Teacher Perspectives on Environmental Education and School Improvement

Transcription

1 Teacher Perspectives o Evirometal Educatio ad School Improvemet Fial Report November, 1999 Prepared by: Dr. Ae R. Kearey Research o People o Their Eviromets th Aveue East Seattle, WA Submitted to: Model Liks Evirometal Educatio ad School Improvemet Program North Maso School District #403 P.O. Box 167 Belfair, WA ad The Evergree Ceter for Educatioal Improvemet Evergree State College Library 2211 Olympia, WA 98505

2 Dr. Ae Kearey If you would like a copy of this report, please cotact the Evergree Ceter for Educatioal Improvemet, Evergree State College, Library 2211, Olympia, WA

3 Table of Cotets ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... ii INTRODUCTION... 1 Study Overview... 2 PHASE ONE... 3 PHASE ONE METHODS... 3 Participats... 3 Measuremet Istrumets... 3 Aalysis... 5 PHASE ONE RESULTS... 5 Overall Themes: Evirometal Educatio... 5 Overall Themes: School Improvemet... 6 Perceived Relatioships Betwee Evirometal Educatio ad School Improvemet PHASE ONE SUMMARY PHASE TWO PHASE TWO METHODS Participats Measuremet Istrumet Aalysis PHASE TWO RESULTS Descriptives Familiarity with EE ad EE Guidelies EE ad Istructioal Strategies EE ad Curriculum Itegratio Perceived Goals of EE Perceived Impacts of EE Evirometal Attitudes ad Iterest Perceived Barriers to EE CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Coceptualizatios of EE EE ad School Improvemet Target Populatios REFERENCES APPENDIX A: PHASE ONE INTERVIEW PROTOCOL APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE... 44

4 List of Tables TABLE 1. COMMON THEMES AND SUB-THEMES, REFLECTING PARTICIPANT CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF EE... 9 TABLE 2. COMMON THEMES AND SUB-THEMES, REFLECTING PARTICIPANT CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT TABLE 3. PERCEIVED RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT TABLE 4. AMOUNT OF EE TRAINING TABLE 5. GRADE LEVELS TAUGHT BY EE AND NON-EE RESPONDENTS TABLE 6. SUBJECTS TAUGHT BY EE AND NON-EE RESPONDENTS TABLE 7. LOCATION OF SCHOOLS IN WHICH RESPONDENTS TEACH TABLE 8. INCOME LEVEL OF STUDENT BODY AT SCHOOLS IN WHICH RESPONDENTS TEACH TABLE 9. MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR EE AND NON-EE TEACHERS WITHIN EACH ATTITUDE AND INTEREST VARIABLE TABLE 10. USE OF TEACHING STRATEGIES BY EE AND NON-EE TEACHERS TABLE 11. LEVEL OF TRAINING ON TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR EE AND NON-EE TEACHERS TABLE 12. CURRICULUM INTEGRATION THEMES AND CONCEPTS TABLE 13. CITED VALUES OF USING AN INTEGRATED CURRICULUM TABLE 14. RESPONDENTS BELIEF IN THE ENVIRONMENT AS AN EFFECTIVE CURRICULUM INTEGRATOR TABLE 15. PERCEIVED VALUE OF EE AS A CURRICULUM INTEGRATOR TABLE 16. NON-ENVIRONMENTAL THEMES THAT TEACHERS BELIEVE ARE GOOD FOR INTEGRATING THE CURRICULUM TABLE 17. FACTOR ANALYSIS RESULTS: PERCEIVED GOALS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION TABLE 18. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EE AND NON-EE TEACHERS IN TERMS OF PERCEIVED GOALS OF EE TABLE 19. PERCEIVED IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION TABLE 20. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EE AND NON-EE TEACHERS IN TERMS OF PERCEIVED IMPACTS OF EE TABLE 21. MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR EE AND NON-EE TEACHERS WITHIN EACH ATTITUDE AND INTEREST VARIABLE TABLE 22. FACTORS THAT MAY ENCOURAGE NON-EE TEACHERS TO INCLUDE EE IN THEIR INSTRUCTION... 36

5 List of Figures FIGURE 1. NON-EE TEACHER S 3CM REPRESENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION....7 FIGURE 2. 3CM REPRESENTATION FROM A TEACHER WITH MODERATE EXPERIENCE IN EE...7 FIGURE 3. 3CM REPRESENTATION FROM AN EE EXPERT...8

6 Ackowledgemets A great umber of idividuals provided guidace ad support for this project. The idea of explorig teachers perspectives o evirometal educatio ad school improvemet came from Marcia Wiley at the North Maso School District Model Liks Program. Fudig was provided by the Model Liks Program ad the Evergree Ceter for Educatioal Improvemet ad was orchestrated by Marcia ad Magda Costatio. The followig idividuals provided guidace o the ature ad scope of the study: Joh Bergvall, Eri Caldwell, Rhoda Huter, Bev Iseso, Margaret Paterso, Margaret Tudor, ad Debbie Wig. Thaks to the followig idividuals for their isights: Toy Agell, Martha Avery, Lye Ferguso, Jea MacGregor, Mike Mercer, Martha Moroe, Kathlee Plato, Bora Simmos, Laurie Usher, ad Rick Wilke. Lye Adair provided excellet support o Phase Oe logistics. Gary Burris, Julie Bradley, Dakota Iyoswa, Joae Johso, Kate MacPhearso, ad Sue Shao helped idetify study participats. Diae Evas was particularly helpful i orgaizig the Phase Two mailig lists. Shawa Micic provided help with data etry. A special thaks to Margaret Tudor ad the Washigto State Fish ad Wildlife Departmet for providig the posters for survey participats. Fially, thaks to the may teachers who participated i iterviews ad completed the questioaire. i

