Copyright by Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek Toruń Publikacja dofinansowana przez Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego ISSN

Transcription

1 2012 Vol. 30. No. 4

2 Copyright by Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek Toruń 2012 Publikacja dofinansowana przez Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego ISSN Prenumeratę instytucjonalną można zamawiać w oddziałach firmy Kolporter S.A. na terenie całego kraju. Informacje pod numerem infolinii lub na stronie internetowej WYDAWNICTWO ADAM MARSZAŁEK, ul. Lubicka 44, Toruń tel./fax ; tel , info@marszalek.com.pl Drukarnia nr 1, ul. Lubicka 46, Toruń, tel

3 CONTENTS Contents Stanisław Juszczyk Editor s Preface DIDACTICS Jan Cincera, Silvia Kovacikova, Veronika Maskova, Richard Medal, Kristina Medalova The Green School: an Impact of Evaluation on Decision-Making about a Program Olga Vránová Difficult Learning Tasks in Biology Curriculum Alenka Lipovec & Darja Antolin Solving Problems on the Blackboard in Slovenian High Education Mathematics Classrooms Frantisek Lustig, Zdena Lustigova, Veronika Novotna, Martin Malčík The Role of E-Labs in Promoting the Conceptual Understanding of Science Students Sufiana K. Malik, Allah Bakhsh Malik Effects of the Learning Environment of Higher Education on Developing Students Self-Concept Mei-Hung Wu Construction of Mind Story in Decoding Reading : The Approach to and Empirical Teaching on Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephants A. Zarubica, D. Kostic, S. Rancic, Z. Popovic, M. Vasic, N. Radulovic An Improvement of the Eighth Grade Pupils Organic Chemistry Knowledge with the Use of a Combination of Educational Tools: An Evaluation Study Expectations and Effects

4 4 Contents Alper Ciltas The Effect of the Mathematical Modelling Method on the Level of Creative Thinking Olivera Gajić, Slobodanka Markov, Branka Radulović, Maja Stojanović The Analysis of Students Opinions on the Role of Knowledge Tests in Higher Education PEDEUTOLOGY Beata Pituła From the Research on Teachers Professional Identity Karel Paulík Job Satisfaction and Stress among Teachers Simoneta Babiaková Professional Activities of Primary Education Teachers in International Comparison Alena Doušková, Marian Trnka Effects of Teacher Trainers Interventions during Students Pre-School Teaching Practice Murat Taşdan Turkish Primary School Teachers Perceptions of Organizational Trust SOCIAL PEDAGOGY Petr Hlaďo Views on the Autonomy of Czech Students of Technically and Vocationally Oriented Secondary Schools and the Influence of the Significant Others on Career Decisionmaking Mihaela Brumen, Branka Čagran, Rok Grkinič Slovenian and Hungarian Young Learners Perceptions and Attitudes Concerning Their Neighbouring Countries Arezou Asghari, Rusnani Abdul Kadir, Habibah Elias & Maznah Baba Mediating Effect of Coping on the Relationship between Personality Types and Examination Anxiety

5 Contents 5 Marcin Gierczyk, Adam Roter Three Educational Worlds the USA, China, Poland (Report from Survey Research) Po-Chi Kao Exploring Personality Traits and Loneliness in University EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Learners MEDIA PEDAGOGY Tomasz Huk Opportunities and Risks of the Use of the Mobile Phone in the Process of Education Siew Hock Ow Detecting Dyslexia in Children Using a Computer-Aided Diagnosis System K.M. Berkimbaev, S.T. Nyshanova, B.T. Kerimbaeva, G. Meirbekova Formation of Information Competence of Future Specialists PEDAGOGY OF HEALTH Krzysztof Sas-Nowosielski, Joanna Ogrodnik Stages of Exercise Change and Screen Time in Adolescents CHRONICLE Jolana Hroncová Prof. PhDr. Ondrej Baláž, Founder of Slovak Social Pedagogy Lives to an Important Anniversary (To Be 90)

