WU LINGQIONG DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Transcription

1 MEASURING PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY IN URBAN CHINA: ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR OF GRADE 6 STDUDENTS IN GREEN SCHOOLS IN SHENZHEN WU LINGQIONG DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG MARCH 2013

2 CITY UNIVERSTITY OF HONG KONG 香港城市大學 Measuring Primary School Students Environmental Literacy in Urban China: Environmental Attitudes and Behavior of Grade 6 Students in Green Schools in Shenzhen 中國城市小學生環境素養研究 : 以深圳市綠色學校六年級學生的環境態度與行為為例 Submitted to Department of Public and Administration 公共及社會行政學系 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 哲學博士學位 by Wu Lingqiong 吳靈琼 March 2013 二零一三年三月

3 i ABSTRACT School-based environmental education in China germinated in the late 1970s and has now been institutionalized as an integral element of basic education in China. In 2003, the Central government released the first national curriculum standard for environmental education, in which the overall goal of school-based environmental education is stated as being to foster among students knowledge of and skills in, a value of, and emotions, attitudes and responsible behavior towards the environment and sustainable development. To meet these ends, the Central government has promoted various environmental education initiatives. Among these, the Green School Program represents the most widely implemented initiative in this regard. However, due to the interdisciplinary nature of environmental education, environmental educators face huge challenges in achieving their goals. Two critical issues have attracted substantial attention from the international environmental education community. On one hand, there is the question of, in theory, what sort of environmental education programs are effective for fostering students environmental literacy (including knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behavior)? On the other hand, there is the question of how successful the current practices of environmental education are in achieving their goals, and what factors actually influence students environmental literacy? Unfortunately, in the Chinese environmental education community, little attention has been paid to the latter issue. The research addresses this deficiency by providing an initial attempt to measure the outcomes of environmental education in primary schools in China from the perspective of environmental literacy. It first explores the nature and objectives of environmental education in the primary school curriculum by employing a six-component framework of environmental literacy in light of an analysis of the content of two national guidelines for school-based environmental education, and

4 ii the curriculum standards for Chinese (Grades 1-6), Morality and Life (Grades 1-2), Morality and Society (Grades 3-6), and Science (Grades 3-6). This research then developed and validated an assessment instrument for measuring two general environmental literacy components in Grade 6 students in China: environmental attitudes and environmental behavior. This research also takes a step further by adopting this assessment instrument, which is called the Primary School Environmental Attitudes and Behavior Scale (PSEABS), to investigate the actual state of environmental attitudes and behavior, as well as the relationships between the two, in Grade 6 students in Shenzhen. The survey questionnaire distributed to 422 students from eight green schools in Shenzhen reveals impressive levels of environmental attitudes (including environmental sensitivity, environmental beliefs, environmental norms and pro-environmental intentions) among the respondents. It also reveals that the respondents engage in a considerable range of environmental behavior regarding resource conservation, disposable waste reducing, and waste recycling overall. Yet, the ambiguous attitude of the respondents toward the role of human ingenuity suggests that mature beliefs about human-environment relationships may not yet have been fostered among Grade 6 students in the green schools in Shenzhen. The relationships between the students environmental attitudes and their pro-environmental behavior were explored using regression analyses. It shows that environmental sensitivity and pro-environmental intentions significantly affected pro-environmental behavior. It also supports the theoretical relationships among beliefs, norms, and behavior in Stern s (2000) Value-Belief-Norm model: the effect of environmental beliefs on pro-environmental behavior is mainly mediated by environmental norms whose relationship to pro-environmental behavior is mainly governed by pro-environmental intentions. These results suggest that students emotional attachment to nature and behavioural intentions are two critical factors determining their pro-environmental behavior. These data also suggest that their pro-environmental behavior as well as pro-environmental intentions are activated by

5 iii their environmental norms and mediated by fundamental beliefs about human-nature relationships.

6 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS... vi LIST OF TABLES... xi LIST OF FIGURES... xiii ACRONYMS... xiv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION... 1 The International Context of Environmental Education... 1 School-Based Environmental Education in China... 3 Statement of the Problem... 5 The Purposes, Scope, and Significance of the Study Statement of Research Questions and Hypotheses Definition of Terms Composition of Dissertation CHAPTER II SCHOOL-BASED ENVIRONMENTMENTAL EDUCATION IN CHINA: NATIONAL POLICIES AND PROGRAMS Environmental Education during the Early Establishment Phase Environmental Education for Environmental Protection Pilot Environmental Education Projects Environmental Education during the Institutionalization Phase Environmental Education for Sustainable Development Environmental Education in Curriculum Policies National Initiatives: Green School Program National Initiatives: Environmental Education Initiative for China... 29

7 vii Environmental Education in the Standardization and the Universalization Phase Environmental Education and Quality-Oriented Education The Environmental Education Initiative for China during this Period Green Schools Program during this Period Summary CHAPTER III REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Environmental Literacy: Its Nature and Components The Nature of Environmental Literacy The Development of Environmental Literacy Components Documentary Research on Environmental Literacy in the School Curriculum60 Empirical Research on Students Environmental Literacy Empirical Research on Students Environmental Literacy in China ( ) Concepts of Environmental Literacy in China Empirical Studies on Environmental Literacy ( ) Environmental Literacy Components in the Empirical Studies Theoretical Grounds of Environmental Literacy The Traditional Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior Model The Hines Model of Environmental Behavior The Hungerford Model of Citizenship Behavior Environmental Sensitivity and its Associated Concepts The Stern Model of Environmentalism Summary CHAPTER IV METHODOLOGY Restatement of Research Questions and Hypotheses Research Design The Context of Environmental Education at the Research Site... 96

