Environmental education : an educational necessity

Abstract

This quantitative study investigated the impact of environmental learning programs on the environmental worldview (attitudes, beliefs, and values) of secondary school aged students. In order to research the effect that environmental learning programs have on the environmental orientation of individuals, 41 high school students who were currently taking an A.P. Environmental Science class were given New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) survey which is designed to measure the student?s environmental orientation. The data was analyzed using a 95% confidence t-interval, which allowed the researcher to collect data from a sample population and apply the statistical analysis of the results to the larger population of which the sample came from. The population to which this particular sample came from would be the entire population of secondary students who have taken a semester-long environmental science course. The results supported the research hypothesis that students who participate in environmental learning programs during the course of their secondary education will have a proenvironmental worldview (attitudes, beliefs, and values). However, in order to determine the extent to which the results support the hypothesis further research is needed.