title: Kann kompetenzorientierter Natur und Technik-Unterricht individuell nachhaltiges Handeln beeinflussen? Wie Umwelteinstellungen, Motivation und Technikbegeisterung kognitives Lernen über Müllverwertung/-vermeidung beeinflussen
Creators: name: Stöckert, Alexandra
Publisher: name: University of Bayreuth
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: 2-MEV model
subject: Technology
subject: Science Motivation
subject: knowledge acquisition
subject: science education
subject: gender
subject: incineration plant
subject: semantic differential
subject: collaborative learning
subject: outreach learning
subject: students
subject: freshmen
subject: 500
subject: 570

description: Environmental and climate protection are widely discussed alongside technologies that could contribute to tackling climate change. While technological advancements have initially been considered the root of all climate problems, they may now be key to successfully navigating a looming climate crisis. Waste management is, thereby, a particularly salient topic since it combines a change in attitudes towards environmentally friendly and sustainable behaviors with modern and sustainable technologies. In the otherwise rather mobility-focused public debate, waste management, however, seems to get lost although it affects all human beings regardless of nationality, age or wealth. Thus, we developed a student-centered teaching module for fifth graders to address the topics of sustainable waste management and recycling. Relevant knowledge about waste production and energy generation from waste, was expected to raise awareness and foster sustainable action. In a first step, the pilot study A with 264 university freshmen should provide an overview of attitudes towards technologies and the environment after having completed their A-Levels. We identified that positive attitudes towards technologies correlated with tendencies to exploit nature and vice versa. Technologies were also more appealing to male students as compared to female students, who were more inclined with environmental protection and appreciation of nature. Likewise, the field of study appeared to influence individual attitudes: For instance, those who studied natural sciences were more protective and appreciative of nature than economics and law students. Natural science and law students, however, also consider and accept technologies as important drivers of social advancements, whereas cultural studies students deny their impact. Sub-study B outlines our teaching module developed for fostering "Scientific Work" (curriculumPLUS of the Bavarian Gymnasium) within the scope of "Nature and Technology”, which focused on waste avoidance and recycling. The module encompassed three sections with individual stations and considered curricular basic concepts of biology and competency requirements. Due the age of students, processes underlying the"4Rs" (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover), which describe the generation of energy from waste, were significantly simplified. Throughout the entire module, students worked independently in groups to discuss and compare their results with previously prepared solutions. Students were also asked to build a functional model of a waste-to-energy plant and name its functional parts. This model could later be experienced in either a virtual or a real-life visit to a waste-to-energy plant. For our studies C and D, 276 students participated two module variants: completely in the classroom or on-site at the waste-to-energy plant. Knowledge pre-, post-, and retention scores were collected to analyze knowledge acquisition across both module variants. We also assessed respective learning emotions. In Sub-study D, scientific motivation, technology preferences and environmental attitudes were measured alongside knowledge acquisition, to evaluate the influence of these variables on knowledge acquisition and to identify possible interrelations. In study C, we, moreover, piloted and verified our questionnaire for performance measurement. Results indicated a short- and medium-term increase in knowledge as compared to prior knowledge. Correlations could be obtained between learning emotions, for instance relevance and interest as components of motivation, with knowledge retention scores after six weeks. We identified the following pattern: The more relevant and interesting students considered a waste-to-energy plant, the better were knowledge retention scores. Study D showed that students with a greater tendency to protect nature have a greater increase in knowledge and vice versa. The appreciation of nature and the attitude towards technology had no influence on learning results. Surprisingly, the intrinsic motivation for science also showed only a small influence on prior knowledge. We, however, identified strong positive correlations between scientific motivation and protective environmental attitudes, whereas the utilization of nature correlated negatively with science motivation. Furthermore, male students received higher technology and motivational self-efficacy scores, while girls achieved higher scores for appreciation of nature. To conclude, our teaching module successfully combined nature and technology for classroom teaching. It proved that professional knowledge can be imparted in a gender-neutral way. The involvement of a local company also added to the understanding of students of how relevant sustainable waste management is for everyday life. The visit to a waste-to-energy plant did, contrary to expectations, not contribute to continuously better extracurricular learning outcomes for students. Motivational and interest-related factors of such outreach learning locations should, however, not be neglected, since the aim was not to ensure better learning results but to develop didactically valuable teaching modules that combine several STEM subjects and address as many competencies as possible.