Informal Earth Education: Significant Shifts for Environmental Attitude and Knowledge

Tessa Marie Baierl; Bruce Johnson; Franz X. Bogner

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.819899

Informal Earth Education: Significant Shifts for Environmental Attitude and Knowledge

Tessa Marie Baierl, Bruce Johnson, Franz X. Bogner

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Environmental education aims to affect environmental knowledge and attitude to ultimately induce pro-environmental behavior. Based on 247 upper elementary school students, we tested the impact of an outdoor-based earth education program on environmental knowledge and attitude with a pre-post design. Both outcome measures were Rasch scales. Environmental knowledge is a composite of 27 system, action, and effectiveness knowledge items, and environmental attitude is a composite of 13 evaluative statements and 11 self-reported behaviors about nature preservation. Our analysis revealed gains in environmental knowledge and attitude. The convergence between knowledge and attitude increased significantly from pre- to post-program, and attitude played a significant role in knowledge acquisition.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	819899
Journal	Frontiers in Psychology
Volume	13
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.819899
State	Published - May 9 2022

Keywords

Campbell paradigm
Earthkeepers
earth education
environmental attitude
environmental knowledge
informal learning

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Psychology

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10.3389/fpsyg.2022.819899

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title = "Informal Earth Education: Significant Shifts for Environmental Attitude and Knowledge",

abstract = "Environmental education aims to affect environmental knowledge and attitude to ultimately induce pro-environmental behavior. Based on 247 upper elementary school students, we tested the impact of an outdoor-based earth education program on environmental knowledge and attitude with a pre-post design. Both outcome measures were Rasch scales. Environmental knowledge is a composite of 27 system, action, and effectiveness knowledge items, and environmental attitude is a composite of 13 evaluative statements and 11 self-reported behaviors about nature preservation. Our analysis revealed gains in environmental knowledge and attitude. The convergence between knowledge and attitude increased significantly from pre- to post-program, and attitude played a significant role in knowledge acquisition.",

keywords = "Campbell paradigm, Earthkeepers, earth education, environmental attitude, environmental knowledge, informal learning",

author = "Baierl, {Tessa Marie} and Bruce Johnson and Bogner, {Franz X.}",

note = "Funding Information: This research was funded by “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft” (DFG, German Research Foundation; 491183248) and the Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of Bayreuth. Furthermore, funding was provided by the University of Bayreuth, the elite study program MINT Teacher Education PLUS (S-NW-2015-316), and the “Qualit{\"a}tsoffensive Lehrerbildung” (BMBF 01JA1901). Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022 Baierl, Johnson and Bogner.",

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AU - Johnson, Bruce

AU - Bogner, Franz X.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was funded by “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft” (DFG, German Research Foundation; 491183248) and the Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of Bayreuth. Furthermore, funding was provided by the University of Bayreuth, the elite study program MINT Teacher Education PLUS (S-NW-2015-316), and the “Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung” (BMBF 01JA1901). Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Baierl, Johnson and Bogner.

PY - 2022/5/9

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N2 - Environmental education aims to affect environmental knowledge and attitude to ultimately induce pro-environmental behavior. Based on 247 upper elementary school students, we tested the impact of an outdoor-based earth education program on environmental knowledge and attitude with a pre-post design. Both outcome measures were Rasch scales. Environmental knowledge is a composite of 27 system, action, and effectiveness knowledge items, and environmental attitude is a composite of 13 evaluative statements and 11 self-reported behaviors about nature preservation. Our analysis revealed gains in environmental knowledge and attitude. The convergence between knowledge and attitude increased significantly from pre- to post-program, and attitude played a significant role in knowledge acquisition.

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KW - earth education

KW - environmental attitude

KW - environmental knowledge

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Informal Earth Education: Significant Shifts for Environmental Attitude and Knowledge

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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