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

34 Table 12. Curriculum itegratio themes ad cocepts. Curriculum Itegratio Themes History, Biographies, Exploratios Ecology/ Ecosystems Social Studies (cultures) WA State/Pacific Rim Geography Plat ad Aimal Life (seasos) Huma Biology Water Bodies Sciece (eergy, physics, chemistry) Salmo Geology Eglish/ Literature Curret Evets Etrepreeurship/Busiess Watersheds/Water Quality Astroomy Other (techology, architecture, graphig) Iclusio Rate (of 220) 39% 31% 26% 20% 19% 17% 13% 13% 12% 10% 9% 9% 7% 7% 7% 5% 13% Table 13. Cited values of usig a itegrated curriculum. Perceived Value of a Itegrated Curriculum Coectios betwee topics More relevace to real life More cotext Saves teachig time- ca teach more tha oe topic at a time Higher iterest Iclusio Rate 50% 30% 22% 15% 12% EE teachers were slightly more likely tha No-EE teachers to believe that the eviromet is a effective tool for itegratig the curriculum (t 2.169; df 275; p <.031) although both groups were likely to thik so (Table 14). 27

35 Table 14. Respodets belief i the eviromet as a effective curriculum itegrator.* EE Teachers No-EE Teachers t-test EE as a Curriculum Itegrator Mea t df p <.031 * Respodets were asked, Some people say that the eviromet is a effective tool for itegratig the curriculum. To what extet do you disagree or agree? Resposes were recorded o a 5-poit scale from 1strogly disagree to 5strogly agree. Table 15 lists the resposes to the questio of why (or why ot) respodets believe the eviromet is a good curriculum itegrator. There were o sigificat differeces betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of the values cited. While the most frequetly cited reaso that the eviromet shows coectivity to kids ow lives was cited by 40% of participats, all other reasos were cited by a relatively low percetage of participats. It is somewhat surprisig that participats were ot better able to articulate the reasos they thought the eviromet is a good curriculum itegrator. These results echo the Phase Oe 3CM results which idicated that the relatioship betwee EE ad curriculum itegratio was ot a particularly saliet cocept amog teachers (with oly 8% metioig it). Table 15. Perceived value of EE as a curriculum itegrator. Perceived Value of the Eviromet as a Curriculum Itegrator Eviromet shows coectivity to kids ow lives Easily ecompasses all subjects Childre have a atural iterest i their eviromet Adds variety to teachig regime (outdoor classes) Shows iterdepedecy of livig thigs Iclusio Rate 40% 26% 14% 9% 7% Whe asked if there were themes, cocepts, or curriculum topics other tha the eviromet that were good tools for itegratig the eviromet, may teachers agai respoded with history ad social studies. Results are show i Table

36 Table 16. Themes other tha the eviromet that teachers believe are good tools for itegratig the curriculum. No-Eviromet Themes for Curriculum Itegratio History Social Studies Life Sciece (e.g., aimals) Life Skills Traiig (e.g., problem solvig, risks ad cosequeces) Curret Evets/ Politics Geography Commuity Service Other (e.g., health, art, astroomy) Iclusio Rate 13% 13% 12% 11% 7% 7% 4% 15% Perceived Goals of EE Syopsis Overall, respodets coceptualized the goals of EE i terms of 3 geeral goals: Uderstad choices ad decisios, Improve geeral skills, ad Gai evirometal kowledge. Some small differeces were foud betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of the perceived appropriateess of each geeral goal. A factor aalysis of items related to the perceived goals of EE shows that participats ted to coceptualize EE goals i terms of 3 geeral categories: Uderstad choices ad decisios, Improve geeral skills ad Gai evirometal kowledge. These categories are show i Table 17, alog with their meas ad idividual item meas. Overall, respodets perceived all the stated goals as beig appropriate for EE. 29

