Informal Earth Education : Significant Shifts for Environmental Attitude and Knowledge

Title data

Baierl, Tessa-Marie ; Johnson, Bruce ; Bogner, Franz X.:
Informal Earth Education : Significant Shifts for Environmental Attitude and Knowledge.
In: Frontiers in Psychology. Vol. 13 (2022) . - 819899.
ISSN 1664-1078
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.819899

Project information

Abstract in another language

Environmental education aims to affect environmental knowledge and attitude to ultimately induce pro-environmental behavior. Based on 247 upper elementary school students, we tested the impact of an outdoor-based earth education program on environmental knowledge and attitude with a pre-post design. Both outcome measures were Rasch scales. Environmental knowledge is a composite of 27 system, action, and effectiveness knowledge items, and environmental attitude is a composite of 13 evaluative statements and 11 self-reported behaviors about nature preservation. Our analysis revealed gains in environmental knowledge and attitude. The convergence between knowledge and attitude increased significantly from pre- to post-program, and attitude played a significant role in knowledge acquisition.