Week 13: Research in Environmental and Sustainability Education

Introduction

Students will learn various methodologies and approaches for conducting environmental research about events, issues and problems. Foremost will be an examination of the Participatory Action Research approach, with focus on community-based PAR and research with Indigenous peoples. Students should exit this course with a global perspective of the of environmental issues and problems, but also with a toolkit of ideas of how to use education to increase environmental citizenship and work towards sustainability.

This Week, You Will Be Expected to:

  • Update your glossary with 5-10 terms you learned this week and submit your glossary for final grading.
  • Demonstrate a thorough understanding of environmental and sustainability education research approaches and methodologies.
  • Distinguish between an environmental event, an environmental problem, and an environmental issue. 

Questions to Consider Throughout this Week:

  1. How might I use qualitative, quantitative, or mixed research in my field of study?
  2. With what individuals and organizations might I be able to create a research partnership?  How would I approach them?  How would the partnership benefit everyone involved?
  3. How might I incorporate Participatory Action Research into a research project in my field of study?
  4. What is the relationship between an environmental event, an environmental problem, and an environmental issue?

Readings and Content

1. Overview of Research Approaches in the Context of Environmental and Sustainability Education

Quantitative

Qualitative

Mixed methodology

 

2. INVESTIGATING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, EVENTS AND PROBLEMS

Distinguishing between issues, events and problems

    • Hungerford, H. R. (1992). Investigating and evaluating environmental issues and actions: Skill development modules. Stipes Publishing Company.
    • Use dictionaries and other relevant sources to obtain information about the differences between environmental issues, events and problems

Strategies for investigating issues, events and problems: data collection procedures, reporting findings, etc.

 

3. PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

Forming research partnerships: Community-based research

Research with Indigenous peoples

Research as a reciprocal process

Research ethics

 

4. CASE STUDIES

Learn about different ways to create environmentally based case studies:
Pursuing the Promise of Case Studies for Sustainability and Environmental Education: Converging Initiatives

Then, browse the open reference banks of case studies listed in the article:
University of Michigan Sustainability Cases

If case study banks are no longer available, search for other banks of environmental case studies.

 

License

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Global EdD (taught doctorate) in Remote Pedagogy and Stewardship Copyright © by Kara Ghobhainn Smith; David D. Plain; Frank Rennie, Gareth Davies, UHI, Thu Le; Clinton Beckford, Loretta Sbrocca; and ShiJing Xu, Chenkai Chi, Yuhan Deng, University of Windsor, Canada is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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