7 Executive Summary How do teachers coceptualize evirometal educatio (EE)? Do they perceive a lik betwee EE ad school improvemet? A 2-phase study coducted i Washigto State examied these questios. Phase Oe cosisted of i-depth iterviews with teachers with varyig levels of experiece with EE ad with experts i the field of EE. The cetral questios addressed i Phase Oe were the followig: How is EE coceptualized by teachers? Do teachers coceptualizatios differ based o their experiece with EE? Do teachers coceptualizatios differ from how experts i the field uderstad EE? Do teachers perceive a relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet factors (i.e., impacts o teachig ad studet learig)? Phase Oe results idicate that teachers do have a relatively broad coceptualizatio of EE but that the perceived lik betwee EE ad school improvemet is ot strog. This fidig suggests that opportuities exist to tie EE to the cocepts of curriculum itegratio ad effective teachig strategies i teachers mids. These results led to may ew questios, some of which were addressed i Phase Two. Phase Two cosisted of a survey of grade 4-8 teachers who were idetified as EE teachers ad a radom sample of grade 4-8 teachers from 6 differet Educatioal Service Districts (ESDs). The cetral questios addressed i Phase Two were the followig: What is the relatioship of EE to itegrated curriculum? What is the relatioship of EE to effective teachig strategies? Do teachers who practice EE ad those who do ot differ i terms of perceptios, attitudes, ad demographics? What do teachers who do ot practice EE believe would ecourage them to iclude EE i their istructio? Phase Two results (based o 295 resposes) suggest that: Overall, substatial differeces do ot exist betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of their uderstadigs of EE, attitudes toward the eviromet, ad demographic factors. EE is related to school improvemet factors that teachers ad others care about, but teachers may ot perceive that such a relatioship exists. May teachers do ot have a cocrete image of how EE ad curriculum itegratio are related. Icludig traiig i effective teachig strategies alog with traditioal EE traiig may ecourage the adoptio of EE. ii

8 Itroductio The idea for this study came from the Model Liks program based at the North Maso School District i Washigto State. Sice 1995, the program has used evirometal educatio (EE) as a tool to itegrate school curriculum ad help implemet Washigto s Essetial Academic Learig Requiremets (ELRs) i readig, writig, commuicatio, ad mathematics. Recet research o the impacts of the program (Yap, 1998) suggests that a EE-based curriculum, properly implemeted, may ideed positively impact studet achievemet. A positive relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet (i.e., improvemets i teachig ad studet learig) has bee show i other studies, icludig a atiowide study coducted by the State Educatio ad Eviromet Roudtable (Lieberma ad Hoody, 1998). This largely qualitative study explored the implicatios of curriculum based o the otio of the eviromet as a itegratig cotext (EIC) for studet learig ad istructio. Results showed that the beefits of EIC-based programs for studets are broad ragig ad iclude: Reduced disciplie ad classroom maagemet problems; Icreased egagemet ad ethusiasm for learig; Better relatioships amog teachers ad betwee teachers ad studets; Greater pride ad owership i accomplishmets; Better performace o some stadardized measures of academic achievemet i readig, writig, math, sciece, ad social studies. Despite this evidece for a positive relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet, it is uclear whether the majority of teachers perceive that such a relatioship exists. For example, oe reaso the Model Liks report cited for low levels of program implemetatio at some schools was the apparet lack of awareess ad uderstadig o the part of school staff that EE is a useful tool for itegratig curriculum ad implemetig Washigto s ELRs. The report oted that: These school staff failed to see the relatioship betwee EE ad the improvemet of teachig ad learig (p. iii). The Model Liks report led to iterest i studyig whether or ot teachers do, i fact, perceive a lik betwee EE ad school improvemet, particularly with respect to curriculum itegratio. As discussio of a study pla progressed, it became clear that a more fudametal questio would eed to be aswered first: that is, how do teachers uderstad, or coceptualize, EE itself? I particular, are teachers coceptualizatios differet from the coceptualizatios of EE traiers ad program coordiators? Traiig or commuicatio aimed at helpig teachers to see the lik betwee EE ad school improvemet may have little effect if teachers images of what EE is differ sigificatly from the commuicator or traier. I particular, some have suggested that teachers may hold fairly oe-dimesioal perspectives o EE, coceptualizig it, for example, as a set of fieldtrips, evirometal sciece (cotet-based), or evirometal advocacy. If ideed teachers coceptualizatios of EE are abbreviated they may provide little room for likages to school improvemet. I this case, these coceptualizatios must first be broadeed before the likage ca be uderstood. 1

9 The study was thus coducted i 2 phases: i the first phase data o teacher coceptualizatios of EE were collected ad the perceived relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet was explored; i the secod phase, relatioships betwee EE ad school improvemet were studied i more detail. Study Overview A 2-phase study was coducted of teacher perceptios of EE ad their perceptios of the relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet (i.e., impacts o teachig ad studet learig). Study participats were Washigto State teachers of grades 4-8. Phase Oe was a i-depth exploratio of both teacher ad EE expert coceptualizatios of EE ad of the perceived relatioships betwee EE ad school improvemet. Phase Two built o Phase Oe by surveyig a broad rage of EE ad No-EE teachers. The survey further explored the relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet, particularly with respect to itegrated curriculum ad effective teachig strategies. I additio, the survey explored differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of perceptios, attitudes, ad demographics. 2

