Impact of an Environmental Education Program on Students' and Parents' Attitudes, Motivation, and Behaviours

Changes in sixth grade students' and their parents' environmental knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behaviours following an environmental education program (EEP) over a school year were investigated. Results indicated that at the end of the school year, children who were part of the EEP group engaged in ecological behaviours less for extrinsic motives than did children who were part of a control group. Parents of children in the EEP group were significantly more dissatisfied with local environmental conditions compared to parents of children in the control group. No other significant differences between groups were observed for other measured child and parental variables. Recommendations are presented to guide future studies evaluating an EEP. Resume On a etudie les changements au niveau des connaissances environnementales, des attitudes, de la motivation et des comportements d'eleves de sixieme annee et de leurs parents a la suite d'un programme d'education environnementale (PEE) s'echelonnant sur une annee scolaire. Les resultats ont indique qu'a la fin de 1'annee scolaire, les enfants qui faisaient partie du groupe PEE manifestaient des comportements ecologiques moins pour des motifs extrinseques que les enfants qui faisaient partie d'un groupe de controle. Les parents des enfants dans les groupe PEE etaient considerablement plus insatisfaits des conditions environnementales comparativement aux parents d'enfants dans le groupe de controle. Aucune autre difference importante n'a ete observee entre les groupes pour les autres variables relatives aux enfants et aux parents. Des recommandations sont presentees pour guider les etudes futures evaluant un PEE. Previous research findings suggest that formal education on environmental issues and participation in environmental activities are promising venues to foster ecological knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours in children (for a review see Leeming, Dwyer, Porter, & Cobern, 1993). For example, Ramsey and Hungerford (1989) observed that the implementation of a formal environmental education program (EEP) in classrooms did enhance knowledge of ecological issues and strategies as well as favour perceptions of self-efficacy. Leeming, Porter, Dwyer, Cobern, and Oliver (1997) observed that the addition of a minimum of eight ecological activities within an educational setting was sufficient to enhance verbal and actual ecological commitment in children. While the effects of formal EEP and those of ecological activities have been investigated separately, the above findings suggest that the combined impact of a formal educational program and ecological activities in an EEP could potentially be more effective in bringing about desired changes in children's ecological attitudes and behaviours. Recent developments in a Canadian school curriculum rendered possible the investigation of an EEP incorporating both a formal curriculum and ecological activities. Le projet des ecoles vertes Brundtland [Brundtland Green School Project] is a formal'EEP offered in primary grade schools on a voluntary basis. To obtain the status of a Brundtland Green School, schools must agree to implement at least three of the following four steps: (a) the school's administration must reduce, reuse or recycle rubbish by visible and measurable means; (b) ecological issues are taught in all subjects; (c) the school assumes the costs related to securing ecological services (e.g., battery recycling) or implementing ecological actions (e.g., composting); and (d) implement an ecological club headed by children, the mandate of which is to inform the school population on environmental issues and encourage the use of ecological strategies (e.g., recycling or composting lunch leftovers). Failure to meet these steps results in the withdrawal of the status. Our first goal was to replicate and extend past studies by investigating changes in Canadian students' ecological attitudes, motivation and behaviours following an eightmonth exposure to an EEP. Our second goal was to explore the possible influence of children, exposed to this Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 2000, 32:4, 243-250 244 Legault and Pelletier EEP, in fostering changes in their parents' ecological attitudes, motivation, and behaviours. To our knowledge only two studies have addressed this issue. In the first study, Sutherland and Ham (1992) observed that the amount of environmental information transferred from children to their parents was generally low and superficial. However, this study was conducted on a small sample size (N = 16) and lacked a control group. Leeming and colleagues (1997) conducted a more elaborate study with a larger sample size (N = 853 children; N = 486 parents). The authors assessed changes in parents following their children's participation in ecological activities over a school year. Results showed that at Time 2, parents in the experimental group compared to parents in the control group reported increased: (a) discussion of environmental issues with their children; (b) levels of environmental concern; and (c) frequency of ecological behaviours. However, parental variables were only measured at Time 2. This leaves open the possibility that parental responses may not have changed over time. In addition, the authors did not assess changes in children's ecological concern nor in behavioural frequency over the school year. The present study attempted to address some of the above limitations. First, pretest and post-test measures were taken to control for possible recall biases. Second, measures of ecological variables were obtained for both children and parents. The present study included measures of ecological knowledge, concern with the importance attributed to environmental issues, satisfaction with environmental conditions, competence, and behavioural frequency. Measures of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were also added, as more recent findings suggest they are significant predictors of environmental behaviours in adult populations (e.g., de Young 1996). Ecological motivation was investigated by means of self-determination theory proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985). Briefly, these authors conceptualize behaviours to arise from different motives varying in level of selfdetermination. These motives coexist on a continuum of self-determination and are classified into three broad categories: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation. Intrinsic motivation is considered the highest form of self-determination as it characterizes behaviours engaged in for the pleasure and satisfaction derived from the activity. Amotivation represents the lowest possible level of self-determination, as it implies a loss of personal control and alienation akin to learned helplessness. Extrinsic motivation subtypes coexist between these two poles. As a whole, the continuum of self-determination reflects a person's level of commitment to ecological behaviours (de Young, 1996). Thus, it can be argued that higher levels of self-determination reflect higher levels of commitment. Within the motivational domain, selfdetermined subtypes of motives have been found to be significantly associated with the occurrence of ecological behaviours in adult populations. Specifically, self-determined adults tended to engage more frequently in ecological behaviours perceived as difficult or demanding in terms of time, energy, and personal resources (e.g., bringing toxic products to specialized recycling centres versus curb-side recycling; Green-Demers, Pelletier, & Menard, 1997). In addition, adults who participate in activities for intrinsic motives tend to show greater persistence in the absence of external sources of regulation (i.e., constant reinforcement; de Young, 1996). The investigation of ecological motivation in juvenile and adult populations was therefore judged to be an interesting venue to further our understanding of an EEP's impact. With the above considerations in mind, we formulated the following hypotheses. At the end of the school year, we anticipated that children enrolled in schools endorsing an EEP and their parents, when compared to children enrolled in schools offering a regular curriculum and their parents, would: (a) be less satisfied with environmental conditions; (b) attribute more importance to environmental issues; (c) be more self-determined in performing ecological behaviours; and (d) perform more frequently ecological behaviours (e.g., recycle, seek information).