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7 CONTRIBUTORS Antolin Darja University of Maribor, Faculty of Education, Koroška c. 160, 2000 Maribor, Slovenija Asghari Arezou University Putra Malaysia Babiaková Simoneta (PaedDr. PhD.) Pedagogical faculty, Matej Bel University, Ružová 13, Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic Berkimbaev K.M. A.Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, Turkestan, Kazakhstan, ( , B. Sattarkhanov Avenue, 29), Brumen Mihaela (Ass. Prof. PhD.) Čagran Branka (Full Prof. PhD.) Ciltas Alper Cincera Jan Doušková Alena (Doc. PaedDr. PhD.) Department of Elementary Education, Faculty of Education, University of Maribor Maribor, Slovenia, Department of Teacher Education, Pedagogical Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia Department of Elementary Education, Kazım Karabekir Education Faculty, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey, Technical University of Liberec, 1. maje 870/14 Liberec Czech Republic, Department of Elementary and Pre- School Pedagogy, Matej Bel University Faculty of Education, Ružová 13, Banská Bystrica, Gajić Olivera Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Pedagogy, University of Novi Sad, dr Zorana Đinđića 2, Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia Gierczyk Marcin (MA) University of Silesia, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, ul. Grazyńskiego 53, Katowice, Poland Grkinič Rok Primary School IV Murska Sobota, Trstenjakova 71, Murska Sobota, Slovenia Habibah Elias University Putra Malaysia simoneta.babiakova@umb.sk kamalbey@mail.ru Phone: Mihaela.Brumen@uni-mb.si alperciltas@atauni.edu.tr jan.cincera@tul.cz Phone: adouskova@pdf.umb.sk

8 8 Contributors Hlaďo Petr (PhD.) Hroncová Jolana (Prof. PhDr. PhD.) Huk Tomasz (PhD.) Kerimbaeva B.T. Koniewski Maciej Kostic D. Kovacikova Silvia Lipovec Alenka Lustig Frantisek Lustigova Zdena Malčík Martin Malik Allah Bakhsh (Prof. PhD.) Malik Sufiana K. (PhD.) Institute of Lifelong Learning, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 5, CZ Brno Pedagogical faculty, Matej Bel University,Ružová 13, Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic, Silesian University, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, ul. Grażyńskiego 53, Katowice, Poland A.Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, Turkestan, Kazakhstan, ( , B. Sattarkhanov Avenue, 29), Phone: Instytut Socjologii, Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie, Zakład Socjologii maciej.koniewski@uj.edu.pl Gospodarki, Edukacji i Metod Badań Społecznych, Instytut Socjologii UJ, ul. Grodzka 52, Kraków University of Nis, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Nis, Serbia Technical University of Liberec, 1. maje 870/14 Liberec Czech Republic University of Maribor, Faculty of Education, Koroška c. 160, 2000 Maribor, Slovenija Associated professor at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Ke Karlovu 3, Praha 2, Czech Republic Head of the laboratory of online learning, MFF, Charles University in Prague, V Holesovickach 4, CZ Praha 8, Czech Republic Vice Dean at Faculty of Education, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic Head Education Department, National University of Modern Languages, (NUML), Islamabad, Pakistan, Address: Pedagoška fakulteta, Koroška cesta 160, Maribor, Slovenia Education Department, National University of Modern Languages, (NUML), Islamabad, Pakistan fl@plk.mff.cuni.cz lustigo@plk.mff.cuni.cz martin.malcik@osu.cz Fax number: , Office Phone number: Mobile phone: education_peace@yahoo.com