10 PHASE ONE The purpose of Phase Oe was to explore the followig questios: How is EE coceptualized by teachers of grades 4 to 8? Do their coceptualizatios differ based o their level of experiece with EE? Do teachers coceptualizatios differ from how experts i the field uderstad EE? Idetifyig such differeces may highlight importat themes to iclude i EE traiig. Do teachers perceive a relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet factors (i.e., impacts o teachig ad studet learig)? Phase Oe Methods Phase Oe was exploratory ad cosisted of i-depth iterviews which icluded 2 ope-eded cogitive mappig tasks ad ope-eded questios. Participats Study participats icluded teachers with varyig levels of experiece with EE ad experts i the field of EE. A total of 12 Washigto teachers of grades 4 to 8 participated; teachers were icluded from rural, suburba, ad urba areas. Teachers experiece with EE raged from 0 to 15 years. Teachers who did EE were idetified by coordiators of 4 differet EE programs. Teachers who did ot do EE were idetified by coordiators of o-ee teacher programs. Nie experts i the field of EE i Washigto State participated i the study. These experts coordiated EE programs, coducted EE traiig, ad/or were ivolved i EE policy withi the state. Experts were idetified through a sowball samplig approach: iitial cotacts were made withi the Washigto State EE commuity ad these participats were asked for additioal cotacts. The itet was to sample from a broad rage of perspectives ad cotacts were specifically asked to idetify experts who may have diverget views of EE. Measuremet Istrumets Cogitive mappig tasks ad ope-eded questios were admiistered to each participat idividually durig the course of a i-perso iterview. Iterviews lasted from 1 hour ad 15 miutes to 2 hours. Cogitive Mappig Task Two separate ope-eded coceptual cotet cogitive map (3CM) tasks (Kearey ad Kapla, 1997) were used to assess each participats coceptualizatio of evirometal educatio ad school improvemet. The 3CM method is a meas of assessig metal models that is, how a idividual or group thiks about, or coceptualizes, a particular topic. Data obtaied through a 3CM task provide iformatio o the factors a idividual perceives to be relevat to a topic ad the relatioships amog these factors. The 3

11 techique is particularly effective i measurig people s uderstadig of abstract issues ad hece is suitable for the ivestigatio of teachers coceptualizatios of evirometal educatio ad school improvemet. 3CM is a cardsortig approach ad ivolves 3 major steps: (1) Participat idetifies importat factors/cocepts perceived to be relevat to the topic. These factors are recorded o a series of small cards or sticky-otes. (2) Participat groups the cards i a way that depicts perceived relatioships amog factors. (3) Participat labels groups, idicatig why factors were clustered together. The result is a visual display, or map, of how the participat coceptualizes the topic. Cotet aalysis of a group of maps ca provide iformatio o how that group, as a whole, coceptualizes the topic. Participats were first asked to complete their maps regardig evirometal educatio. They were asked to: Imagie that oe of your studet teachers with o experiece i evirometal educatio comes to you ad asks what EE is all about. 1 From your perspective, what are the key compoets of EE? What would a good EE program look like? What would EE mea for the studets (what would they be doig/ learig)? What would EE mea for istructio? Based o this questio, participats idetified compoets of EE ad the completed the 3CM task as described. Followig the 3CM o evirometal educatio, participats completed a secod 3CM task o school improvemet. This task bega with the followig questio: There has bee a lot of talk i this state about the eed to improve schools. What do you see as they key compoets of a school improvemet effort? What are the importat factors to cosider? Ope-Eded Questios After participats had completed both 3CM tasks, they were asked whether they saw a relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet ad, if so, how they were related. I additio, participats were asked about the followig: 2 Educatioal backgroud Ivolvemet ad traiig i EE Perceived barriers to doig EE What led to their iterest i EE (for those practicig EE) Traiig specific to school improvemet Age 1 EE experts were asked to imagie, That oe of the teachers from the district with o experiece i EE 2 The complete iterview protocol ca be foud i Appedix A. 4

12 Aalysis Cotet aalyses of the 3CM data (i.e., both the idividual items metioed ad the categorizatio schemes for these items) were performed to idetify geeral themes ad sub-themes related to EE ad school improvemet. Followig idetificatio of the geeral themes ad sub-themes, differeces ad similarities betwee the teachers ad the experts i terms of frequecy of metio of these themes was computed usig the followig procedure: 1) Idividual items i each participat s 3CM orgaizatio were coded as belogig to oe of the geeral themes or sub-themes or to other. 2) For each geeral theme ad sub-theme, the umber of participats i each group (teachers ad experts) who icluded at least oe item from that category was recorded. Resposes to ope-eded questios, i particular the questio of perceived relatioships betwee evirometal educatio ad school improvemet were also subjected to cotet aalysis. Commo resposes were idetified ad the percetages of teachers ad experts who metioed those resposes were calculated. Phase Oe Results Overall Themes: Evirometal Educatio Examples of several participats 3CM tasks for evirometal educatio are show i Figures 1 through 3. Cotet aalysis of all participats 3CM items ad categories resulted i the idetificatio of eleve geeral EE themes: Cocrete Cotet, Abstract Cotet, Academic Areas, Teachig Approach, Where EE Takes Place, Studet-Cetered, Ivolvemet, Gaiig Evirometal Kowledge, Fosterig Pro-Evirometal Values ad Behavior, Geeral Skill Developmet, ad Explorig Values ad Perspectives. These themes represet how the participats, as a group, frame the topic of evirometal educatio. It is importat to ote that idividual participats would likely oly have addressed a portio of these themes i their ow 3CM orgaizatio. That is, ot all of the geeral themes, or sub-themes, were cosidered relevat by all of the participats. The geeral themes ad sub-themes are show i Table 1, where they have bee grouped ito categories for ease of presetatio. The iclusio rates of items withi each theme ad sub-theme are show for both teachers ad experts. Cotrary to expectatios, teachers who did ot practice evirometal educatio or who had little experiece with evirometal educatio did ot have oe-dimesioal coceptualizatios of evirometal educatio. I other words, all teachers, regardless of experiece had a relatively broad view of evirometal educatio oe that exteded beyod EE as ature cotet or EE as outdoor activities (see Figure 1). I geeral, however, the depth of participats coceptualizatios icreased with icreasig experiece. That is, more experiece was positively correlated with a greater umber of both 3CM categories ad items. As ca be see from Table 1, there were some differeces betwee teachers ad EE experts i terms of the percetage of participats from each group who icluded particular themes ad sub-themes is their 3CM arragemet. I terms of the cotet of evirometal educatio, experts ad teachers were i geeral agreemet, although experts were more likely tha teachers to view Social Studies ad Developmet as importat compoets of EE. There was geeral agreemet o the goals of EE, with the 5

