science preservice teachers teach environmental education (EE) to summer camp children during their first science methods course. Local children in grades K-6 attend a week-long, summer day-camp at the university’s outdoor EE education center. Preservice teachers receive training in the use of the environmental curricula including Projects WILD, WET, and Learning Tree, from a Cooperative Extension Specialist. Information on the development of these curricula is also presented. Preservice teachers collaborate with the camp director and staff to plan and coteach lessons from these environmental curricula to rotating groups of campers. A typical day at the camp is described. Elementary preservice teachers report in written journals an increase in their confidence and abilities to teach environmental science and its related interdisciplinary subjects in the outdoors.

Children's Environmental Identity and the Elementary Science Classroom.

ABSTRACT This qualitative research explores childrens environmental identity by describing how fifth grade children view their relationship with the natural world alongside their experience of elementary school science. Qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 17 grade 5 children was supported with a survey that included responses to open-ended survey items. Analyses convey that children recognize and describe their own environmental identity, but that identity is often unacknowledged in the science classroom. This lack of acknowledgment may limit connections of school science to childrens interests and emotional attachment to the natural world.

Teaching efficacy: exploring relationships between mathematics and science self-efficacy beliefs, PCK and domain knowledge among preservice teachers from the United States

This mixed-methods study investigated the relationships among preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and their domain knowledge (DK) as related to mathematics and science teaching. Quantitative results revealed that participants’ PCK was significantly correlated with their mathematics and science efficacy beliefs. Additionally, participants’ mathematics and science DK did not predict their mathematics and science personal efficacy beliefs, however, their PCK score predicted participants’ outcome expectancies. Interview analysis revealed five inter-related key themes, labeled as: Previous academic experiences, Mathematics and science PCK beliefs, Personal efficacy, Outcome expectancies and Emotions. These common themes describe participants’ views of their quality teacher training and thinking about planned instruction. Educational implications are discussed in relationship with study findings.

Impacts of Outdoor Environmental Education on Teacher Reports of Attention, Behavior, and Learning Outcomes for Students With Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Disabilities

There are over 4 million students with reported emotional, cognitive, and behavioral disabilities (ECBD) in the United States. Teachers most frequently situate instruction inside, however, outdoor environmental education (EE) can improve academic and affective outcomes for many students, including students with ECBD. In North Carolina, U.S.A., an EE program utilizes outdoor science instruction for fifth-grade students. The program takes place over four to 10 full-school days across the year, and instruction occurs in both schoolyards and natural areas. The program aligns outdoor EE with state and national science education standards. Using a quasi-experimental design, the present study examined the impacts of the program on indicators of ECBD (e.g., student behavior, attention span), science efficacy, nature of science, and academic achievement for students with ECBD. We measured these factors using online surveys from both students identified with ECBD and their classroom teachers, as well as students with ECBD from matched control schools and their respective teachers. Students in both treatment (n = 99) and control (n = 62) classrooms took the survey two times over the school year. Quantitative data revealed teachers perceived students had significantly improved attention spans and decreased disruptive behaviors when learning outdoors. Students in the treatment group maintained measures of nature of science, science efficacy and science grades, keeping in line with their peers in the control group. We supplemented survey data with teacher interview data about their impressions of the outdoor program and the experiences of their students identified with ECBD. Teacher interview responses supported quantitative findings. These findings indicate that outdoor EE has the potential to be at least as effective a method for science instruction as classroom teaching, and in the case of addressing indicators of ECBD, outdoor EE may be a successful strategy for student learning.