9 Contributors Markov Slobodanka Maskova Veronika Maznah Baba Medal Richard Medalova Kristina Mei-Hung Wu Meirbekova G. Murat Taşdan Novotna Veronika Nyshanova S.T. Ogrodnik Joanna (PhD.) Paulík Karel (Prof. PhD. CSc.) Pituła Beata (PhD. Hab) Po-Chi Kao (PhD.) Popovic Z. Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 4, Novi Sad Technical University of Liberec, 1. maje 870/14 Liberec Czech Republic University Putra Malaysia The Center for Environmental and Ethical Education, Zivica, Czech Republic The Center for Environmental and Ethical Education, Zivica General Education Center, National Formosa University, Taiwan A.Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, Turkestan, Kazakhstan, ( , B. Sattarkhanov Avenue, 29) Education Faculty, KafkasUniversity, Kars, Turkey Teacher at Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Karlovarska 48, Plzen, Czech Republic A.Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, Turkestan, Kazakhstan, ( , B. Sattarkhanov Avenue, 29) Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, ul. Mikołowska 72a, Katowice, Poland Department of Psychology and Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic Silesian University, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, Department of General Didactics and Pedeutology, ul. Grażyńskiego 53, Katowice, Poland Language Center, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Taoyuan County, Taiwan University of Nis, Faculty of Economics, Nis, Serbia sasaergg@gmail.com kamalbey@mail.ru Phone: murattasdan@gmail.com 9 veronika.novotna@lfp.cuni.cz kamalbey@mail.ru Phone: karel.paulik@osu.cz bpitula@o2.pl Phone: freedompath@gmail.com, mk@mail.cgu.edu.tw

10 10 Contributors Radulović Branka Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia Radulovic N. University of Nis, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Nis, Serbia Rancic S. University of Nis, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Nis, Serbia Roter Adam (PhD.) University of Silesia, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, ul. Grazyńskiego 53, Katowice, Poland Rusnani Abdul Kadir University Putra Malaysia Sas-Nowosielski Krzysztof (PhD. Hab.) Siew Hock Ow Stojanović Maja Trnka Marian (PaedDr. PhD.) Vasic M. Vránová Olga (PhD. RNDr.) Zarubica A. Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, ul. Mikołowska 72a, Katowice, Poland Department of Software Engineering, Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia Department of Elementary and Pre- School Pedagogy, Matej Bel University Faculty of Education, Ružová 13, Banská Bystrica University of Nis, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Nis, Serbia Department of Biology, Pedagogical Faculty of Palacký University, Purkrabská OO Olomouc University of Nis, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Nis, Serbia branka.radulovic@df.uns.ac.rs show@um.edu.my Phone.: Fax: ; mtrnka@pdf.umb.sk vranovao@pdfnw.upol.cz Phone:

11 Stanisław Juszczyk Editor in Chief Editor s Preface The fourth number of The New Educational Review in 2012 is the thirtieth issue of our journal since the start of its foundation in In this issue there are mainly papers from: the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Taiwan and Turkey, because our journal is open for presentation of scientific papers from all over the world. In the present issue the Editors Board have proposed the following subject sessions: Didactics, Pedeutology, Social Pedagogy, Media Pedagogy, Pedagogy of Health, and Review. The subject session Didactics consists of nine articles. Jan Cincera and his co-workers present the results of an evaluation of the Green School program the Slovak version of the international Eco-Schools program. The article by Olga Vránova contains knowledge obtained on the basis of task evaluation in current biology textbooks. Alenka Lipovec and Darja Antolin describe the results of a survey conducted among Slovenian elementary pre-service teachers about preferred teaching techniques used in high education mathematics classrooms. In their study Zdena Lustigova and her co-workers try to evaluate the efficiency of different types of e-labs, using Ma, Nickerson four dimensional models of educational goals. The purpose of the presented study by Safiana K. Malik and Allah Bakhsh Malik is to examine the effects of the learning environment of higher education on developing students self-concept. The paper by Mei-Hung Wu develops a novel approach, dubbed a Mind Story, to the thoughts of writers through decoding the writing and then constructing the deconstructed story into mind. The study by A. Zarubica and her co-workers presents a module of improved teaching with the involvement of interactive and cooperative methods of teaching. Alper Ciltas aims to examine the effect of the mathematical modelling method on students creative thinking levels. In their paper, Branka Radulovic and her co-workers consider the theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence of the method of assessment and