13 exceptio of Geeral Skill Developmet; experts were more likely tha teachers to metio factors related to geeral skill developmet such as problem solvig skills, learig about cosesus, ad developig civic literacy as importat compoets of evirometal educatio. While both teachers ad experts agreed that fosterig pro-evirometal values ad behavior was a importat goal of EE, experts emphasized actio-takig ( learig what kids ca do to make a differece ad takig actio ) ad persoal resposibility more tha teachers. Overall Themes: School Improvemet Twelve geeral themes were idetified through cotet aalysis of the 3CM items ad categories i participats school improvemet 3CM orgaizatios: Goals ad Expectatios, School Eviromet, Curriculum, Studet Skills, Assessmet, Resources ad Traiig, Istructioal Approach, Teacher Needs, Iteral Ivolvemet, Exteral Ivolvemet, Fudig ad Icetives, ad Staff Support for Chage. Agai, these themes represet how the participats, as a group, frame the topic of school improvemet. Table 2 shows the geeral themes ad sub-themes as well as the iclusio rates for teachers ad experts. Overall, there were very few differeces betwee EE experts ad teachers 3CM arragemets. This results is perhaps ot surprisig as the EE experts were ot ecessarily experts i the field of school improvemet ad thus would ot ecessarily be expected to have a differet uderstadig of the domai tha teachers. 6

14 STUDY Habitats Water Aimals Learig about how we re affectig the eviromet WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN Teachers, kids, ad commuity workig together Kowig what s available to you (i terms of resources, sites) HOW EE IS USED IN THE CLASSROOM Not just sciece fits across curriculum Practical learig Figure 1. 3CM data represetig a o-ee teacher s cogitive map of evirometal educatio. Importat perceived cocepts (represeted by lower-case boxes), cocept orgaizatio, ad category headigs (represeted by upper-case boxes) were all geerated by the participat. TEACHER PREPARATION Teacher traiig Teachers settig stage ad gettig kids ivolved Historical use of the eviromet STUDENT INVOLVEMENT: BACKGROUND Nature/Life cycles Balace of ature STUDENT INVOLVEMENT: EXPERIENCE FUTURE COMMITMENT Stewardship Sustaied ecology of a area Ma s impact o ature Nature s importace to ma Spiritual quality of the eviromet Observatio of the diversity of life Experietial ivolvemet i ature (beig outside) Lear to appreciate aesthetic quality of ature Figure 2. 3CM data from a teacher with moderate experiece i EE. 7

15 SCIENCE Chemistry, biology, physics, earth sciece Uderstadig atural systems UNDERSTANDING FACTS AND CONCEPTS CURRICULUM DESIGN AND STRUCTURE Curriculum itegratio Relatioship betwee atural systems ad our eeds How our eeds are liked to techology UNDERSTAND OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH WORLD Patters/ systems/ iterrelatioships Balace of ature Diversity Problem-based Helpig studets uderstad choices ad implicatios Uderstadig the resources we use SOCIAL Political, ecoomic, historical cotet Uderstad mamade structures ad lik to eviromet Relevace Focus is ot o values or ethics Commuity ivolvemet INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS Costructivist learig Brai-based learig Figure 3. 3CM data from a EE Expert. 8

16 Table 1. Commo themes ad sub-themes, reflectig participat coceptualizatios of EE. The iclusio rates listed are the percetages of participats who icluded at least oe item i their 3CM represetatio related to the give theme or sub-theme. Major Theme Sub-Themes Expert Iclusio Rate CONTENT: Cocrete Cotet 37% Developmet 37% Lad use 13% Wildlife ad habitat 13% Water Teacher Iclusio Rate 33% 8% 8% 8% Abstract Cotet Systems Nature cycle Diversity Sustaiability 50% 37% 0% 0% 58% 8% 16% Academic Areas 88% 67% Sciece 75% 41% Social Studies 62% History 37% 16% Readig 12% Math 12% 16% Writig 0% 16% PROCESS: Teachig Approach Where EE Takes Place Itegrated/ Iterdiscipliary Hads-o learig Problem/Project-based Iquiry-based approach Teachers as facilitators Meetig differet learig styles Local issues Real-world experiece Outdoor experiece Scale 87% 62% 12% 12% 62% 0% 37% 0% 58% 33% 41% 16% 16% 8% 75% 16% 41% 16% 9

17 Major Theme Sub-Themes Expert Iclusio Rate PROCESS: Studet Cetered 75% Relevace to kids lives 37% Egagig kids 62% Teacher Iclusio Rate 41% 33% 16% Ivolvemet 37% 50% Commuity/Paretal ivolvemet 41% Collaboratio 8% GOALS: Gaiig Evirometal Kowledge Developig a awareess of the eviromet 87% 37% 91% 16% Learig about impact o eviromet 62% 83% Developig evirometal literacy 8% Fosterig Pro-Evirometal Values ad Behavior Impactig values/attitudes 87% 62% 83% 66% Stewardship 41% Learig what kids ca do to make a differece 62% 8% Behavioral chage 0% Takig actio 8% Persoal resposibility 37% 8% Geeral Skill Developmet 75% 33% Problem solvig skills 50% 0% Learig about cosesus 37% 0% Developig civic literacy 0% Critical thikig skills 37% 16% Commuicatio skills 37% 16% EE as tool to meet academic stadards 8% Other geeral skills 50% 8% Explorig Values ad Perspectives Explorig ow values 50% 50% 33% 16% Ackowledgig differet poits of view 10

18 Table 2. Commo themes ad sub-themes, reflectig participat coceptualizatios of school improvemet. The iclusio rates listed are the percetages of participats who icluded at least oe item i their 3CM represetatio related to the give theme or sub-theme. Major Theme Sub-Themes Expert Iclusio Rate LARGER ENVIRONMENT: Goals ad Expectatios 75% Clear targets/expectatios 50% Settig goals 50% Teacher accoutability Needs assessmet 0% Teacher Iclusio Rate 66% 41% 8% 16% 41% School Eviromet Smaller class size Safety Buildig/ Physical ifrastructure Improved aesthetics Buildig commuity Positive school eviromet Valuig educatio/ learig 50% 12% 0% 0% 12% 0% 75% 33% 0% 16% 8% 16% 16% STUDENT LEARNING: Curriculum Studet Skills Assessmet Itegrated curriculum Holistic educatio Relate curriculum to state stadards Curriculum desig Curriculum flexibility Subject area focus Improve Studet Achievemet Match assessmet to goals Coectio betwee plaig ad assessmet Adequate assessmet of studets 75% 37% 12% 62% 0% 75% 75% 12% 41% 16% 16% 8% 8% 50% 16% 8% 50% 16% 11