37 Table 17. Factor aalysis results: Perceived goals of evirometal educatio.* Category ad Items Mea S.D Alpha Uderstad Choices ad Decisios Lear what idividuals ca do to make a differece Uderstad the impact of oe s choices ad decisios o the eviromet Behave i a evirometally resposible maer Become aware of oe s resposibility to the earth Improve Geeral Skills Improve commuicatio skills Improve critical thikig skills Improve self esteem Improve problem solvig skills Gai Evirometal Kowledge Uderstad the itercoectedess betwee people ad their eviromet Uderstad differet views o evirometal issues Gai basic kowledge of evirometal cocepts Uderstad atural processes Develop awareess of importat evirometal issues Develop a appreciatio of the atural eviromet * The questio was, Listed below are a umber of possible evirometal educatio goals for studets. Please idicate how appropriate you cosider each goal. Resposes were recorded o a 5-poit scale from 1ot at all appropriate to 5very appropriate. To determie if EE ad No-EE teachers differed i terms of the perceived appropriateess of the idetified EE goal categories, a oe-way multivariate aalysis of variace (MANOVA) was coducted. Sigificat differeces were foud betwee EE ad No-EE teachers (Wilk s Λ.97, F(3,276) 2.69; p <.049). Table 18 shows the meas ad stadard deviatios o the depedet variables for EE ad No- EE teachers. Aalyses of variace (ANOVA) o each of the 3 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.02 level. Two ANOVAs were sigificat: EE teachers were sigificatly more likely tha No-EE teachers to cosider uderstad choices ad decisios a appropriate goal of EE (F(1,278) 7.48; p <.007), ad to cosider gai evirometal kowledge a appropriate goal of EE (F(1,278) 5.79; p <.017), The differece betwee the two groups i terms of the perceived appropriateess of improve geeral skills was ot sigificat. 30

38 These results are somewhat surprisig, give that the 3CM data showed little differece amog teachers ad betwee teachers ad experts i terms of the perceived goals of EE. A closer examiatio of the meas i Table 18, however, shows that the differeces, although statistically sigificat, are very small. Table 18. Idepedet-samples t-test results showig differeces betwee EE ad o-ee teachers i terms of perceived goals of EE. Variables where sigificat differeces were foud are i bold. Uderstad Choices ad Decisios Mea EE Teachers 4.58 No-EE Teachers Improve Geeral Skills Mea Gai Evirometal Kowledge Mea Perceived Impacts of EE Syopsis Overall, respodets coceptualized the impacts of EE i terms of 5 geeral impacts: Sciece ad aalytical skills, Geeral behavior ad learig, Readig ad commuicatio skills, Ivolvemet, ad School eviromet. Differeces were foud betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of the perceived degree to which EE impacts Global improvemets ad Readig ad commuicatio. A factor aalysis of items related to the perceived impacts of EE shows that participats ted to coceptualize EE impacts i terms of 5 geeral categories: Sciece ad aalytical skills, Geeral behavior ad learig, Readig ad commuicatio skills, Ivolvemet ad School eviromet. These categories are show i Table 19, alog with their meas ad idividual item meas. 31

39 Table 19. Perceived impacts of evirometal educatio.* Category ad Items Mea S.D Alpha Sciece ad Aalytical Skills Uderstadig of sciece cotet Ability to use the scietific method Critical thikig skills Problem solvig skills Ecouragig a iquiry-based teachig approach Providig real-world experieces Geeral Behavior ad Learig Disciplie problems Self cofidece Level of motivatio Meetig differet studet learig styles Overall effectiveess of your teachig Readig ad Commuicatio Skills Readig skills Commuicatio skills Ivolvemet Degree of paretal ivolvemet Degree of commuity ivolvemet Likig studets to the commuity School Eviromet Level of school safety Feelig of commuity withi the school Sharig of decisio makig amog studets, staff, ad admiistratio Commuicatio betwee teachers ad admiistratio * The questio was, Please idicate how you believe evirometal educatio impacts each of the followig. Resposes were recorded o a 5-poit scale from 1very egative impact to 5very positive impact. 32

40 To determie if EE ad No-EE teachers differed i terms of the perceived impacts of EE, a oe-way multivariate aalysis of variace (MANOVA) was coducted. Sigificat differeces were foud betwee EE ad No-EE teachers (Wilk s Λ.88, F(5,263) 7.36; p <.001). Table 20 shows the meas ad stadard deviatios o the depedet variables for EE ad No-EE teachers. Aalyses of variace (ANOVA) o each of the 5 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. Two ANOVAs were sigificat: EE teachers were sigificatly more likely tha No-EE teachers to perceive a impact of EE i terms of Geeral behavior ad learig (F(1,267) 24.02; p <.001), ad Readig ad commuicatio skills (F(1,267) 6.53; p <.011). The differeces betwee the two groups i terms of the perceived impacts of EE o the other categories were ot sigificat. Table 20. Idepedet-samples t-test results showig differeces betwee EE ad o-ee teachers i terms of perceived impacts of EE. Variables where sigificat differeces were foud are i bold. EE Teachers No-EE Teachers Sciece ad Aalytical Skills Mea Geeral Behavior ad Learig Mea Readig ad Commuicatio Mea Ivolvemet Mea School Eviromet Mea

41 Evirometal Attitudes ad Iterest Syopsis EE teachers were slightly more likely tha No-EE teachers to express proevirometal attitudes ad iterest i evirometal issues. There were o differeces betwee the groups, however, i terms of their cocer for both commuity ad global evirometal issues. Rural ad urba teachers showed o differece i their evirometal attitudes ad iterest. As described previously, pro-eviromet attitudes were measured with a sub-set of the NEP scale. I additio, questios were asked about teachers geeral iterest i the evirometal issues, ad their cocer about both commuity ad global evirometal issues. The followig NEP items comprised the Pro-Eviromet Attitude Scale: The earth has plety of atural resources if we just lear how to develop them * Plats ad aimals have as much right as humas to exist The balace of ature is strog eough to cope with the impacts of moder idustrial atios* The earth is like a spaceship with very limited room ad resources We were meat to rule over the rest of ature* The balace of ature is very delicate ad easily upset The so-called ecological crisis facig humakid has bee greatly exaggerated* If thigs cotiue o their preset course, we will soo experiece a major ecological catastrophe Respodets were asked to idicate the extet to which they disagree or agree with each of the statemets above. Resposes were recorded o a 5-poit scale from 1strogly disagree to 5strogly agree. Respodets scores o the items marked by asterisks were reversed ad each participat s 8 scores were the averaged to compute the Pro-Eviromet score. A oe-way multivariate aalysis of variace (MANOVA) was coducted to determie the effect of whether or ot a teacher icorporates EE i their istructio o their attitudes toward the eviromet. The 3 depedet variables were pro-eviromet attitude, cocer about commuity evirometal issues, ad cocer about global evirometal issues. Sigificat differeces were foud betwee EE ad No-EE teachers i terms of attitudes (Wilk s Λ.93, F(4,271) 5.5; p <.001). Table 21 shows the meas ad stadard deviatios o the depedet variables for EE ad No-EE teachers. Aalyses of variace (ANOVA) o each depedet variable 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.02 level. The ANOVA o pro-evirometal attitude was sigificat (F(1,274) 5.74; p <.02), while the 34