12 12 Stanisław Juszczyk evaluation by using knowledge tests, which significantly influence the quality of acquired knowledge. In the subject session Pedeutology there are five articles. The paper by Beata Pituła is a report on the pilot research on teacher professional identity where the Twenty Statement Test was applied to the group of 200 primary school teachers. The paper by Karel Paulík focuses on the connection between workload and job satisfaction among teachers. Simoneta Babiaková compares the research findings about teachers professional activities in three countries in terms of their content and time load during the workday and week. In their paper Alena Doušková and Marian Trnka analyse the quality of teaching practice in the study programme of Preschool and Elementary Pedagogy a Bachelor degree study. The purpose of the study presented by Murat Taşdan is to determine Turkish primary school teachers perceptions of organizational trust. In the subject session Social Pedagogy Petr Hlaďo presents an empirical study which deals with the career decision-making of Czech students of secondary technical and secondary vocational schools. Mihaela Brumen and her co-workers describe the results of their empirical research concerning Slovenian and Hungarian young learners (7 11 years of age) travel experiences, perceptions, and beliefs about their neighbouring countries (Austria, Croatia, Hungary, and Slovenia) and their citizens in order to enhance effective cross-border institutional cooperation. The study by Arezou Asghari and his co-workers is aimed at investigating the mediating effect of problem-focused strategy on the relationship between personality traits and state anxiety. Marcin Gierczyk and Adam Roter present the similarities and differences of the evaluated educational systems in the countries which seem to be, despite globalisation processes, culturally different, and sometimes even antipodal (the USA vs. China). Po-Chi Kao explores the relationships between personality traits, loneliness, and university students EFL (English as a foreign language) achievement. In the subject session Media Pedagogy Tomasz Huk reveals diagnostic research findings concerning teachers opinions in the scope of opportunities and risks of the use of mobile phones by students in meeting educational targets. The paper by Siew Hock Ow describes a study on the use of a computer-aided system, MyAddyXia, to diagnose dyslexia among children. K.M. Berkimbaev and his co-workers deal with using information communication technology at different levels of English courses at A. Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, Kazakhstan. In the subject session Pedagogy of Health Krzysztof Sas-Nowosielski and Joanna Ogrodnik focus on determining whether persons at various stages of

13 Editor s Preface 13 motivational readiness for leisure physical activity differ by the length of time spent in front of a TV/PC computer screen and attitudes towards such entertainment. In the subject session Review we publish a characteristic of the scientific work of prof. Ondrej Baláž, who was the founder of the Slovak social pedagogy. The text has been prepared by prof. Jolana Hroncová from Matej Bell University. We hope that this edition, like previous ones, will encourage new readers not only from the Middle European countries to participate in an open international discussion. On behalf of the Editors Board I would like to invite representatives of different pedagogical sub-disciplines and related sciences to publish their texts in The New Educational Review.

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15 Didactics

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17 Jan Cincera, Silvia Kovacikova, Veronika Maskova, Richard Medal, Kristina Medalova Czech Republic The Green School: an Impact of Evaluation on Decision-Making about a Program Abstract The paper presents the results of an evaluation (N = 400) of The Green School program the Slovak version of the international Eco-Schools program. The goal of the evaluation was to assess whether pupils from schools awarded the Green Flag demonstrated a higher level of pro-environmental behaviour and interpreted the program in a different way in comparison with pupils from schools which were new in the program. The results suggested that the certification system led teachers to misinterpretation of the program and did not motivate them to adequate involvement of pupils. On the basis of the evaluation, the national program coordinator introduced a new certification system and a system of consultants who help interpret the program to teachers. Key words: evaluation, Green School, pupils involvement, pro-environmental behavior. Introduction Program evaluation has its roots in the United States at the time of the economic crisis in the 1930s and then after World War II when the government started to support various social programs as a means of achieving its social policy goals. Because supporting such programs was financially demanding, evidence of effectiveness of such a policy had to be documented. As a result, the theory and practice of program

