Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T08:59:21.616Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early Preservice Teachers’ Experiences of the Environment: A Case Study of Participation in a Community Outdoor Event

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2017

Wilhelmina van Rooy
Wilhelmina van Rooy*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Wilhelmina van Rooy, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University, Locked Bag 2002 Strathfield NSW 2135, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Clean Up Australia Day is the country's largest community-based environmental annual event when participants work in teams to remove rubbish from their local environment. This article describes an interpretive study in which a sample of preservice primary teachers’ (n = 30) responses to questions about their involvement in the event were evaluated to determine their developing knowledge and understanding about environmental and sustainability issues. The study evaluated a university assessment task for its ability to identify and challenge preservice primary teachers’ views as consumers of manufactured products, environmental citizens, and future teachers. The data were drawn from students’ written work that formed part of the assessment task. Results indicate that students found participation in this community event to be a significant, valuable part of their learning about the environment that contributed to their understanding about sustainability and highlighted the power of positive community participation as a force for good.

Keywords

preservice science primary teacher educationenvironmental educationsustainability educationpreservice teacherselementary teachers
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , July 2017 , pp. 81 - 96
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (n.d.). Cross-curriculum priorities. Sydney, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/science/cross-curriculum-priorities Google Scholar
Amirshokoohi, A. (2010). Elementary pre-service teachers’ environmental literacy and views toward science, technology, and society (STS) issues. Science Educator, 19, 56–63.Google Scholar
Avraamidou, L. (2015). Reconceptualizing elementary teacher preparation: A case for informal science education. International Journal of Science Education, 37, 108–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blatt, E. (2014). An investigation of the goals for an environmental science course: Teacher and student perspectives. Environmental Education Research, doi:10.1080/13504622.2014.918935.Google Scholar
Blatt, E., & Patrick, P. (2014). An exploration of pre-service teachers’ experiences in outdoor ‘Places’ and intentions for teaching in the outdoors. International Journal of Science Education, 36, 2243–2264.Google Scholar
Brigido, M., Borrachero, A., Bermejo, M., & Mellado, V. (2013). Prospective primary teachers’ self-efficacy and emotions in science teaching. European Journal of Teacher Education, 36, 200–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cantrell, P., Young, S., & Moore, A. (2003). Factors affecting science teaching efficacy of pre-service elementary teachers. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 14, 177–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & Edwards, S. (2006). Everyday environmental education experiences: The role of content in early childhood education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 22, 13–19.Google Scholar
Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & Smith, R. (2003). Ecological literacy: The ‘missing paradigm’ in environmental education (part one). Environmental Education Research, 9, 497–524.Google Scholar
Danielsson, A., & Warwick, P. (2014). You have to give them some science facts: Primary student teachers’ early negotiations of teacher identities in the intersections of discourses about science teaching and about primary teaching. Research in Science Education, 44, 289–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denzin, N. (Ed.). (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Effeney, G., & Davis, J. (2013). Education for sustainability: A case study of pre-service primary teachers’ knowledge and efficacy. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38, 32–46.Google Scholar
Gwekwerere, Y. (2014). Pre-service teachers’ knowledge, participation and perceptions about environmental education in schools. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 30, 198–214.Google Scholar
Inoue, M., O'Gorman, L., & Davis, J. (2016). Investigating early childhood teachers’ understandings of and practices in education for sustainability in Queensland: A Japan-Australia research collaboration. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 32, 174–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeronen, E., Palmberg, I., & Yli-Panula, E. (2017). Teaching methods in biology education and sustainability education including outdoor education for promoting sustainability: A literature review. Education Sciences, 7, 1. doi:10.3390/educsci7010001.Google Scholar
Jones, J. (2013). Re-discovering the arts: The impact of engagement in a natural environment upon pre-service teacher perception of creativity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 8, 102–108.Google Scholar
Kempton, W., & Holland, D.C. (2003). Identity and Sustained Environmental Practice. In Clayton, S. & Opotow, S. (Eds.), Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature (pp. 317–341). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Kennelly, J., Taylor, N., & Maxwell, T. (2008). Addressing the challenges of preparing Australian pre-service primary teachers in environmental education. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 2, 141–156.Google Scholar
Kennelly, J., Taylor, N., & Serow, P. (2012). Early career primary teachers and education for sustainability. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 21, 139–153.Google Scholar
Miles, R., Harrison, L., & Cutter-Mackenzie, A. (2006). Teacher education: A diluted environmental education experience. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 22, 49–59.Google Scholar
Mills, R., & Thomas, L. (2013). Integrating education for sustainability in preservice teacher education: A case study from a regional Australian University. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 29, 152–164.Google Scholar
Moseley, C., Reinke, K., & Bookout, V. (2003). The effect of teaching outdoor environmental education on elementary preservice teachers’ self-efficacy, Journal of Elementary Science Education, 15, 1–14.Google Scholar
Nielsen, W., Andersen, P., Hurley, A., Sabljak, V., Petereit, A., Hoskin, V., & Hoban, G. (2012). Preparing action competent environmental educators: How hard could it be? Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 28, 92–107.Google Scholar
Nilsson, P., & Loughran, J. (2011). Exploring the development of pre-service science elementary teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 23, 699–721. doi:10.1007/s10972-011-9239-y.Google Scholar
Office of Environment and Heritage, Department of Premier and Cabinet. (n.d.). School Environment Management Plan (SEMP). Retrieved from https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/sustainableschools/SEMPguideweb.pdf Google Scholar
O'Gorman, L., & Davis, J. (2013). Ecological footprinting: Its potential as a tool for change in preservice teacher education. Environmental Education Research, 19, 779–791.Google Scholar
Palmer, D. (2006). Sources of self-efficacy in a science methods course for primary teacher education students. Research in Science Education, 36, 337–353.Google Scholar
Smith, G., & Stevenson, R. (2017). Sustaining education for sustainability in turbulent times. Journal of Environmental Education, 48, 79–95.Google Scholar
Stevenson, R., Ferreira, J., & Emery, S. (2016). Environmental and sustainability education research, past and future: Three perspectives from late, mid, and early career researchers. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 32, 1–10.Google Scholar
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Summers, M., Corney, G., & Childs, A. (2004). Student teachers’ conceptions of sustainable development: the starting points of geographers and scientists. Educational Research, 46, 163–182.Google Scholar
Story of Stuff Project. (2017). The story of stuff. Retrieved from http://storyofstuff.org Google Scholar
Tenenbaum, H., To, C., Wormald, D., & Pegram, E. (2015). Changes and stability in reasoning after a field trip to a natural history museum. Science Education, 99, 1073–1091. doi:10.1002/sce.21184 Google Scholar
Thomas, L., Girgenti, S. & Jackson, C. (2017). Pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward education for sustainability and its relevance to their learning: implications for pedagogical practice. Environmental Education Research, 23, 324–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, S. (2012). Drivers and blockers: Embedding education for sustainability (EfS) in primary teacher education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 28, 42–46.Google Scholar
Wilson, R., & Kittleson, J. (2012). The role of struggle in pre-service elementary teachers’ experiences as students and approaches to facilitating science learning. Research in Science Education, 42, 709–728.Google Scholar
Winton, T. (2015). Island home: A landscape memoir. Melbourne, Australia: Penguin Books.Google Scholar