At this particular historical juncture of the Anthropocene, when it is clear that humanity is responsible for fundamental changes to the biosphere, the political necessity of questioning the normative status of human life at the center demands reconfiguring our relationship with each other. And while environmental educators and researchers have…

This study sought to explore the implications for individuals who experienced awe while in the presence of wildlife. A conceptual framework was adapted that integrated the theory of emotional learning with experiential learning theory. In-depth interviews brought into focus the resultant learning stemming from experiences of wildlife-inspired awe.…

I use value-belief-norm theory to frame how environmental education program participants interpret important messages and set behavioral intentions in response to environmental education program content. I compare participants at three animal-themed environmental organizations with different missions, postulating that institutional mission frames…

This study considers the benefits of coteaching in the context of the outdoors. It explores the use of coteaching in a professional development program and investigates all the cited outcome categories for teachers: cognitive, affective, coteaching, and professional development. Coteaching pairs coplanned, cotaught, and coevaluated "Shared…

An experiential education program was designed to target risk perceptions and preventative measures that make people feel comfortable in human-coyote interactions. The research was conducted in a Canadian national park where a coyote caused a human fatality in 2009. Based on previous research, we explored the effects of an experience-based coyote…

This study used Azjen's Theory of Planned Behavior to examine how pro-recycling and pro-environmental messaging delivered by religious leaders affects stated recycling behavior among ethnic minorities. Using data collected from 12 religious institutions in three Ontario, Canada, communities, a promotion and education program was developed to: (1)…

Higher education is increasingly interested in its impact on the sustainability attributes of its students, so we wanted to explore how our students' environmental concern changed during their higher education experiences. We used the Revised New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) with 505 students and developed and tested a multinomial…

How we communicate the dangers of climate change may influence attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. Here we test two pairs of positive and negative framing statements with North American citizen scientists interested in gardening and birdwatching. Mentioning dangers for humans did not increase participants' interest in taking personal action on…

The reengagement of disenchanted secondary students is one of the priorities of the educational system. Over a six-year period (2003-2004 to 2008-2009), 63 disruptive and low-performance secondary school students were integrated into a two-year garden-based learning program, which took place in southeastern Spain. This article intends to assess…

We conducted a qualitative study of the experiences of 23 Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) participants to determine what participants found significant about their course and to what course elements they attributed this significance. Participants experienced personal transformations, which they attributed to spending extended time in pristine…

Although educators widely use school gardens for experiential education, researchers have not systematically examined the evaluative literature on school-gardening outcomes. The author reviewed the U.S. literature on children's gardening, taking into account potential effects, school-gardening outcomes, teacher evaluations of gardens as learning…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the environmental teaching efficacy and outcome-expectancy beliefs of elementary preservice teachers. The study also evaluated the importance of ethnicity as a construct in influencing teachers' beliefs toward environmental education. Among groups, participants involved in the Global Learning and…

The authors used a case-study methodology to explore the perceptions of 30 9th-grade biology students relative to black-tailed prairie dogs. The case study, which involved classroom- and field-based experiences that focused on black-tailed prairie dogs, revealed 3 major themes: apathy, egocentrism, and naive conceptions. The authors had hoped that…

Investigated effects of two hours of instruction in environmental education on attitudes of third grade students (N=49) toward the environment. Experimental group showed significantly more positive attitudes than a control group. Similar results were obtained when these students were again tested as fifth graders. (Author/BC)

Exploring the roots of ecological problems through an analysis outline is performed. Constantly searched for are factors with the most ramifications and with the most causal relevance. (BL)