8 viii Components of the Green Schools in Shenzhen Environmental Education in Green Schools in Shenzhen Documentary Analysis Curriculum Standards for Environmental Education Analysis of the Curriculum Standards Instrumentation Scale Construction Item Modification Scale Pre-Testing Scale Reliability and Construct Validity from the Complete Survey Questionnaire Survey Sampling Strategy Data Collection Data Analysis Methodological Limitations Reliability and Validity of the Research Data Theory Testing Summary CHAPTER V ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY COMPONENTS IN THE NATIONAL PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM Adapted Version of Simmons Environmental Literacy Framework Components of Environmental Literacy in the Primary School Curriculum. 142 Affect in the School Curriculum (Grades 1-6) Ecological Knowledge in the School Curriculum (Grades 1-6) Socio-Political Knowledge in the School Curriculum (Grades 1-6) Knowledge of Environmental Problems in the School Curriculum (Grades 1-6) Skills in the School Curriculum (Grades 1-6) Practices in the School Curriculum (Grades 1-6)

9 ix Summary CHAPTER VI GRADE 6 STUDENTS ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR IN SHENZHEN The Actual State of Students Environmental Attitudes and Behavior Overview Environmental Beliefs Environmental Sensitivity Environmental Norms Pro-Environmental Intentions Pro-Environmental Behavior The Relationships between Students Environmental Attitudes and Environmental Behavior Bivariate Correlations between Environmental Attitudes and Environmental Behavior Effects of Environmental Attitudes on Environmental Behavior The Model Predicting Environmental Behavior Summary CHAPTER VII DISCUSSION Grade 6 Students Environmental Attitudes and Behavior in Shenzhen Effects of Environmental Attitudes on Environmental Behavior Environmental Norms as an Important Determinant of Environmental Behavior Environmental Sensitivity as a Foundational Ground for Environmental Behavior A Puzzle Summary CHAPTER VIII CONCLUSION

10 x Summary of Findings Research Question Research Question Research Question Conclusion and Implications Research Question Research Question Research Question Limitations Recommendations for Future Research Summary REFERENCES APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE SAMPLES APPENDIX B: ORIGINAL REGRESSION MODELS

11 xi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Studies on Environmental Literacy in School Curricula Table 3.2 Survey Studies on Students Environmental Literacy Table 3.3 Major Parameters of the Environmental Literacy Studies ( ) Table 3.4 Environmental Literacy Components in the Empirical Studies in China ( ) Table 4.1 Characteristics of Green Schools in Shenzhen Table 4.2 Curricular Arrangement of Environmental Education in Shenzhen Table 4.3 Social Practices for Environmental Education in Green Schools in Shenzhen Table 4.4 Overview of the Primary School Environmental Attitudes and Behavior Scale (PSEABS) Table 4.5 Cronbach s Alpha Coefficients on the PSEABS Table 4.6 Corrected Item-Total Correlations on the PSEABS Table 4.7 Rotated Factor Matrix on the Environmental Worldview Scale Table 4.8 Rotated Factor Matrix on the Environmental Sensitivity Scale Table 4.9 Rotated Factor Matrix on the Environmental Norms Scale Table 4.10 Contextual Information of the Respondents Table 4.11 Overview of Variables for Regression Analysis Table 5.1 Framework of School-Based Environmental Education in China Table 5.2 Adapted Version of Simmons (1995) Framework of Environmental Literacy Table 5.3 Description of Components of Environmental Literacy

12 xii Table 5.4 Components of Environmental Literacy in the School Curriculum Table 5.5 Affect in the School Curriculum Standards Table 5.6 Ecological Knowledge in the School Curriculum Standards Table 5.7 Socio-Political Knowledge in the School Curriculum Standards Table 5.8 Knowledge of Environmental Problems in the School Curriculum Standards Table 5.9 Skills in the School Curriculum Standards Table 5.10 Practices in the School Curriculum Standards Table 6.1 Overview of Descriptive Statistics by Scales Table 6.2 Item Scores and Frequency Distribution of the Responses on the PSEABS Table 6.3 Correlations among the Environmental Attitudes and Pro-Environmental Behavior Table 6.4 Regression Models Predicting Pro-Environmental Behavior (First Round) Table 6.5 Regression Models Predicting Pro-Environmental Behavior (Second Round) Table B1 Regression Models Predicting Pro-Environmental Behavior before Deleting Influential Outliers (N = 370) Table B2 Influential Outliers: Standardized Residuals and Standardized DfBetas

13 xiii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Hypothesized model of environmental behavior Figure 3.1 The Hines model of environmental behavior Figure 3.2 The Hungerford model of citizenship behavior Figure 3.3 The Stern VBN theory of environmentalism Figure 6.1 Path diagram for the effects of the predictor variables on pro-environmental behavior

14 xiv ACRONYMS CEEC CPCCC CSES EEI EEWC FEE GEYC GFEEI GHK GTZ HBF IIIEE PREMA NEPA SEPA MEP UN UNESCO Center for Environmental Education and Communications Communist Party of China Central Committee Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences Environmental Education Initiative for China Environmental Education Working Committee Foundation for Environmental Education Global Environmental Youth Convention Volkswagen Green Future Environmental Education Initiative Good Housekeeping Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit German Heinrich Böll Foundation International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics Profitable Environmental Management for Schools National Environmental Protection Agency State Environmental Protection Administration Ministry of Environmental Protection United Nations United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNEP YMP YMPiC United Nations Environment Programme Young Master Programme in Sustainable Development YMP in China