Students of Action? A Comparative Investigation of Secondary Science and Social Studies Students’ Action Repertoires in a Land Use Context

Abstract

Environmental education (EE) and social studies education share an interest in behavioral outcomes. This study compares behavioral outcomes—including both self-reported knowledge of actions and reported actions taken—in the context of a land use curriculum enacted in secondary science versus social studies classes with 500 students and nine teachers. Data included pre- and posttests for comparison and intervention groups, classroom observations, and student and teacher interviews. Results indicated that students tended to know and undertake individual rather than collective actions toward sustainable land use. The type of actions students identified varied by course type: when the EE curriculum was presented in science class compared to social studies, students showed less diverse knowledge of actions in support of sustainable land use.

Keywords:

• civic action knowledge
• environmental action knowledge
• mixed-method studies
• science education
• social studies education

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank the U.S. EPA Office of Environmental Education for generous support toward this study through a NNEMS fellowship.

Notes

1. Because the first open-ended item used the same categories as the second, a separate interrater reliability was not assessed for this item.

2. Data exhibited a Poisson distribution with a low number of actions listed for the majority of students.