EVALUATING EFFECTS OF AN EXHIBITION VISIT ON PRE-SERVICE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDINGS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Year 2014, Volume: 1 , 516 - 522, 01.09.2014

Deniz Sarıbaş Zerrin Doğança Hamide Ertepınar

Abstract

This research aims to investigate to what extent a
visit to climate change-oriented exhibition embedded within an environmental
education course has effects on pre-service elementary teachers’ understandings
about climate change.  Sample of the
study includes 58 pre-service teachers, enrolled in Environmental Education
course offered in the 2011-2012 academic year in Elementary Education Program
at a private university in Turkey.  The
course lasted 13 weeks and the context is composed of various environmental
issues as well as an exhibition visit and student reflections. Pre-service
elementary teachers’ pre- and post-reflections were analyzed and coded for
examining effects of visit on their understandings about climate change. It was
found that the course seem to have an impact on pre-service elementary
teachers’ understanding of climate change. Besides, the exhibition visit
resulted in increased understanding in consequences of climate change and the
participants were able to make more individual-oriented suggestions for the
climate change problem.

Keywords

Environmental education, understanding of climate change, pre-service elementary teachers

References

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