18 18 J. Cincera, S. Kovacikova,V. Maskova, R. Medal, K. Medalova evaluation was elaborated and spread all over the world (Rossi, Lipsey & Freeman, 2004; Fitzpatrick, Sanders & Worthen, 2004; Smutek, 2009). Although a plethora of studies evaluating various types of programs was published, the question of whether the respective evaluation can actually be practically used has not attracted appropriate attention yet. The usefulness for practical usage, however, is often crucial for assessing the quality of formative evaluation that is usually based on pragmatic perspective (Patton, 2002; Patton, 2008). This is why the paper introduces not only the methodology and results of program evaluation but also the impact the evaluation had on the subsequent decision-making process about the further shaping of the program. The goal of the paper is, on the example of the evaluation of the environmental education program The Green School, to highlight the importance of evaluation for shaping an educational program. Green School Program One of the most widely spread school environmental education programs is the Eco-Schools program coordinated by the international non-profit organization Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). The program was established in 1994 with the aim of encouraging young people to participate in seeking solutions for sustainable development. It is currently spread world-wide, running in 47 countries, with approximately 35,000 schools participating (FEE, 2012, Sdružení TEREZA, 2012). Since 2004, the program (called The Green School ) has been implemented in the Slovak Republic. It is implemented within the Union of Environmental- Education Organisations, Špirála, and coordinated by the Centre of Environmental and Ethical Education, Živica. Nowadays, 216 kindergartens, elementary and secondary schools participate in the project. The goal of the program is to increase the level of environmental awareness by involving pupils in class, school and community-based actions. This occurs through the integration of pupils into the process of improving environmental school management (FEE, 2012). The work with pupils is directed according to a methodological framework of seven consecutive steps, during which the pupils and the teachers first create an EcoTeam (called Kolegium ), then they analyze the environmental situation of the school, plan, design and monitor changes, alter the school s curriculum, share their experiences with the local community and ultimately create an EcoCode together.

19 The Green School: an Impact of Evaluation on Decision-Making about a Program 19 Abroad, the Eco-School project has been evaluated several times. Evaluations have analyzed the impact of the program on pupils, schools and the way the program was interpreted by pupils and teachers. In an evaluation conducted in Ireland in 2001 (O Mahony & Fitzgerald, 2001), schools awarded the Green Flag and schools new to the program were compared. The research convincingly showed that the awarded schools produced a smaller amount of waste, their pupils recycled more material, participated more often in environmental projects, discussed environmental problems and bought environment-friendly products. A similar evaluation design was used in the evaluation of the program in the Czech Republic (Cincera, 2008). The pupils from the awarded schools demonstrated a higher level of pro-environmental behavior and internal locus of control in comparison with the pupils from the schools new to the program. The way the program is interpreted by the teachers from the participating schools was analyzed in Scotland by Pirrie et al. (2006). According to the respondents, the program improved the schools status in the local community, helped with re-evaluation of the schools policies in the area of natural resources use, influenced the primary schools curriculum and encouraged the pupils for higher involvement in school projects. Rosenberg (2008) found similar patterns in the program evaluation in South Africa. On the one hand, he mentioned a positive impact of the program on school curriculum, but on the other hand, the implementation of the program might be challenged by broader problems connected with the quality of educational processes in schools, like the level of planning, school management or teachers competencies. Wards and Schnack (2003) posed the question of the sense of the program. Should the program be focused more on environmental school management or on environmental education of pupils? Should the program lead pupils towards prestated patterns of pro-environmental behavior or should it develop more general action competencies? How should pupils be involved (Mogensen & Mayer, 2005)? Similar questions framed the evaluation of the Slovak program Green School conducted in The evaluation reflected the national coordinator s dissatisfaction of with the way the program worked. Although The Green School respected international rules of the Eco-schools program, it elaborated its own certification scheme for awarding the Green Flag. To be awarded, schools had to achieve a specific number of points. The following criteria were scored: Educational process (e.g., qualification of the school environmental education coordinator, school projects);

