ABSTRACT
In this study, we explore the influence of student engagement on middle school students’ environmental literacy outcomes at a residential environmental education (EE) program. We observed 80 lessons and 17 educators, observing six measures related to engagement. We also administered immediate post-experience surveys measuring students’ self-reported levels of engagement and environmental literacy outcomes. Only self-reported student engagement was significantly associated with more positive outcomes. As such, observations of engaged or enthusiastic EE participants may not necessarily be indicative of achieving desired learning outcomes. The study reveals the importance of systematic evaluation over simplistic observations for gauging participant learning.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the NorthBay Education Foundation for their support of the study and the NorthBay educators and students who participated. We would also like to thank Michael Blackwell, for his invaluable assistance in the development and data collection for this work. This manuscript benefited from the thoughtful comments from reviewers and we thank them for their time. This study was approved by the Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board (#15-915).
Disclosure statement
The authors have no potential conflict of interest to report.