The effect of an outdoor residential environmental education program on the development of grade seven students environmental attitudes and ecological knowledge

Harding, Jean Bridget (1997) The effect of an outdoor residential environmental education program on the development of grade seven students environmental attitudes and ecological knowledge. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This study deals with the educational effectiveness of an outdoor residential environmental education program. The main purpose was to obtain insight concerning the effect of an outdoor education program on environmental attitudes and ecological knowledge. The study also examined the contribution of students' past informal and non-formal environmental experiences, and gender on ecological knowledge and environmental attitude. The research was conducted in the context of a three day residential environmental field trip by 315 students in Grade seven who attended the program and 243 students who did not attend the program. The study used a quantitative research method and data was collected before and after the field trip, using questionnaires and an ecological knowledge test. The study investigated a) the relationship between environmental attitude and ecological knowledge, b) students' ecological knowledge and environmental attitudes before the field trip, c) changes in students' ecological knowledge and environmental attitudes after the field trip, and d) the relationship and contribution of students' past informal and formal environmental experiences and gender on ecological knowledge and environmental attitude. The findings suggest that the educational effectiveness of the outdoor residential program on ecological knowledge was significant, but decreased a year later although not to original levels. The outdoor program did not significantly change environmental attitude. There was a slight but significant relationship between ecological knowledge and environmental attitudes. Students' past experiences and gender predict a small but significant percentage of environmental attitudes and ecological knowledge.

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