Exploring the Contributions of an Immersive, Environmental Education Workshop on Pre-Service Teachers’ Environmental Education Preparedness

Abstract

Public schools are an important place to cultivate environmental agency in children, and classroom teachers play an important role in this identity process. Teachers who afford opportunities for environmental learning and care behaviors to develop during the school day play an important role in cultivating the next generation of environmental stewards. Pre-service teacher populations bring additional promise to the future development of stewardship in schools, as their teaching philosophies and early career plans are still emerging and amenable. Providing purposeful, interactive, environmental education programming within the context of teacher training programs may be an important factor in positively impacting pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) confidence, willingness, and/or sense of preparedness to implement environmental learning in their future classrooms. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, this study examined the potential impacts an immersive, environmental education workshop conducted at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA had on a group of 61 elementary education PSTs during their teacher preparation program at California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB). After participating in a variety of ocean-themed activities and empathy exercises, data collected through pre- and post-surveys indicated that this immersive, environmental experience contributed to PSTs perceived confidence and preparedness as future classroom-based, environmental educators. Through the reported development of their environmental confidence and interest in accessing supplementary resources, PSTs’ ability to act on behalf of the environment by planning environmental learning in their future classrooms becomes a springboard for additional training and support.

Towards a 2025 National Ocean Literacy Strategy: Current Status and Future Needs in Primary Education

“…More than half of the teachers agreed that specialised training about how and where to include ocean topics in the distinct curriculum areas would also enhance their marine science teaching practices. This is consistent with previous studies, emphasising the need for training programs pertaining to environmental education at both the pre-service and in-service teacher levels (Duncan et al, 2017;Gardner et al, 2019;Scott and Sulsberger, 2019). Teachers in this study also pointed out that they would be more inclined to include marine science in their classroom if there was a higher availability of educational resources.…”

The Influence of Various Role Models on Children’s Pro-environmental Behaviours

“…In the fourth group of interventions, teacher role models are provided so that students can observe and learn pro-environmental behaviours such as turning off lights when one leaves the room and consuming organic local foods in minimal disposable packaging ( Higgs and McMillan, 2006 ). This group of interventions includes those that train teachers to teach EE concepts and skills ( Scott and Sulsberger, 2019 ; Varela-Losada et al, 2019 ). The fifth group of interventions aims to promote pro-environmental behaviours through various experiential outdoor activities, such as using vegetable gardens for environmental education and food re-education ( Salles et al, 2020 ), visiting botanical gardens ( Bissinger and Bogner, 2018 ) and zoo camp experiences or visits to aquariums ( Collins et al, 2020 ).…”

The effect of the e-mentoring-based education program on professional development of preschool teachers

“…Childhood is a critical period for learning to value all living and non-living things on earth, and teachers have a major role in supporting children to become environmentally responsible citizens (Pamuk & Olgan, 2020 ; Scott & Sulsberger, 2019 ). One of the important factors determining the preschool quality is the qualification of the teachers (Mother and Child Education Foundation (AÇEV) & Educational Reform Initiative (ERG), 2016 ).…”