Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
International Journal of Environmental and Science Education
Volume
5
Issue
1
Publication Date
1-10-2010
First Page
3
Last Page
29
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Abstract
This study examined the similarities and differences among 171 Grade 7-12 science teachers from three different countries (54 U.S, 63 Bolivian, and 54 Turkish) with respect to their attitudes toward environmental education (EE) and instructional practices. The instrument employed explored how teachers‘ knowledge, instructional practices, decisionmaking process, and cultural features influenced their EE attitudes and praxis. The instrument, which was translated into Spanish and Turkish and then back into English, contained a personal data form that included demographic questions and a three-part questionnaire. Based on the analysis completed, significant differences were found between these three countries with respect to 1) teacher‘s knowledge about global environmental issues, 2) teachers rationales for including environmental education in their science classroom instruction, and 3) while there were no significant differences in the importance of religion in the teachers lives, there were significant differences in the extent to which teachers reported religion influencing instructional decisions. In addition, there were differences regarding the resources that teachers reported drawing on as they included EE in their classrooms. There were no significant differences found when comparing the three countries with respect to extent to which each country reported including technological and/or environmental problems in science classroom instruction. Finally, generally there was agreement regarding teachers‘ goals and objectives in science classrooms with respect to EE and the most important global environmental problems/threats.
Recommended Citation
Campbell, T., Medina-Jerez, W., Erdogan, I., & Zhang, D. (2010, January). Exploring science teachers' attitudes and knowledge about environmental education in three international teaching communities. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 5(1), 3-29.