19 Major Theme Sub-Themes Expert Iclusio Rate TEACHING: Resources ad Traiig 87% Teacher preparatio 50% Professioal developmet 75% Teachers support/ materials 37% Attractig good teachers 12% Resources ad techology Teacher Iclusio Rate 83% 16% 58% 50% 0% 16% Istructioal Approach Teacher Needs Iquiry-based educatio Project/Problem-based learig Real-world experiece New/ Effective teachig strategies Meetig differet learig eeds Plaig time Flexible schedules 62% 12% 37% 0% 50% 12% 37% 58% 0% 16% 8% 16% 58% 33% 16% INVOLVEMENT: Iteral Ivolvemet Exteral Ivolvemet Decisio makig by teachers ad studets Collaboratio/ commuicatio Kids takig care of school Commuicatio across schools Paret ivolvemet Commuity Ivolvemet Usig commuity resources Uderstad public expectatios Political eviromet 62% 0% 87% 50% 50% 66% 33% 33% 16% 75% 16% 41% 50% 8% 0% 0% SUPPORT: Fudig ad Icetives 37% 50% Staff Support for Chage 12% 16% 12

20 Perceived Relatioships Betwee Evirometal Educatio ad School Improvemet All of the experts ad 11 of the 12 teachers said they perceived a relatioship betwee evirometal educatio ad school improvemet. Twety -five percet of the teachers, however, were uable to cite cocrete relatioships betwee EE ad school improvemet, sayig oly that the two were related. No-EE teachers ad teachers with little EE experiece were particularly likely to give vague aswers. Table 3 shows the rage of specific relatioships that were metioed ad gives the percetage of experts ad teachers metioig each relatioship. Despite the appearace of the itegrated curriculum theme ad the effective teachig strategies theme i both the 3CM themes for evirometal educatio ad the themes for school improvemet, relatively few teachers perceived a lik betwee EE ad school improvemet i terms of these themes. While 50% of experts said that EE fostered school improvemet by facilitatig curriculum itegratio, oly 8% of teachers cited this lik. Furthermore, oly of experts ad oe of the teachers said that EE fosters school improvemet by supportig effective teachig strategies. These results idicate that there may be ways to make teachers aware of the liks betwee EE ad school improvemet by drawig o cocepts that are already part of their uderstadig of these domais. Table 3. Perceived relatioships betwee evirometal educatio ad school improvemet. Relatioship Cited EE ecourages commuity ad paretal ivolvemet Expert Iclusio Rate Teacher Iclusio Rate 50% 33% EE facilitates curriculum itegratio 50% 8% EE provides real world relevace 38% EE supports effective teachig strategies 0% EE ties ito Washigto State s essetial learig requiremets (ELRs) 13% 17% EE teaches problem solvig skills 13% 8% EE iterests/ excites kids 13% 17% EE builds school pride 13% 8% Vague aswers* 0% These teachers said that there was a relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet, but they could ot provide ay cocrete imagery o that relatioship. 13

21 Phase Oe Summary Overall, the 3CM data show that: Teachers have a relatively broad coceptualizatio of EE. The coceptualizatios of teachers with less experiece i EE were, ot surprisigly, less deep i terms of the umber of 3CM items metioed; however, these coceptualizatio were also fairly broad. Overall, the perceived lik betwee EE ad school improvemet is ot particularly strog amog teachers despite the fact that most teachers agree the two domais are related. The lack of cocrete imagery o the relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet was foud especially amog No-EE ad ovice-ee teachers. I particular, the impacts of EE i terms of fosterig curriculum itegratio ad promotig effective teachig strategies were ot apparet to most teachers. 14

22 Phase Two The results of Phase Oe suggest that teachers do have a relatively broad coceptualizatio of EE but that the perceived lik betwee EE ad school improvemet is ot strog. This fidig suggests that opportuities exist to tie EE to the cocepts of curriculum itegratio ad effective teachig strategies i teachers mids. These results led to may ew questios, some of which were addressed i Phase Two. Phase Two cosisted of a survey of teachers of grades 4-8 who were idetified as EE teachers ad to a radom sample of grade 4-8 teachers. The cetral questios addressed i Phase Two were the followig: What is the relatioship of EE to itegrated curriculum? What is the relatioship of EE to effective teachig strategies? Do teachers who practice EE ad those who do ot differ i terms of perceptios, attitudes, ad demographics? What do teachers who do ot practice EE believe would ecourage them to iclude EE i their istructio? Phase Two Methods Participats The target populatio was Washigto State teachers of grades 4-8 who curretly iclude evirometal educatio i their istructio ( EE teachers ) ad those who do ot ( No-EE teachers ). To esure that a sufficiet umber of EE teachers was icluded i the fial sample ad that good represetatio was obtaied from both Easter ad Wester Washigto teachers, a stratified cluster samplig procedure was used. The clusters used i this case were Educatioal Service Districts (ESDs). Six ESDs were icluded i the samplig: ESD Number Locatio i Washigto Couties Icluded 105 East Kittitas, Yakima couties; Royal, Wahluke school districts i Grat couty; Bickleto, Goldedale school districts i Klickitat couty 112 Southwest Clark, Cowlitz, Skamaia, Wahkiakum couties; part of Klickitat ad Pacific couties 113 Cetral West Grays Harbor, Lewis, Thursto couties; most of Maso ad Pacific couties 123 East Asoti, Columbia, Garfield, Walla Walls, Frakli, ad Beto couties; Othello school district i Adams couty 189 Northwest Islad, Sa Jua, Skagit, Sohomish, ad Whatcom couties Puget Soud ESD Seattle Metropolita Area Kig ad Pierce couties; Baibridge Islad school district i Kitsap couty 15