20 20 J. Cincera, S. Kovacikova,V. Maskova, R. Medal, K. Medalova Water management (recycling, savings); Waste management (paper consumption, recycling, composting); Energy management (use of solar energy, consumption); Traffic (support of cycling, car restriction); Care for nature (flowers, use of the school area); Nature protection and human animal treatment (adoption of an animal); Use of environment-friendly materials and food. To be awarded, schools had to put a lot of effort in the area of environmental management and they had to include environmental education in their curriculum. Regardless of that, do the pupils from awarded schools have a higher level of environmental competencies than the pupils from non-certificated schools? It was a highlight of the program evaluation in Methodology The evaluation concerned two questions: Do the pupils from the awarded schools demonstrate a higher level of responsible environmental behavior than the pupils from the schools new to the program? Do the pupils from the awarded schools interpret the program differently from the pupils from the schools new to the program? For the evaluation, all the 7th grades of the Slovak elementary schools that were awarded or were holding the Green Flag in 2008/9 were selected. The control group consisted of the 7th grades of the elementary schools that joined the program in the school year 2008/9. Although some of the schools did not accept participation in the research, data from 70% of the experimental group and 83% of the control group were collected. Regionally, the schools in the sample were spread all around the Slovak Republic (without the capital, Bratislava). In the control group, the size of the cities included in the sample ranged from 928 to 234 thousand inhabitants, in the experimental group it was from 879 to 237 thousand inhabitants. The average size of the cities in the sample was 49,166 for the control and 61,197 for the experimental group. The test of responsible environmental behaviour was designed on the basis of Irish and Czech evaluation (O Mahony & Fitzgerald, 2001; Činčera, 2008). It consisted of eight items measuring various forms of pro-environmental behaviour in the eco-management category (Hungerford & Volk, 1990). The respondents stated whether they recycled waste at school, whether they spent some of their

21 The Green School: an Impact of Evaluation on Decision-Making about a Program 21 leisure time protecting the environment, turned off the water while brushing their teeth, turned off the computer at home after having finished their work, turned off the lights after leaving a room, drank tap water or brought their own bag when they went shopping (cf. Appendix A). The respondents chose their answers on a 5-point Likert scale from never to always. Number of schools (population) Table 1. Sample description Number of schools (sample) Sample (%) N Boys Girls Age (mean) EcoTeam members (%) Experimental Control The content validity was discussed with the national program coordinator. The internal reliability calculated from a pre-test in the experimental group (N = 275) was Cronbach s alpha = Although such reliability is not perfect and may indicate minor problems with the internal reliability of the instrument, it is still acceptable (Mertens, 2010). The statistical significance was analyzed with an unpaired t-test on alpha = The instrument was administered by school coordinators, according to given written instructions. In the qualitative part of the instrument (1 item), the respondents were asked to describe the strongest experience from the Green School program (cf. Appendix B). The answers were coded and categorized. The selected text segments were classified into one of the four categories: Processes, containing reflexion on various activities connected with the program; Outcomes, where the pupils evaluated specific outputs and effects of the program; Other relevant comments, the smallest category containing reflection of other concepts connected with the program, like social interaction with their peers and teachers that occurred during the program, or general attitudes towards the program, which were saturated by both positive and negative evaluation of the program as a whole; No idea, where the respondents remarks did not have any connection with the program, free associations with the name of the program or simple not relevant information was included. The interpretation of the qualitative data might have been influenced by the evaluator s personality. The evaluator was a Czech person teaching at university and

22 22 J. Cincera, S. Kovacikova,V. Maskova, R. Medal, K. Medalova focusing on the theory and practice of environmental education. The credibility of the interpretation was further verified by the Slovak program coordinator. Results The results of the quantitative part were surprising. The pupils from the schools new in the program demonstrated a statistically significant higher level of proenvironmental behavior than the pupils from the awarded schools. Table 2. Differences in pro-environmental behavior between awarded (experimental) and new-in-the-program (control) schools N Mean SD T P Experimental < Control The pupils from the awarded schools scored significantly higher only in school waste recycling (p = 0.02). In contrast, the pupils from the control group demonstrated a higher level of participation in leisure time conservation activities (p < ), turning off lights when leaving a room (p < ) and bringing their own bags for shopping (p = 0.03). As expected, there were differences in the interpretation of the program between both groups. Surprisingly, the respondents from the control group reflected experience with the program outcomes relatively more often than the respondents from the experimental group. No comments that could be categorized as relations or attitudes towards the program appeared in the control group. In the other categories, both groups were comparable. Table 3. Comparison of absolute and relative frequency of respondents comments describing the strongest experience from the program Category Experimental (N) Experimental (%) Control (N) Control (%) Processes Outcomes Other relevant comments No idea