Evaluating Strategies for Inclusion of Environmental Literacy in the Elementary School Classroom

Autor/inn/en	Stevenson, Kathryn T.; Carrier, Sarah J.; Peterson, M. Nils
Titel	Evaluating Strategies for Inclusion of Environmental Literacy in the Elementary School Classroom
Quelle	In: Electronic Journal of Science Education, 18 (2014) 8, (17 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1087-3430
Schlagwörter	Elementary School Students; Environmental Education; Literacy; Teacher Attitudes; Elementary School Teachers; Barriers; Standards; Ecology; Teaching Methods; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Educational Resources; Lesson Plans; Childrens Literature; North Carolina + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Umweltbildung; Umwelterziehung; Umweltpädagogik; Alphabetisierung; Schreib- und Lesefähigkeit; Lehrerverhalten; Elementary school; Teacher; Teachers; Grundschule; Volksschule; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Standard; Ökologie; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Pädagogische Kompetenz; Bildungsmittel; Lesson planning; Unterrichtsplanung; 'Children''s literature'; Kinderliteratur
Abstract	Although elementary school may be a prime stage for building environmental literacy, elementary school teachers face significant barriers to including it in their instruction. Several studies have identified teachers' limited ecological science content knowledge and heavy emphasis on state standards and testing as common constraints to environmental literacy instruction. However, few of these studies have measured actual (versus perceived) ecological knowledge or focused on how teachers are successful in including environmental literacy instruction despite constraints of standards and testing. The present exploratory study surveyed 627 randomly selected elementary school teachers in North Carolina to begin addressing this gap. We found ecological knowledge levels were high (89.9% average score). Lack of instructional time was the most oft-listed barrier to environmental literacy instruction (76.7%), followed by lack of resources (53.4%), whereas lack of content knowledge was rarely mentioned (21.6%). Respondents identified access to environmental literacy-related lesson plans, activities that integrate children's literature, and access to and training in published environmental education curricula as the resources needed to be more successful in inclusion of environmental literacy concepts in the elementary school classroom. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Southwestern University and Texas Christian University. TCU Box 297900, Fort Worth, TX 76129. Tel: 817-257-6115; e-mail: ejse@southwestern.edu; Web site: http://ejse.southwestern.edu
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01