23 Withi each ESD, EE ad No-EE teachers were sampled. A wide rage of idividuals i the state who do EE traiigs or ru EE programs (icludig those affiliated with state agecies, private compaies, ad o-profit orgaizatios) were cotacted ad asked for the ames of grade 4-8 teachers i the idetified ESDs who practice EE. Cofidetiality of teacher ames was assured. I additio to the EE teachers, a radom sample of grade 4-8 teachers was chose from each ESD with the assumptio that although some of these teachers may practice EE, may would ot. The fial EE ad No-EE lists were cross-refereced to avoid duplicatio. Measuremet Istrumet A 8-page writte mail questioaire was costructed based, i part, o Phase Oe results. The questioaire icluded both ope-eded ad structured questios ad was refied through a series of pretests. Resposes to structured questios were recorded o a series of 5-poit Likert Scales. I additio, participats were provided with space to write commets ad cocers. Questioaires were mailed alog with a cover letter ad a tea bag, which was icluded as icetive to participate. As a additioal icetive, participats who retured the questioaire could receive a set of 4 posters if they so requested. These posters depicted scees of Washigto s ecosystems ad were provided by the Washigto State Departmet of Fish ad Wildlife. Nie hudred ad iety eight (998) questioaires were mailed. Of these, 335 were completed ad retured ad 33 were retured-to-seder because of a wrog address or because the recipiet was ot eligible to fill the questioaire out (e.g., they were o loger workig i Washigto, or they were ot teachers). The total respose rate was 35%. Questioaire items addressed the followig areas: 3 EE Experiece Level of traiig i EE was measured as well as the degree to which teachers curretly iclude EE i their istructio. Familiarity with EE ad EE Guidelies Teachers were asked how familiar they are with the cotet ad process of EE ad with Washigto State s EE madate ad guidelies. Istructioal Strategies Are EE teachers more likely tha No-EE teachers to use effective teachig strategies? Teachers were asked how ofte they use each of a variety of istructioal strategies i their classroom. A umber of these strategies are traditioally associated with evirometal educatio, while others have bee idetified as good/effective strategies (Zemela, Daiels, ad Hyde, 1998) but may ot ecessarily be associated with evirometal educatio. Teachers were also asked about their degree of comfort ad level of traiig with each strategy. Itegrated Curriculum Are EE teachers more likely tha o-ee teachers to use or see the value of a itegrated curriculum? Teachers were asked if they use a itegrated curriculum ad if so, what themes or cocepts they use. They were asked if they see a value to usig a itegrated curriculum ad whether or ot they thik the eviromet is a effective tool for itegratig the curriculum. 3 A copy of the questioaire ca be foud i Appedix B. 16

24 Perceived Goals of EE Teachers were asked how appropriate they cosidered each of a rage of potetial goals of EE. These goals were derived from Phase Oe 3CM results. Perceived Impacts of EE To better uderstad the perceived relatioship betwee EE ad school improvemet, teachers were asked how they believe EE impacts each of a rage of factors derived from Phase Oe school improvemet 3CM data. These factors icluded impacts o studets, teachig, ad school ad commuity. Perceived Barriers to EE Teachers who do ot curretly iclude EE i their istructio were asked how likely they would be to do so give a rage of factors, icludig more fudig, more traiig opportuities, ad more commuity support. These factors were derived from the perceived barriers to EE idetified i Phase Oe. Evirometal Attitudes To measure teachers geeral attitudes toward the eviromet, 8 items were icluded from the New Evirometal Paradigm (NEP) scale (Dulap ad Va Liere, 1978). Teachig Descriptio Teachers were asked what grade level(s) ad subject(s) they teach, how large their average class is, how log they ve taught, how log they ve bee at their curret school, ad where they received their teachig degree. School Descriptio Teachers were asked what school district their school is i, where the school i located (rural to urba), ad the percet of studets who receive free or reduced luches (a measure of the ecoomic level of studets). Demographics Teachers were asked about their age, sex, race, ad educatio level. Aalysis Of the 335 completed questioaires, 40 were uusable either because large portios were ot completed or because the teacher taught outside the target grade rage of 4 to 8; hece, all aalyses were based o a sample size of 295. Idetifyig EE ad No-EE Teachers Questioaire respodets were divided ito 2 groups EE teachers ad No-EE teachers based o whether they curretly icorporate EE i the classroom (to ay degree) or ot. Aalysis of Ope-eded Questios Ope-eded questios were subjected to cotet aalysis. Commo themes i participat resposes were classified ad the participats metioig each theme were idetified. 17

25 Data reductio For the questios related to EE goals, EE impacts, ad EE barriers, data reductio was accomplished through a series of factor aalyses o each bak of items related to the same questio. For example, the 17 items related to EE goals were aalyzed to determie if distict sets of goals (i.e., meta-goals, or factors ) existed. Oce idetified, these meta-goals were the carried through to further aalyses. The criteria for item ad scale iclusio were: (1) eigevalues greater tha 1.0, (2) idividual item loadigs of 0.5 or greater, (3) item loadig o a sigle factor (i.e., o double-loaders), ad (4) a factor alpha greater tha 0.75 as measured by Crobach s coefficiet alpha. Oce a factor was idetified, each participat s resposes o the items comprisig that factor were averaged to compute scores o the ew variable. Pro-eviromet attitudes were measured by first reversig participats scores o the egative NEP items ad the by averagig each participat s resposes o all 8 NEP items. Differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers Followig data reductio, EE ad No-EE teachers were compared o a umber of factors: Descriptives: Teachig Descriptio School Descriptio Demographics Other: Familiarity with EE ad EE guidelies Use of ad traiig o istructioal strategies Use of itegrated curriculum Perceived goals of EE Perceived impacts of EE Evirometal attitudes The purpose of this comparative aalysis was to determie whether or ot ad i what ways teachers who practice EE differ from those who do ot. Comparisos betwee the two groups were made usig stadard statistical tests, icludig the idepedet-samples t-test ad 2-way cotigecy table aalysis. All tests were doe with SPSS usig a sigificace level of.05. Phase Two Results Each results sub-sectio is preceded by a short syopsis of that sectio s fidigs. This syopsis is followed by a detailed presetatio of aalyses ad results. Descriptives Syopsis Overall, o sigificat differeces were foud betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of the followig: Demographic variables such as age, educatio, ad sex 18

