Present, Absent, or Tardy? A Study of the Barriers, Bridges, and Beliefs Concerning Environmental Education Among a Cohort of Sixth Grade Teachers in Nova Scotia

This chapter investigates the presence and status of environmental education principles, as well as factors for encouraging positive environmental behaviour in students, within three sixth-grade curricula in Nova Scotia, Canada: science, social studies, and health education. The results of the research show a strong reliance on knowledge-based connections to the environment and less importance shown to experiential learning, attitudes, and values. The results also reveal a significant decline in the time and resources allotted to environmentally focused education of these subjects. The effect is a diminished and marginalized environmental education presence in sixth-grade education in Nova Scotia within the context of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

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Pass, Fail, or Incomplete?

STEM Education ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-7363-2.ch068 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 1283-1301

Author(s):

Elizabeth Spence ◽

Tarah Wright ◽

Heather Castleden

Keyword(s):

Nova Scotia ◽

Experiential Learning ◽

Environmental Education ◽

Social Studies ◽

Sixth Grade ◽

Significant Decline ◽

Environmental Behaviour ◽

Knowledge Based ◽

Learning Attitudes ◽

Research Show

This chapter investigates the presence and status of environmental education principles, as well as factors for encouraging positive environmental behaviour in students, within three sixth-grade curricula in Nova Scotia, Canada: science, social studies, and health education. The results of the research show a strong reliance on knowledge-based connections to the environment and less importance shown to experiential learning, attitudes, and values. The results also reveal a significant decline in the time and resources allotted to environmentally focused education of these subjects. The effect is a diminished and marginalized environmental education presence in sixth-grade education in Nova Scotia within the context of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

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Effects of Ethnicity and Gender on Sixth-Grade Students' Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes After Participation in a Year-Long Environmental Education Program

10.15760/etd.1538 ◽

2000 ◽

Author(s):

Rachel Stagner

Keyword(s):

Environmental Education ◽

Education Program ◽

Sixth Grade ◽

Environmental Knowledge ◽

Knowledge And Attitudes ◽

Sixth Grade Students ◽

And Gender ◽

Ethnicity And Gender

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Childrens' Conceptions of Nature

Australian Journal of Environmental Education ◽

10.1017/s0814062600003918 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

pp. 19-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Phillip Payne

Keyword(s):

Environmental Education ◽

Learning Strategies ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Sixth Grade ◽

Teaching And Learning Strategies ◽

Practice Gap ◽

Environmental Educators ◽

Theory Practice Gap ◽

Children’S Conceptions

ABSTRACTThis paper describes a study of sixth grade children's conceptions of nature and the environment. In so doing, it asks that environmental educators pay more attention to children's preconceived notions of environment and nature. Should this occur the theory-practice gap in environmental education may be diminished. Learners' concepts of ‘nature’ and the ‘environment’ provide a needed perspective for the development of individually and contextually appropriate teaching and learning strategies in environmental education. Without knowledge of them it is not clear whose version of environment it is which the learner is being educated ‘in’, ‘about’, ‘with’ or ‘for’.

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Imagine a school: Children draw and explain the ideal environmental school

Australian Journal of Environmental Education ◽

10.1017/aee.2021.3 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Adiv Gal ◽

Dafna Gan

Keyword(s):

Environmental Education ◽

Environmental Change ◽

School Children ◽

Phenomenological Study ◽

Sixth Grade ◽

Positive Thinking ◽

Outdoor Learning ◽

Core Subjects ◽

Sixth Grade Students ◽

The Ideal

Abstract Using drawings and accompanying written and oral explanations by third- and sixth-grade students, this phenomenological study is an examination of the children’s perception of the ideal environmental school. Analysis of the 128 features in the drawing yielded four categories: (1) physical – with natural areas and outdoor learning, (2) cognitive – core subjects and environmental ones, (3) emotional – the students’ feelings and the spaces for releasing stress and energy and (4) educational – environmental education (EE) includes a variety of pedagogies, features of nature and environmental solutions. While the drawings and explanations presented the school as the children know it, without boundary-breaking imagination and creativity, they also showed a desire for a positive school atmosphere, defined as essential to holistic EE and to leading environmental change. The positive atmosphere, nature and the environmental spaces can be the foundation of developing EE that is not fear based, which often generates helplessness and prevents action. The recommendations emphasise the need to enhance positive thinking and not to focus only on fear tactics as a means to enhance holistic EE and protect the environment.

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An Investigation of Sex-Bias in Classroom Teachers' Speech and Language Referrals

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.1103.169 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 169-174 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ellen Marie Silverman ◽

Katherine Van Opens

Keyword(s):

School Districts ◽

Voice Disorders ◽

Communication Disorders ◽

Sixth Grade ◽

Sex Bias ◽

Classroom Teachers ◽

Communication Disorder ◽

Primary Procedure ◽

Teacher Referrals ◽

Grade Classroom

Kindergarten through sixth grade classroom teachers in four school districts completed questionnaires designed to determine whether they would be more likely to refer a boy than a girl with an identical communication disorder. The teachers were found to be equally likely to refer a girl as a boy who presented a disorder of articulation, language, or voice, but they were more likely to refer a boy for speech-language remediation who presented the disorder of stuttering. The tendency for the teachers to allow the sex of a child to influence their likelihood of referral for stuttering remediation, to overlook a sizeable percentage of children with chronic voice disorders, and to be somewhat inaccurate generally in their referrals suggests that teacher referrals are best used as an adjunct to screening rather than as a primary procedure to locate children with communication disorders.

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A Comparison of Four Adolescent Language Tests

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.1803.250 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 250-266 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

R. Jane Lieberman ◽

Ann Marie C. Heffron ◽

Stephanie J. West ◽

Edward C. Hutchinson ◽

Thomas W. Swem

Keyword(s):

Test Performance ◽

Sixth Grade ◽

Significant Discrepancy ◽

Language Impaired ◽

Language Functions ◽

Language Tests ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Sixth Grade Students ◽

Overall Performance ◽

Selection Of

Four recently developed adolescent language tests, the Fullerton Test for Adolescents (FLTA), the Test of Adolescent Language (TOAL), the Clinical Evaluation of Language Functions (CELF), and the Screening Test of Adolescent Language (STAL), were compared to determine: (a) whether they measured the same language skills (content) in the same way (procedures); and (b) whether students performed similarly on each of the tests. First, respective manuals were reviewed to compare selection of subtest content areas and subtest procedures. Then, each of the tests was administered according to standardized procedures to 30 unselected sixth-grade students. Despite apparent differences in test content and procedures, there was no significant difference in students' performance on three of the four tests, and correlations among test performance were moderate to high. A comparison of the pass/fail rates for overall performance on the tests, however, revealed a significant discrepancy between the proportions of students identified in need of further evaluation on the STAL (20%) and the proportion diagnosed as language impaired on the three diagnostic tests (60-73%). Clinical implications are discussed.

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