42 ANOVAs o cocer about commuity evirometal issues ad cocers about global evirometal issues were o-sigificat. A separate idepedet samples t-test was performed to determie whether teachig EE was related to oe s iterest i evirometal issues. Not surprisigly, results show that EE teachers were sigificatly more iterested i evirometal issues tha were No-EE teachers (t3.99; df 112; p <.001). Meas ad stadard deviatios for this variable are show alog with the attitude variables i Table 21. Table 21. 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.* EE Teachers No-EE Teachers Pro-Eviromet Attitude Mea Cocer about commuity evirometal issues Mea Cocer about global evirometal issues Mea Iterest i evirometal issues Mea * Resposes were recorded o 5-poit scales where 1 idicates the least iterest or cocer. A separate oe-way multivariate aalysis of variace (MANOVA) was coducted to determie whether teachers differ i their attitudes toward the eviromet based o the area i which their school is located (i.e., rural, small tow, suburba, or urba). The 3 depedet variables were agai: pro-evirometal attitude, cocer about commuity evirometal issues, ad cocers about global evirometal issues. No sigificat differeces were foud i ay of the evirometal attitudes based o locatio of school. 35

43 Perceived Barriers to EE Syopsis No-EE teachers ted to coceptualize barriers i terms of two categories: Resource issues ad Ifrastructure issues. While teachers idicated that the removal of ay barrier i these categories would ecourage them to iclude EE i their istructio, care must be take whe iterpretig these results; the lik betwee behavioral itet ad behavior chage may be teuous. What factors might ecourage No-EE teachers to iclude evirometal educatio i their istructio? A factor aalysis of No-EE teacher resposes idetified 2 geeral categories of factors: Resources, ad Ifrastructure. These categories are show i Table 22, alog with their meas ad idividual item meas. Also icluded i the idividual items EE curriculum materials which loaded o both factors. Overall, respodets idicated that the presece of curriculum materials was most likely to ecourage them to iclude EE i their istructio. Meas for all other factors, however were also quite high. Table 22. Factors that may ecourage No-EE teachers to iclude EE i their istructio.* Category ad Items Mea S.D Alpha Resources Additioal plaig time More fudig for field trips Easy access to a suitable study area More fudig for istructioal materials Ifrastructure Opportuities for EE traiig Admiistrative support for teachig EE Commuity ad paretal support for teachig EE More flexibility i class schedulig More flexibility i curriculum Havig EE icluded i state assessmets EE curriculum materials (double-loader) * The questio was, how likely would you be to iclude evirometal educatio i your istructio give each of the followig? Resposes were recorded o a 5-poit scale from 1ot at all likely to 5very likely. 36

44 These results o barriers must be iterpreted with some cautio: Despite teachers stated itetios, ecouragig the adoptio of EE is likely more complex tha the resource or ifrastructure categories would idicate. 37

45 Coclusios ad Implicatios Phase Oe ad Two study results poit to the followig coclusios ad implicatios: Coceptualizatios of EE Coclusios: Teachers coceptualizatios of EE are typically ot oedimesioal; the basic framework of their uderstadig of EE is similar to that of may EE experts. Implicatios: Commuicatig the lik betwee EE ad school improvemet is ot depedet o chagig how teachers thik about EE. 3CM data suggest that, by ad large, grade 4-8 teachers i Washigto State have a good uderstadig of the breadth of evirometal educatio idepedet of whether they themselves icorporate EE ito their classroom. Furthermore, the cocepts of a itegrated curriculum ad effective teachig strategies were cited by may teachers as beig relevat to EE, particularly those teachers with more EE experiece. EE ad School Improvemet Coclusios: EE is related to school improvemet factors that teachers ad others care about, but teachers may ot perceive that such a relatioship exists. Implicatios: Targetig the cocepts of itegrated curriculum ad effective teachig strategies may help teachers itegrate their coceptualizatios of EE ad school improvemet. Icorporatig specific traiig o effective teachig 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. Survey data do show a lik betwee teachig EE ad usig a itegrated curriculum. However, although teachers may be payig lip service to the idea of EE as a curriculum itegrator, they may ot have a cocrete image of how EE ad curriculum itegratio are related. Survey data show that while most teachers thik the eviromet is a effective theme for itegratig the curriculum, may were uable to provide cocrete imagery for why. 3CM data also support the otio that the coceptual lik betwee EE ad curriculum itegratio is ot particularly strog amog teachers. Similarly, survey data show a lik betwee teachig EE ad usig effective teachig strategies although 3CM data show that teachers geerally do ot perceive this lik. This fidig suggests that icorporatig specific traiig o effective teachig strategies (both those that are traditioally associated with EE ad more geeral strategies) ito EE traiig may ecourage more teachers to effectively itegrate EE ito their teachig ad may better prepare them to teach EE oce they begi. The weak perceived relatioship betwee EE, curriculum itegratio, ad effective teachig strategies is particularly surprisig as a relatively high percetage of teachers, i the 3CM 38

46 orgaizatios, metioed curriculum itegratio ad effective teachig strategies as importat compoets of both evirometal educatio ad school improvemet. The existece of these cocepts i teacher coceptualizatios of both domais, however, do provide a potetial aveue for likig these 2 domais i teachers mids. Target Populatios Coclusios: Overall, substatial differeces do ot exist betwee EE ad No- EE teachers i terms of their perceptios of EE, attitudes toward the eviromet, ad demographic factors. EE teachers were more likely to teach sciece ad math tha Eglish, social studies, or history. I a related fidig, may of the themes used for curriculum itegratio were liberal arts themes. Implicatios: Liberal arts teachers who teach EE may be more likely to teach EE as a itegrated curriculum. Targetig this populatio may be a effective way to ecourage the use of the eviromet as a itegratig cotext. 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 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 EE teachers were more likely to teach sciece ad math tha Eglish, social studies, or history. This fidig, although ot surprisig, does poit to some teacher populatios that may be uder-served by EE programs. I additio, survey results showig that may of the cited themes for curriculum itegratio were liberal arts themes (e.g., history, biographies, exploratio, ad cultures) may mea that liberal arts teachers would be more likely to use the eviromet as a itegratig cotext tha would other teachers. 39

47 Refereces Dulap, R.E. ad Va Liere, K.D. (1978). The ew evirometal paradigm. Joural of Evirometal Educatio, 9(4), Kearey, A.R. ad Kapla, S. (1996). Toward a methodology for the measuremet of kowledge structures of ordiary people: The coceptual cotet cogitive map (3CM). Eviromet ad Behavior, 29(5), Lieberma, G.A. ad Hoody, L.L. (1998). Closig the achievemet gap: Usig the eviromet as a itegratig cotext for learig. Sciece Wizards: Poway, CA. Yap, K.O. (1998). A summative evaluatio of Model Liks. Northwest Regioal Educatioal Laboratory: Portlad, OR. Zemela, S., Daiels, H., Hyde, A. (1998). Best practice: ew stadards for teachig ad learig i America s schools, 2 d Editio. Heiema Press: Portsmouth, NH. 40

48 Appedix A: Phase Oe Iterview Protocol 41

49 Code: M/F Curret school/grade/ how log? Subject area (for middle school) How log have you bee a teacher? Teacher Iterview Protocol What is your educatioal backgroud (udergraduate degree ad teacher traiig program)? 3CM TASKS: Explai ad admiister. (1) Image that oe of your studet teachers with o experiece i evirometal educatio comes up to you ad asks what EE is all about. I your perspective, what are the key compoets of EE? What would EE mea/look like for the studets (what would they be doig/ learig)? What would EE mea for istructio? (2) There has bee a lot of talk i this state about the eed to improve schools. What do you see as the key compoets of a school improvemet effort? (What are the importat factors to cosider?) (2) Some people say there is a lik betwee EE ad school improvemet. I your opiio, based o your two maps, would you say there are ay liks? Is EE related to school improvemet? How? (Does EE impact/lead to/foster school improvemet?) Do you have ay traiig or experiece specific to evirometal educatio? What led to your iterest i EE (for those practicig evirometal educatio) To what extet are you curretly ivolved i evirometal educatio? Barriers to doig EE? Do you have ay traiig or experiece specific to school improvemet i Washigto State (Commissio o Studet Learig)? Where do you get your iformatio about school improvemet? Age? Copy of results? (If yes, get address) 42

