What difference do role models make? Investigating outcomes at a residential environmental education center

Abstract

Role models may be essential in helping students develop environmental literacy and characteristics associated with positive youth development (PYD). We examine the identities of middle school students’ self-reported role models before, immediately after, and three months following an immersive 5-day residential environmental education (EE) experience that targets environmental responsibility, character development and leadership, and attitudes toward school as programmatic outcomes. We explore whether students who identified different types of role models score differently on these factors. Students who identified parents, teachers, and pastors as role models scored higher on each of these outcomes. Moreover, who students identified as role models changed significantly after the EE program. We discuss the potential influence of the program on role model development and implications for EE and PYD programs.

Keywords:

• Attitudes toward school
• character development
• environmental responsibility
• leadership
• positive youth development

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the NorthBay staff for their commitment to evaluation and thank the visiting teachers and students who participated in the surveys.

Notes

1. Explorations of differential reporting and effects of role models on urban, suburban, and rural students yielded little concrete evidence of meaningful differences between the groups. Because the groups are not necessarily representative of larger urban, suburban, or rural populations, we do not report on subpopulations.

2. Moreover, low ICC-1 values suggest that very little variance in outcome changes could be accounted for by attendance at a specific school.