Let’s read green! A comparison between approaches in different disciplines to enhance preservice teachers’ environmental attitudes

Abstract

This article examines the effect of different educational approaches to environmental education (EE) in the environmental attitudes of 507 preservice teachers. In one experimental group EE was addressed in a science subject and in other experimental group in a literature subject. The latter integrated content and competences in a transdisciplinary way, overcoming the idea that environmental attitudes should only be addressed in science classes. The analysis of their responses to the Environmental Attitudes Inventory (EAI) in a prestest-postest design show that both approaches were able to increase their pro-environmental attitudes, while the control group showed no significant changes. The educational intervention at the literature subject was able to significantly increase those dimensions related to preserving nature and the diversity of natural species in their original natural state, while the educational intervention at the science subject was also able to significantly decrease those dimensions related to the belief that it is right and even necessary to use and alter nature, natural phenomena, and species for human objectives. Female future teachers had more favorable attitudes towards nature than their male counterparts, but no statistically significant differences were observed according to gender for a specific educational approach.

Keywords:

• Environmental attitudes
• environmental education
• preservice teachers
• environmental humanities
• transdisciplinary approach

Notes on Contributors

Antonio Martín-Ezpeleta is Assistant Professor at the Department of Language and Literature Teaching at the University of Valencia (Spain). He previously worked at the Universities of Jaén and Zaragoza (Spain), the University of Saint Andrews (UK) and Harvard University (USA). His research interests are Spanish literature and language and literature teaching. He is currently working on creativity, transdisciplinary approaches to education and reading comprehension. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Patricio Martínez-Urbano holds a PhD in Language and Literature teaching. He teaches at the Vila-Roja Secondary School in Almazora (Spain) and has collaborated as an Adjunct professor at the Department of Language and Literature Teaching at the University of Valencia. His lines of research include videoludic language, narratology and digital competence, and teacher training. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Yolanda Echegoyen-Sanz is Assistant Professor at the Department of Experimental and Social Sciences Teaching at the University of Valencia (Spain). She previously worked at the University of Zaragoza and the Spanish National Research Council (Spain), Fritz Haber Institut der Max Plank Gesellschaft (Germany), Northeastern University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). Her research interests are related to nanotechnology, environmental studies, and science teaching. She is currently working on creativity, transdisciplinary approaches to education, media literacy and epistemically unwarranted beliefs. She can be contacted at [email protected].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.