26 Teachig variables such as legth of service ad class size School variables such as school locatio (urba, suburba, small tow, or rural) ad icome level of studets Perhaps ot surprisigly, EE teachers were more likely to teach sciece ad math tha Eglish, social studies, or history. Level of EE Experiece ad Traiig Of the 295 total respodets, 72% (N212) said they icorporate EE i their istructio to some degree while 24% (N70) said they did o EE (there were 13 o-resposes). Note that because EE teachers were purposefully over-sampled, these percetages are ot represetative of Washigto State teachers as a whole. Of the EE teachers, the followig was true: Average umber of years EE has bee icluded i istructio: 9 Average umber of weeks per year that EE is icluded i istructio: About 6 Average umber of hours per day (durig the weeks that EE is taught) devoted to EE: 1 to 2 Although 70 teachers idicated they teach o EE i the classroom, a umber of these teachers have had at least some EE traiig. Table 4 details participats level of EE traiig. Table 4. Amout of EE traiig. EE Traiig Number of Respodets Percet of Respodets NONE 39 14% A LITTLE BIT 81 29% A MODERATE AMOUNT 76 27% QUITE A BIT 55 19% A GREAT DEAL 30 11% Teachig Descriptio Idepedet-samples t-tests showed o sigificat differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers based o how log they had bee teachig or o their class size. Respodets had bee teachig from 1 to 43 years, with a average of 15 years. Class size raged from 4 to 58 studets, with a average of 26 studets. Table 5 shows the percetage of EE ad No-EE teachers per grade while Table 6 show the subjects taught by EE ad No-EE teachers. Overall, there were o sigificat differeces betwee EE ad No- EE teachers i terms of the grades. EE teachers were more likely to teach sciece ad math tha Eglish, social studies, or history. 19

27 Table 5. Grade levels taught by EE ad No-EE respodets. Grade Percet of EE Respodets Percet of No- EE Respodets 4 20% 10% 5 21% 17% 6 12% 9% 7 6% 7% 8 5% 9% Combied elemetary school 17% 16% Combied middle school 14% 26% Other 1% 4% Table 6. Subjects taught by EE ad No-EE respodets. Subject Percet of EE Respodets Percet of No- EE Respodets All (elemetary school) 68% 46% Sciece 20% 10% Math 11% 10% Eglish 6% 21% Social studies 4% 16% History 0.5% 4% Other 6% 19% School Descriptio A 2-way cotigecy table aalysis showed o sigificat differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of the locatio of their school. Idepedet-samples t-test results showed o differeces betwee the two groups i terms of the icome level of the studets at their school. I other words, teachers i rural areas or lower-icome schools were just as likely to be icludig EE i their istructio as teachers i urba areas or higher icome schools. The umbers ad percetages of teachers i each area are listed i Table 7. The umber ad percetage of teachers teachig at school with free ad reduced luches are show i Table 8. 20

28 Table 7. Locatio of schools i which respodets teach. Area Number of Respodets Percet of Respodets RURAL 90 31% SMALL TOWN % SUBURBAN 58 20% URBAN 35 12% OTHER 7 2% Table 8. Icome level of studet body at schools i which respodets teach. Percet of Studets Receivig Free or Reduced Luch Number of Respodets Percet of Respodets 0-15 PERCENT 44 17% PERCENT PERCENT 54 21% PERCENT 52 20% OVER 60 PERCENT 45 17% Demographics The average age of respodets was 44 ad raged from 22 to 65. A idepedet-samples t-test showed o sigificat differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of age. I terms of educatio, the average respodet had some graduate school credits or a Masters degree. Agai, a idepedet-samples t-test showed o sigificat differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of educatio. Sevety six percet (N223) of respodets were female ad 24% (N71) were male. Results of a 2-way cotigecy table aalysis show that either males or females are more likely to practice evirometal educatio. Niety-two percet of respodets reported their race as White/Caucasia, 1% as Black/Africa America, 1% as Asia America, 1% as Native America, less tha 1% as Hispaic/ Lati America, ad 3% as Other. Comparisos of EE ad No-EE teachers based o race were ot possible because of the very low percetage of o-white respodets. 21

29 Familiarity with EE ad EE Guidelies Syopsis Not surprisigly, EE teachers were foud to be more familiar tha No-EE teachers with EE cocepts ad with Washigto State s EE madate ad guidelies. No-EE teachers idicated particularly low familiarity with the State madate ad guidelies. A oe-way multivariate aalysis of variace (MANOVA) was coducted to determie if EE ad No-EE teachers differed i terms of their familiarity with EE cotet ad techique ad with Washigto State s EE madate ad guidelies. Not surprisigly, sigificat differeces were foud betwee EE ad No- EE teachers i terms of familiarity with EE cocepts ad guidelies (Wilk s Λ.74, F(4,273) 24.5; p <.001). Table 9 shows the meas ad stadard deviatios o the depedet variables for EE ad No-EE teachers. Aalyses of variace (ANOVA) o each of the 4 depedet variables were coducted as follow-up tests to the MANOVA. Usig the Boferroi method to cotrol for Type I errors, each ANOVA was tested at the.01 level (0.05 divided by 4). All ANOVAs were sigificat: EE teachers were sigificatly more likely tha No-EE teachers to be familiar with the cotet of EE (F(1,276) 86.92; p <.001), the tools ad techiques of EE (F(1,276) 73.17; p <.001), Washigto State s evirometal educatio istructioal madate (F(1,276) 58.92; p <.001), ad Washigto State s evirometal educatio guidelies (F(1,276) 53.26; p <.001). The degree of familiarity that No-EE teachers have with Washigto State s EE madate ad guidelies is particularly low. 22

