Conservation education in schools: Aligning teachers' perceptions with students' attitudes

ABSTRACT

As global environmental problems intensify, the importance of providing effective conservation education to young people is increasingly apparent. To accomplish this, teachers' perceptions and students' attitudes about conservation education in schools must align. This article explores students' attitudes via a survey distributed to students from one suburban high school in Kansas. Teachers across multiple schools in the same district responded to a similar survey. The survey results indicate that most teachers and students agree that a multifaceted approach that actively engages students across the curriculum, and throughout all grades, in learning about the environment and conservation would be most effective.

Acknowledgments

This research was completed with the help of Dr. Dan Gruman, Director of Research and Assessment, Mr. Steven Loe, Shawnee Mission West Principal, and from teachers and students in the Shawnee Mission School District in Johnson County, Kansas. This work was conducted as a part of graduate work through Project Dragonfly at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.