Informal Earth Education: Significant Shifts for Environmental Attitude and Knowledge

Front Psychol. 2022 May 9:13:819899. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.819899. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Environmental education aims to affect environmental knowledge and attitude to ultimately induce pro-environmental behavior. Based on 247 upper elementary school students, we tested the impact of an outdoor-based earth education program on environmental knowledge and attitude with a pre-post design. Both outcome measures were Rasch scales. Environmental knowledge is a composite of 27 system, action, and effectiveness knowledge items, and environmental attitude is a composite of 13 evaluative statements and 11 self-reported behaviors about nature preservation. Our analysis revealed gains in environmental knowledge and attitude. The convergence between knowledge and attitude increased significantly from pre- to post-program, and attitude played a significant role in knowledge acquisition.

Keywords: Campbell paradigm; Earthkeepers; earth education; environmental attitude; environmental knowledge; informal learning.