30 Table 9. Meas ad stadard deviatios for EE ad No-EE teachers withi each attitude ad iterest variable. Variables where sigificat differeces were foud are i bold.* FAMILIARITY EE Teachers No-EE Teachers The cotet of evirometal educatio Mea The tools ad techiques of evirometal educatio Mea Washigto State s evirometal educatio istructioal madate Mea Washigto State s evirometal educatio guidelies Mea * Respodets were asked, How familiar are you with each of the followig? Resposes were recorded o a 5- poit scale from 1ot at all familiar to 5very familiar. EE ad Istructioal Strategies Syopsis EE teachers were more likely tha No-EE teachers to use a rage of effective teachig strategies. They are also more likely to have had traiig i some, but ot all, of these strategies. Claims of causatio caot be made based o these results we do ot kow if EE promotes effective teachig strategies or if those usig effective teachig strategies are more likely to icorporate EE ito their teachig. However, results do support icorporatig traiig o best istructioal strategies i EE traiig. As discussed earlier, teachig strategies were of two types: those assumed to be associated with EE, ad geeral strategies that have bee associated with improved studet learig. A series of idepedet-samples t-tests were performed to explore differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of how ofte they use the istructioal strategies ad the amout of traiig they ve had i the strategies. 23

31 Results show that EE teachers are sigificatly more likely to use almost all of the teachig strategies tha are No-EE teachers (Table 10). Table 10. Use of teachig strategies for EE ad No-EE teachers.* Teachig Strategies EE STRATEGIES: Leadig class discussios of cotroversial issues Mea EE Teachers No-EE Teachers t-test t df 279 p <.002 Havig studets ivestigate local commuity issues Mea t df 279 p <.001 Brigig commuity resource people ito the classroom as cotet experts Mea t df 279 p <.001 Takig studets off-site for educatioal field trips GENERAL STRATEGIES: Teachig with cooperative learig strategies Mea Mea t df 278 p <.001 t df 96 p <.032 Facilitatig costructivist learig Guidig discovery-based learig Mea Mea t df 242 p <.021 t df 273 p <.004 Desigig performace-based assessmets Mea s. Desigig a itegrated curriculum with other teachers Mea t df 278 p <.001 Desigig a thematic uit for use i your classroom Mea t df 279 p.042 * Respodets were asked, Over the course of the school year, how ofte do you use each of the followig istructioal strategies with your class(es)? Resposes were recorded o a 5-poit scale from 1ever to 5very ofte. 24

32 EE teachers have had sigificatly more traiig tha No-EE teachers i some, but ot all, of the teachig strategies (Table 11). Perhaps surprisigly, EE teachers have had more traiig o oly oe of the EE-specific strategies (takig studets off-site for educatioal field trips). EE teachers have had more traiig i half of the geeral strategies, icludig facilitatig costructivist learig, guidig discoverybased learig, ad desigig a itegrated curriculum with other teachers. Table 11. Level of traiig o teachig strategies for EE ad No-EE teachers.* Teachig Strategies EE STRATEGIES: Leadig class discussios of cotroversial issue Mea EE Teachers No-EE Teachers t-test.s. Havig studets ivestigate local commuity issues Mea s. Brigig commuity resource people ito the classroom as cotet experts Mea s. Takig studets off-site for educatioal field trips Mea t d 279 p <.003 GENERAL STRATEGIES: Teachig with cooperative learig strategies Mea s. Facilitatig costructivist learig Mea t d 267 p < 005 Guidig discovery-based learig Mea t d 278 p <.033 Desigig performace-based assessmets Mea s. Desigig a itegrated curriculum with other teachers Mea t d 280 p <.003 Desigig a thematic uit for use i your classroom Mea s. * Respodets were asked, How much traiig have you had usig each of the followig istructioal strategies with your class(es)? Resposes were recorded o a 5-poit scale from 1oe to 5a great deal. 25

33 These results lead to more questios, particularly about causatio. Does EE ecourage the use of geeral effective teachig strategies or is it the case that traiig i these strategies ecourages both adoptio of EE ad use of the strategies or are both cases true? Regardless of the directio of the effect, the relatioship betwee EE ad effective teachig strategies idicates that icorporatig specific traiig o these strategies ito more traditioal EE traiig may ecourage more teachers to effectively itegrate EE ito their teachig ad may better prepare them to teach EE oce they begi. EE ad Curriculum Itegratio Syopsis EE teachers are sigificatly more likely to use a itegrated curriculum tha No-EE teachers; however, they are ot ecessarily usig evirometal themes. History, biographies, ad exploratio were the most commoly cited themes for curriculum itegratio by both EE ad No-EE teachers. Both EE ad No-EE teachers believe that the eviromet is a effective tool for itegratig the curriculum, although EE teachers were slightly more likely to thik so. Whe asked why the eviromet was a good itegrator, the most popular respose was that the eviromet shows coectivity to kids ow lives. Sevety five percet (N220) of teachers said they use a itegrated curriculum, with EE teachers sigificatly more likely to use a itegrated curriculum tha No-EE teachers (Pearsos Chi-Square 14.29; N 267; df 1; p <.001). 4 The themes used for itegratio, however, are ot ecessarily evirometal themes. As Table 12 idicates, some of the top themes used are i history ad social studies. There were o sigificat differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of the themes cited. Regardless of whether teachers use a itegrated curriculum or ot, 97% of them feel that a itegrated curriculum is valuable. The reasos cited are listed i Table 13. (There were o sigificat differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of the reasos cited.) Of the small percet of teachers who did ot see a value to usig a itegrated curriculum, the most commo explaatio was that a itegrated curriculum takes too much time to pla. 4 These results do ot imply directio: We caot tell if EE teachers are more ope to usig a itegrated curriculum or if teachers who use a itegrated curriculum are more ope to doig EE. 26