50 Code: M/F Curret positio/ how log/ what do you do? Expert Iterview Protocol How log have you bee ivolved i EE? I what capacity? Are you ivolved with K-12 teachers? I what capacity? What is your educatioal backgroud (degrees ad where)? 3CM TASKS: Explai ad admiister. (3) Image that oe of your studet teachers with o experiece i evirometal educatio comes up to you ad asks what EE is all about. I your perspective, what are the key compoets of EE? What would EE mea/look like for the studets (what would they be doig/ learig)? What would EE mea for istructio? (4) There has bee a lot of talk i this state about the eed to improve schools. What do you see as the key compoets of a school improvemet effort? (What are the importat factors to cosider?) (3) Some people say there is a lik betwee EE ad school improvemet. I your opiio, based o your two maps, would you say there are ay liks? Is EE related to school improvemet? How? (Does EE impact/lead to/foster school improvemet?) What led to your iterest i EE? Barriers to doig EE (specifically at the K-12 level)? Do you have ay traiig or experiece specific to school improvemet i Washigto State (Commissio o Studet Learig)? Where do you get your iformatio about school improvemet? Age? Copy of results? (If yes, get address) 43

51 Appedix B: Questioaire 44

52 ! " # " " $ % & % ' $ % & () * & & +, -!. /! +0 1, $ 23))) & $ 4 +., $ % / & 56-17$ 6-81-$- 5 & +!, % $ / :! 7&. / % % ;! < & +3)>, (3?@3A33 $& B < /. 9 7& 45

53 This questioaire cotais both multiple choice ad ope-eded questios. Please aswer all the questios. If you wish to commet o ay questios or qualify your aswers, please use the back page of the questioaire. All of your resposes will be cofidetial. We have placed a code o the reply evelope to allow us to track resposes; however, your ame will ever be placed o the survey itself or associated with the results i ay way. Please retur your completed questioaire by Moday, May 24 th i the eclosed evelope to: Dr. Ae Kearey Research Cosultat th Aveue East Seattle, WA This research is sposored by the Evergree Ceter for Educatioal Improvemet ad the North Maso School District s Model Liks Program. Your participatio i this study is greatly appreciated!! Model Liks Program. This survey may ot be reproduced or items borrowed from it without writte permissio from the Model Liks Program. 46

54 To begi with, we d like to ask you some geeral questios about your teachig. 1. How comfortable are you usig each of the followig istructioal strategies? (Your comfort level may ot be related to how ofte you use a particular strategy.) Not at all Comfortable Not Comfortable Somewhat Comfortable Very Comfortable Comfortable Teachig with cooperative learig strategies Facilitatig costructivist learig Guidig discovery-based learig Desigig performace-based assessmets Leadig class discussios of cotroversial issues Havig studets ivestigate local commuity issues Brigig commuity resource people ito the classroom as cotet experts Takig studets off-site for educatioal field trips Desigig a itegrated curriculum with other teachers Desigig a thematic uit for use i your classroom Over the course of the school year, how ofte do you use each of the followig istructioal strategies with your class(es)? Never Seldom Occasioally Ofte Very Ofte Teachig with cooperative learig strategies Facilitatig costructivist learig Guidig discovery-based learig Desigig performace-based assessmets Leadig class discussios of cotroversial issues Havig studets ivestigate local commuity issues Brigig commuity resource people ito the classroom as cotet experts Takig studets off-site for educatioal field trips Desigig a itegrated curriculum with other teachers Desigig a thematic uit for use i your classroom

