Impact of active learner involvement in a contextual and relevant environmental education programme on learning effectiveness
Keywords:
Pedagogical approaches in environmental education, pro-environmental behaviour, problem-solving approach, contextualisation of environmental educationAbstract
This research aimed, among other things, to reveal the methods used and the pedagogical approaches preferred by teachers to address courses related to the environment and environmental education. We targeted teachers from three subjects: Life and Earth Sciences (LES), History-Geography (HG), and Islamic Education (IE). One of the research objectives is to characterise the impact of adopting active approaches combined with the contextualisation of environmental education on the acquisition of environmental knowledge and on the development of the willingness to adopt pro-environmental behaviours. To achieve this objective, we conducted a pedagogical intervention within the school's environmental club (Club created by the teachers). The data collection tool consisted of two questionnaires; the first was addressed to a sample of 362 teachers, and the second was intended for a sample of 60 learners (30 learners representing the experimental group, and 30 learners forming the control group). We adopted a descriptive correlational design for the part concerning teachers and a quasi-experimental design for the section reserved for learners. The results allowed us to confirm that the active engagement of learners in contextual, relevant and motivating environmental education programs leads to a significant improvement in the acquisition of environmental knowledge, as well as the development of willingness to act in favour of the environment and adopt pro-environmental behaviours.
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