Middle school science teachers’ agency to implement place-based education curricula about local wildlife

Abstract

Environmental education researchers and policy makers acknowledge the need to act responsibly toward the environment. Yet, teachers do not always know how to help students translate environmental knowledge into sustainable action. This study examines the implementation of locally developed place-based education (PBE) curriculum for middle school science classes with the intention of promoting environmentally positive behaviors. Camera traps were placed near schools and teachers were provided with photographic data of urban wildlife to use during ecology lessons Through our grounded theory study, we found that teachers who perceived a curricular alignment and drew on curricular agency were willing to adopt and adapt the lessons for their classrooms. Those who did not implement the lessons either lacked curricular agency or perceived a misalignment of the PBE lessons and their school context. Our study informs environmental education professional development leaders, who, we argue, should allow teachers to first explore their own curricular agency and context. In addition, we encourage educators to explore how PBE can create opportunities to teach students about civic engagement.

Keywords:

• Place-based education
• grounded theory
• K-12 education
• curriculum
• environmental education

Acknowledgments

We thank Rocky Mountain Cat Conservancy and the Colorado State University Undergraduate Wildlife Society for assistance in downloading and collating photographic data. We thank Danielle Lin Hunter for engaging in helpful discussions during the data coding process.We also thank Laura Grissom from Poudre School District for help in organizing teacher professional development workshops.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Diane S. Wright is a PhD candidate in Ecology with a Specialization in Human-Environment Interactions at Colorado State University. Her research on environmental literacy investigates the impact o using place-based education curriculum in K-12 classrooms. Diane has over 25 years of experience in schools as a middle and high school classroom teacher and district level science curriculum facilitator.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #1540794 and Grant #1413925 and the Environmental Protection Agency under Grant #NE-96882001-0.