Graduation Year
2016
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Curriculum and Instruction
Major Professor
Benjamin C. Herman, Ph.D.
Co-Major Professor
Dana L. Zeidler, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Stephen Thornton, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Hyunju Lee, Ph.D.
Keywords
authentic experiences, socioscientific issues, place-based, experiential
Abstract
A perennial goal of environmental education is to produce a scientifically literate citizenry capable of negotiating and resulting complex environmental problems. Popular methods of environmental education instruction tend to overemphasize scientific content knowledge and neglect to consider ethical and moral aspects of the problem. This qualitative study examines the longitudinal association between an experiential environmental education course infused with SSI instruction and students’ environmental behaviors. The results indicate that several students’ conceptualizations of contentious environmental issues change after completing the course and specifically. Furthermore, students’ willingness to act to resolve contentious environmental issues was most closely associated with their environmental behaviors. The most significant theoretical implication of the study is the effectiveness of the SSI framework in authentic experiences. Additionally, this study supports the notion that SSI instruction in authentic experiences is an effective alternative approach to teaching environmental education.
Scholar Commons Citation
Newton, Mark H., "A Longitudinal Examination of a SSI-Embedded Experiential Environmental Education Course and Environmental Behaviors" (2016). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/6550
