Level of Teacher Preparation and Implementation of EE: Mandated and Non-Mandated EE Teacher Preparation States

Having a Field Day with Environmental Education

“…Much of this work has illustrated students' and teachers' attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about the environment (e.g., Culen & Mony, 2003;Hines et al, 1986Hines et al, /1987Khalid, 2003;Lane & Wilke, 1994;Lijmbach, et al, 2002;Loughland et al, 2003;Middlestat et al, 1999;Moseley, et al, 2002;Plevyak et al, 2001) and the assessment of state level programs (e.g., Kirk et al, 1997;Lieberman, 1995;Ruskey & Wilke, 1996;Volk & Cheak, 2003). Within environmental education research however, there is a dearth of discussion about successful and practical application of environmental education in teacher education Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 17:49 10 June 2016 programs.…”

Influence of an Intensive, Field-Based Life Science Course on Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy for Environmental Science Teaching

“…Like science teaching in general, if PSTs will be expected to integrate EE into regular instruction, they need authentic experiences during their programs of study to instruct and interact with children in settings similar to those in which they will be expected to teach (Tschannen-Moran et al, 1998). These experiences not only prepare them with content and pedagogy, but also potentially frame their attitudes and perceptions of EE, which are shown to significantly correlate with EE implementation (Brown, 2000;Plevyak et al, 2001). Integrating EE into PST educational programs could be difficult in light of its current status in state-level educational policy; few states offer EE certification or endorsements to existing teaching credentials.…”

“…In 1990, Marcinkowski et al asserted that content and pedagogy associated with environmental action and pro-environmental behaviors, including environmental issue investigation, remediation, solutions and citizen action, are not commonly addressed in teacher education. More recent research supports this assertion (Heimlich et al, 2004;Mastrilli, 2005;Meichtry & Harrell, 2002;Plevyak et al, 2001). This study attempts to address some of the gaps in PST experiences in EE by examining the extent to which fieldand school-based experiences-environmental issue investigation, EE curriculum planning and enactment, and environmental action with elementary studentsinfluenced PSTs' self-efficacy beliefs for EE teaching and which experiences, in particular, were perceived as most influential in shaping their efficacy beliefs.…”

“…Perhaps as a result of classroom experience, inservice teachers' self-efficacy for EE teaching can improve after professional development as short as 2 weeks in duration (Holden et al, 2011;Moseley, Huss, & Utley, 2010). Moreover, preservice formal and informal EE experiences have a significant effect on quality and quantity of EE instruction delivered by teachers (Lane & Wilke, 1997;Plevyak, Bendixen-Noe, Henderson, Roth, & Wilke, 2001). In sum, previous research has indicated that teachers with explicit EE preparation have better attitudes about incorporating EE into class time, and they use a greater diversity of EE teaching methods.…”

Development of the Environmental Education Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument

“…A few prior studies examined preservice teachers’ beliefs and understandings about the environment and how those understandings might be changed (Desjean‐Perrotta, ; Hestness et al, ; Moseley, Desjean‐Perrotta, & Crim, ). Several studies have reported that teachers do not feel competent in their knowledge or skills to teach environmental education effectively due to lack of training (Elder, ; Plevyak, Bendixen‐Noe, Henderson, Roth, & Wilke, ; Smith‐Sebasto & Smith, ). Prior research regarding preservice teachers’ EE teaching efficacy investigated efficacy before and after teaching in informal settings (Holden, Groulx, Bloom, & Weinberg, ; Moseley, Reinke, & Keithley, ); the relationship between self‐efficacy and use of established EE curricula (Moseley et al, ); and, experiences learning environmental science content in traditional science courses (Moseley, Huss, & Utley, ; Moseley & Utley, ; Utley, Moseley, & Bryant, ).…”