A Role for Ecological Restoration Work in University Environmental Education

Abstract

The effects of ecological restoration field work and in-class instruction on students' ecological behavior, environmental attitudes, and perceptions of restorative qualities in a natural environment were studied in 3 classes of university undergraduates (N = 488). In 1 class, students (n = 145) carried out ecological restoration work on 8 field trips. Students in 2 control classes (n = 157; n = 186) each made only 1 field trip, to a site where the other class had done restoration work, but did no restoration work. In 1 of the control classes, data were collected from 5 subgroups at different points in the course to examine the effects of cumulating in-class instruction. Ecological restoration work positively affected environmental attitudes and ecological behavior, but within the attitude measures it affected only ecological behavior intention and not environmental knowledge or environmental values. In-class instruction was associated with perceived restorative qualities in the study site; perceptions of Being Away, Coherence, and Fascination increased over the course of instruction.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Terry Hartig

Peter A. Bowler is an associate adjunct professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California at Irvine. Florian G. Kaiser is a professor of psychology at the University of Trier, Germany. Terry Hartig is with the Institute for Housing Research at Uppsala University in Gävle, Sweden.