An Exploratory Study of Preservice Teachers' Beliefs About the Environment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the environmental teaching efficacy and outcome-expectancy beliefs of elementary preservice teachers. The study also evaluated the importance of ethnicity as a construct in influencing teachers' beliefs toward environmental education. Among groups, participants involved in the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) curriculum (2005; experimental group) significantly increased in environmental teaching outcome expectancy (ETOE) but not in personal environmental teaching efficacy (PETE). However, non-GLOBE participants (control group) increased significantly in PETE but not in ETOE. Ethnicity, which the authors defined in this study as Hispanic or non-Hispanic, was not a significant construct in influencing personal environmental teaching efficacy and outcome expectancy.

Keywords:

• environmental teaching efficacy
• Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment
• outcome expectancy