A Residential Outdoor Education Camp and Environmental Attitudes ...

1. A Residential Outdoor Education Camp and Environmental Attitudes: A Case Study Md Amin Md Taff Dr Mike Boyes John Maxted

3. The Purpose of the Study To examine the effects of a residential outdoor education camp on students’ environmental attitudes

4. Background Environmental issues Pollution, loss of flora and fauna, species extinction, greenhouse gases etc. Causes Capitalist economic activity, technological intervention, human exploitation of natural resources

6. Aldo Leopold (1887 – 1948) & the environmental movement Human separation from nature The need for worldview and lifestyle changes Highlighted the importance of positive environmental attitudes

7. Links between Environmental Attitudes and Outdoor Education Many believed that outdoor education is among best medium for positive environmental attitudes development (Donaldson & Donaldson, 1958; Dunlap and Heffernan,1975; Martin, 1999; and Hammermann, 2001)

8. The need of a research However, this idea is debatable since several research reported inconclusive findings (e.g. Haluza De-Lay, 1999; Leberman, 1989; Mackay, 1981; and Eagles and DeMare, 1999) Therefore, there is a need for further examination regarding this issue.

9. Research Questions Does a residential outdoor education camp cause a change in the participants’ environmental attitudes?

10. 2. If so, how are changes in environmental attitudes influenced by the socio-demographic variables of: Gender Previous experience in outdoor and environmental education Preferred recreational activities Environmental worldviews

11. What aspects of a residential outdoor education camp do the participants perceive as influencing their environmental attitudes?

12. Methodology Mixed methods Why? To answer the research questions Holistic data Minimises single methods limitations Allows generalisations and in-depth examination Increases trustworthiness

13. Methodology Concurrent Triangulation Strategy (Creswell, 2003) Why? An effective way to use both quantitative and qualitative methods Separates quantitative and qualitative data collection process Data are analysed separately, then compared

14. Concurrent Triangulation Strategy (Creswell, 2003)

15. Participants A class of 28 Intermediate school students (aged 11- 13 years) Participating in a four days residential outdoor education camp.

16. The camp programme

17. Data collection procedure MGOAI Pre test - at school, a day before camp Post test - at school, a day after camp Interviews Teacher – last day of the camp Parents – last day of the camp Students – last day of the camp Follow up interviews (at school)

18. Research Question 1

19. MGOAI Subscales

20. Research Question 1Qualitative data

21. Research Question 2Gender differences

22. Research Question 2Qualitative data Interviews Well I thought it was fun because we could spend time away from school and do stuff in the outdoors. I actually like doing [the] loop track and doing whatever we want to do. (Mike) The camp make me feel closer to the environment and umm…because you can just feel like going around and feel what trees are and it is quite nice feeling and smelling the trees that were around you and…err…yeah you do not think about going around and smelling the trees before…yeah it makes me feel closer to the environment. (Sara) My observation notes Different interests between girls and boys during the camp.

23. Research Question 3Influential activities Results from the interviews suggests that environmental games (direct), tramping, and spending personal time (indirect) in the bush influenced the students’ environmental attitudes improvement.

24. Direct Activities Umm...activities that you have done…going around and kind of…like being blindfolded, feeling [the] tree and smelling it and then taking the blindfold off and seeing what tree it was. You can kind of recognise some trees by their shapes when you feel it and you can smell the trees there with different sense…yeah. (Sara) Indirect Activities Umm…like sleeping in the tent I heard the rain falling on the roof and I heard noises outside like cows [and] I think there was a dog.. It is just better than sleeping at your bed at home when you hear nothing except maybe parents talking and cars going past. And yeah…like sleeping in the tent [that] night…it was raining and it was just pouring down and there was people moving and there was trees rustling in the wind and the creek running, and the animals’ sound is beautiful. (Mike)

25. Discussions Before camp Students already had positive environmental attitudes before the camp Result of pre camp exposure, parents, social environment During the camp There is imbalance of outdoor education focus in the camp programme. More on outdoor pursuits and social development, lack of environmental focus Need more environmental teaching strategies (e.g. interpretation, environmental studies) Post camp Lack of evidence of post camp reinforcement The attitudinal improvement might be decreased over time.

27. Suggestions The importance of pre and post camp exposure to environmental themes The importance of environmental focuses in outdoor education activities The needs of environmental teaching strategies in camps

28. Limitation The small research population (n = 28) and purposive sampling procedure decreases the generalisability of findings The lack of control group This study only examined changes @ enhancement on environmental attitudes.

29. MILLWARD GINTER OUTDOOR ATTITUDE INVENTORY (MGOAI) Rationale Developed in 1973 to measure environmental attitudes Used in several residential outdoor education studies involving primary school students (e.g. Christy, 1982; Mackay, 1981; Millward, 1974; Mittelstaedt et al., 1999). An easy paper and pencil questionnaire, is less time consuming and has reliability coefficients that exceed 0.80 (Hollweg, 1997; Mittelstaedt et al., 1999). The structure Comprises 43 items with 21 positive and 22 reversed statements. Divided into four subscales, Pollution subscale -10 statements Environment subscale -16 statements Learning subscale - 9 statements Social subscales - 8 statements Uses the five point Likert response scale, The total scores ranged from 43 to 215 points based on the 43 statements.