Thesis
The use of ecology education in serving at-risk youth: A case study at the On-Track Academy, Spokane, WA
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2010
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102027
Abstract
There are elements of American culture that are excessively damaging to the environment, as well as to populations of people, and thus must change. Furthermore, environmental mitigation efforts are largely complicated, and arguably futile, with the continuation of existing cultural values. Educational curricula that attempt to address the damaging aspects of our culture are subject to a number of barriers, many of which arise from existent problems within the public education system. For example, a continual barrier faced by administrators and teachers is the means of incorporating tenets of ecology education such as place-based or active learning strategies for increasing student engagement into existing curricula, while still achieving required learning standards. Because dropout prevention programs often offer flexibility to traditionally rigid curricula for high school students through the use of personalized lesson plans, such programs may be well-suited to support ecology education's introduction into the public school system. In this study, a high school ecology curriculum developed to engage students and instruct them on their local environment was carried out at the On-Track Academy in Spokane, WA, a program serving at-risk youth. The results show that students without particular interest in environmental issues are very receptive to an ecology education curriculum, given that it satisfies their credits towards graduation. Furthermore, students with prior interest in environmental issues showed increased engagement in class. A number of instructional strategies were tested, the results of which should be of interest to teachers, administrators, and individuals with desires for carrying out similar projects.
Metrics
12 File views/ downloads
17 Record Views
Details
- Title
- The use of ecology education in serving at-risk youth
- Creators
- Erik Brynestad
- Contributors
- Cailin H. Orr (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Environment, School of the (CAHNRS)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525290701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis