Date of Award

1980

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Abstract

A curriculum plan in environmental education for Louisiana was developed, based on needs established by analyzing the results of testing 1,412 tenth grade students from 53 public secondary schools in Louisiana for their knowledge and opinions about the environment. The instrument used in the survey consisted of 43 cognitive and 20 affective questions. The instrument was developed from objectives selected from other state plans by a panel of 35 scientists and educators from 12 departments at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Fifty-four public secondary schools were randomly selected. Fifty-three schools, 98 percent of the sample, returned the answer forms. A total cognitive score was determined along with a sub score for five major areas: general ecology, population, resource, energy, and pollution. Analyses of variance were conducted to determine if there were any significance among regions of the state, between sex, between urban and rural communities, and among size of school. The results showed that the students had limited knowledge for most of the cognitive variables. Needs for a curriculum plan were demonstrated in all five cognitive categories. The over-all attitudes and opinions demonstrated that the students favored ideas that did not affect them directly while showing disagreement with those issues that would affect them directly. The plan suggests a multidisciplinary approach to teaching environmental education. The plan developed from the results of this study shows how various general objectives can be integrated into many different traditional subject areas.

Pages

240

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.3545

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