Impact of Environmental Education on Youth's Environmental Knowledge and Stewardship

Major

Recreation & Resource Management

Department

Recreation and Park Administration

Degree

Graduate

Mentor

Michael J. Bradley

Mentor Department

Recreation and Park Administration

Abstract

Environmental stewardship is a concept looked at when developing environmental education programs because of the potential impact on behavior. Recent studies have been conducted to see how students engage in environmental education when using various technology. To identify student outcomes of environmental programs and identify any difference between traditional and technological assessments, researchers at EKU facilitated a study with 7th grade students that completed an environmental education workshop.

For both assessment mechanisms, the researchers used a slightly modified version of Larson’s (2008) The Environmental Attitude and Awareness Survey. Two schools were selected for participation in this study. Each student was given a pre and posttest.

Various analysis, including ANOVA, showed no significant statistical difference in the change of perception of the participants. Also, survey results showed some pretest contradictions with 40% of the students said resources need to be protected but 34% also said to use any resources to meet their needs. While, 23% said they would conserve energy only when it was easy for them.

The results between the pre test and post test showed similarities. There needs to be more research, program changes or additional programming, since the activities did not increase the student’s stewardship.

Presentation format

Poster

Poster Number

022

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Impact of Environmental Education on Youth's Environmental Knowledge and Stewardship

Environmental stewardship is a concept looked at when developing environmental education programs because of the potential impact on behavior. Recent studies have been conducted to see how students engage in environmental education when using various technology. To identify student outcomes of environmental programs and identify any difference between traditional and technological assessments, researchers at EKU facilitated a study with 7th grade students that completed an environmental education workshop.

For both assessment mechanisms, the researchers used a slightly modified version of Larson’s (2008) The Environmental Attitude and Awareness Survey. Two schools were selected for participation in this study. Each student was given a pre and posttest.

Various analysis, including ANOVA, showed no significant statistical difference in the change of perception of the participants. Also, survey results showed some pretest contradictions with 40% of the students said resources need to be protected but 34% also said to use any resources to meet their needs. While, 23% said they would conserve energy only when it was easy for them.

The results between the pre test and post test showed similarities. There needs to be more research, program changes or additional programming, since the activities did not increase the student’s stewardship.