Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1989

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

A. Paul Wishart

Committee Members

James D. Caponetti, Don J. Dessart, Phyllis Huff

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the attitudes and teaching perceptions related to environmental issues, problems, or solutions in a K'f" population of prospective teachers matriculating in selected colleges and universities in East Tennessee. The specific objectives were to; (1) investigate similarities and differences of expressed attitudes toward selected environmental concerns; (2) to determine the degree of a\rareness (or unawareness) to issues, problems, and approaches to the resolution of environmental problems;^(3) to examine perceived seriousness of problems and readiness to teach environmental issues to include exploring the association of such variables; and, (4) to examine perceived abilities to get involved with environmental education. It was conducted under the assumptions that (a) society needs to monitor the environmental priorities of the population, and, (b) teachers' attitudes toward environmental concerns would influence the manner by which they treat these topics during their career.

The participants in this study were from a population of preservice middle/high school undergraduate (senior) level and graduate (certification) level teachers in 16 member institutions of the Tennessee Association of Colleges for Teacher Certification (TACTE) in the region during the academic year 1988-1989. Enrollment figures reported by the respective schools yielded an estimated target population of 347, of which 279 (80.4 percent) returns were analyzed for the study.

An environmental survey questionnaire was constructed by the researcher, evaluated by a panel of educators and practitioners, and iii IV pilot-tested at The University of Tennessee in the Fall of 1988. Packets of the questionnaire were mailed to the deans/heads of the institutions with a request that the instrument be passed on and/or administered to the target participants.

Questionnaire responses were tallied, computer-analyzed, tabulated, and investigated with respect to the whole target population and controlled for gender, race, age group, degree/program, teaching major, place of residence, and number of environmental course(s) taken.

The data indicated that a majority of the preservice teachers had strong opinions, feelings, and support for environmental quality. There was a high degree of awareness, interest, and worry over problems, issues, or solutions about "water quality" and "air quality" while there was perceived, unawareness of "resource management" concerns and lesser preference to teach "overpopulation" and "waste management" topics.

Attitudes toward and familiarity with specific environmental problems, issues, or solutions were substantially varied among the disparate groups of respondents.

There was a positive correlation between "perceived seriousness of environmental problems" and "perceived readiness to teach such problems." Positive high correlations were found from the responses of mathematics and natural science students. Other coefficient values were found not high enough for prediction purposes, however.

The population of preservice teachers perceived themselves to be "knowledgeable" and assigned themselves a grade of "C" to teach a broad range of environmental topics. The prospective teacher who felt capable to teach environmentalism was a male, 30-39 years of age, and a graduate level student oriented toward natural science or social science with two or more environmental courses, one of which was an integrated content/ methods course.

Political and social agencies were urged to consider some of the specific concerns highly rated by the respondents. Legislations and policy decisions must be sensitive to individual freedoms and choices.

Colleges and schools of education in the state of Tennessee were encouraged to design curricula which allow aspiring teachers to take environmentally-related courses in their respective programs. More effort should be made to encourage and/or motivate non-science major teacher trainees to take methods and content courses dealing with environmental topics. It was also suggested that environmental content courses should be identified and offered as course options for teacher trainees. Finally, existing environmental courses for preservice teachers must cover more topics on "waste management," "resource management," and "overpopulation."

Questions were raised as to why some groups in the target population showed a positive correlation between "perceived seriousness of environmental problems" and "perceived readiness to teach such problems" while other groups revealed a negative one. Further studies to investigate the factors responsible for these results were recommended. Replication studies involving other population groups was also suggested. The knowledge level of preservice teachers pertaining to environmental concepts, and the psychological bases for the observed responses should also be investigated.

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