55 3. How much traiig have you had usig each of the followig istructioal strategies? Noe Very Little Some A Moderate Amout A Great Deal Teachig with cooperative learig strategies Facilitatig costructivist learig Guidig discovery-based learig Desigig performace-based assessmets Leadig class discussios of cotroversial issues Havig studets ivestigate local commuity issues Brigig commuity resource people ito the classroom as cotet experts Takig studets off-site for educatioal field trips Desigig a itegrated curriculum with other teachers Desigig a thematic uit for use i your classroom Next are a few questios about you ad your school. 4. What grade level(s) do you teach? 5. What subject area(s) do you teach? 6. How log have you bee at your curret school? YEARS 7. How log have you bee a teacher? YEARS 8. What is your class size (or average size of regular classes if you have multiple classes)? STUDENTS 9. I what district is your school located? 10. I what type of area is your school located? (Circle oe) 1 RURAL 2 SMALL TOWN 3 SUBURBAN 4 URBAN 5 OTHER 11. What percet of studets at your school receive free or reduced luches? (Circle oe) PERCENT PERCENT PERCENT PERCENT 5 OVER 60 PERCENT 48

56 12. Does spedig o-structured time o school grouds (for example, durig recess) affect your studets behavior or ability to cocetrate ad complete assigmets? How so? (Please be specific) 13. How much of your school grouds cotai atural elemets (e.g., trees, plats, water)? (Circle oe) 1 NONE 2 SOME 3 HALF 4 MOST 5 VIRTUALLY ALL Next are several questios about your perspective o itegrated curricula. 14. Do you use a itegrated curriculum? 1 NO What themes or cocepts do you use for this curriculum? 2 YES 49

57 15. I geeral, do you see ay value to usig a itegrated curriculum? (Circle oe) 1 NO 2 YES Why or why ot? 16. Some people say that the eviromet is a effective tool for itegratig the curriculum. To what extet do you disagree or agree? (Circle oe) 1 STRONGLY DISAGREE 2 DISAGREE 3 NOT SURE 4 AGREE 5 STRONGLY AGREE 16a. Why do you agree or disagree? 16b. Are there other themes, cocepts, or curriculum topics that you feel are good tools for itegratig the curriculum? (Please be specific) 50

58 These ext questios are about your perspectives o evirometal educatio (EE). Please respod to all questios eve if you do ot icorporate evirometal educatio i your istructio. 17. How familiar are you with each of the followig? Not at all Familiar Not Familiar Somewhat Familiar Familiar The cotet of evirometal educatio The tools ad techiques of evirometal educatio Washigto State s evirometal educatio istructioal madate Washigto State s evirometal educatio guidelies Very Familiar 18. Listed below are a umber of possible evirometal educatio goals for studets. Please idicate how appropriate you cosider each goal. Not at all Appropriate 51 Not Appropriate Neutral Appropriate Very Appropriate Uderstad the itercoectedess betwee people ad their eviromet Uderstad differet views o evirometal issues Gai basic kowledge of evirometal cocepts Uderstad atural processes Develop awareess of importat evirometal issues Develop a appreciatio of the atural eviromet Foster a sese of stewardship Lear what idividuals ca do to make a differece Uderstad the impact of oe s choices ad decisios o the eviromet Behave i a evirometally resposible maer Take actio to improve evirometal quality Become aware of oe s resposibility to the earth Improve commuicatio skills Improve critical thikig skills Improve self esteem Improve problem solvig skills Meet the state learig requiremets

59 19. How much traiig have you had i evirometal educatio (icludig pre-service, i-service, ad other traiig)? (Circle oe) 1 NONE 2 A LITTLE BIT 3 A MODERATE AMOUNT 4 QUITE A BIT 5 A GREAT DEAL 20. Do you curretly iclude evirometal educatio (EE) i your istructio to ay degree? (Circle oe) 1 NO 2 YES (If you are NOT icludig evirometal educatio i your istructio ) 20a. How likely would you be to iclude evirometal educatio i your istructio give each of the followig? Not at all Likely Not Likely Not Sure Likely More fudig for istructioal materials More fudig for field trips Easy access to a suitable study area Commuity ad paretal support for teachig EE Admiistrative support for teachig EE Opportuities for EE traiig EE curriculum materials More flexibility i class schedulig More flexibility i curriculum Additioal plaig time Havig EE icluded i state assessmets OTHER? Very Likely (If you ARE icludig evirometal educatio i your istructio ) 20b. How log have you bee icludig EE i your istructio? YEARS 20c. Approximately how may weeks durig the curret school year will you have icluded EE i your istructio? (Circle oe) 1 LESS THAN 1 WEEK 2 1 TO 3 WEEKS 3 3+ TO 6 WEEKS 4 6+ TO 10 WEEKS 5 MORE THAN 10 WEEKS 20d. Durig the weeks that you iclude EE i your istructio, how may hours per day, o average, do you devote to EE for all classes that you teach combied (do ot cout preparatio time)? (Circle oe) 1 LESS THAN 1 HOUR PER DAY 2 1 TO 2 HOURS PER DAY 3 2+ TO 3 HOURS PER DAY 4 3+ TO 4 HOURS PER DAY 5 MORE THAN 4 HOURS PER DAY 52

60 21. Please idicate how you believe evirometal educatio impacts each of the followig. Very Negative Impact Somewhat Negative Impact No Impact Somewhat Positive Impact Very Positive Impact studet impacts Math achievemet Uderstadig of sciece cotet Ability to use the scietific method Readig skills Commuicatio skills Critical thikig skills Uderstadig of civics ad how decisios are made i our society Problem solvig skills Disciplie problems Self cofidece Level of motivatio teachig impacts Ecouragig a iquiry-based teachig approach Providig real-world experieces Meetig differet studet learig styles Meetig the state learig requiremets (ELRs) Overall effectiveess of your teachig school ad commuity impacts Teamig ad collaboratio amog teachers Level of school safety Feelig of commuity withi the school Sharig of decisio makig amog studets, staff, ad admiistratio Commuicatio betwee teachers ad admiistratio Degree of etworkig with other schools Degree of paretal ivolvemet Degree of commuity ivolvemet Likig studets to the commuity

61 Next, we have some geeral questios about your attitudes o the eviromet. We are simply lookig for your opiio; there are o right or wrog aswers. 22. Please idicate the extet to which you disagree or agree with each of the followig statemets. Strogly Disagree Disagree Not Sure Agree The earth has plety of atural resources if we just lear how to develop them Plats ad aimals have as much right as humas to exist The balace of ature is strog eough to cope with the impacts of moder idustrial atios The earth is like a spaceship with very limited room ad resources We were meat to rule over the rest of ature The balace of ature is very delicate ad easily upset The so-called ecological crisis facig humakid has bee greatly exaggerated If thigs cotiue o their preset course, we will soo experiece a major ecological catastrophe I am iterested i evirometal issues I am very cocered about the evirometal issues i my ow commuity I am very cocered about global evirometal issues Strogly Agree Fially, we would like to ask you a few short backgroud questios about yourself. 23. How old are you? YEARS 24. Are you 1 MALE 2 FEMALE 25. Which of the followig best describes your racial or ethic idetificatio? (Circle oe) 1 WHITE/ CAUCASIAN 2 BLACK/ AFRICAN AMERICAN 3 HISPANIC/ LATIN AMERICAN 4 ASIAN AMERICAN 5 NATIVE AMERICAN 6 OTHER -- PLEASE SPECIFY 26. Please idicate the highest level of educatio you have obtaied. (Circle oe) 1 4-YEAR COLLEGE DEGREE 2 SOME GRADUATE CREDITS 3 MASTERS DEGREE 4 PhD 27. I what state did you receive your teachig degree? 54

62 To receive your posters, please remember to write your ame ad address o the eclosed address label ad retur it i the evelope alog with your completed questioaire. I additio, if you would like a summary of the study results, please write RESULTS REQUESTED o the back of the reply evelope alog with your address (if you do t have , please iclude your mailig address). Is there aythig else you would like to tell us? If so, please use the space below. 55