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Environmental education needs assessment among elementary school teachers in Massachusetts
Abstract
Environmental education is on its way to being integrated into the school system. While environmental groups are trying to help teachers address various environmental issues, teachers are often regarded as passive learners in the helping relationship. Put differently, resources are often made available without consultation with teachers--the end users of these materials. A gap, thus, exists between resources available from environmental groups and those most desired and valued by teachers. To bridge such a gap, this study employed a questionnaire entitled "assessing elementary school teacher self-perceived needs in environmental education." It was developed and validated through four stages to insure its validity. Participants were demographically representative of Massachusetts elementary school teachers. For example, a majority of the participants were teaching in an urbanized area. Results indicated that teachers generally perceived most environmental issues as important for their students to learn about, but felt that they were not prepared to address these issues, even though they felt they were competent in addressing environmental issues in general. They wanted their students to be able to achieve educational objectives related to environmental sensitivity more than those related to factual knowledge. Regarding possible types of suggested resources, teachers in this study appeared to favor ready-made instructional materials more than other kinds of resources. When they addressed environmental issues, teachers appeared to do it either in science or social studies curricula, followed in frequency by health and language arts. Regarding the supplemental instructional materials listed, Naturescope was first in both familiarity and uses, and was trailed by Project WILD and Project Learning Tree. Statistical analysis indicated that three factors seemed to be most influential in determining teachers' responses. They were: grade level taught, frequency of addressing environmental issues, and perception of competency in addressing environmental issues.
Subject Area
Social studies education|Teacher education
Recommended Citation
Chen, Pei-Jen, "Environmental education needs assessment among elementary school teachers in Massachusetts" (1992). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9219417.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9219417