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Early preservice teachers' experiences of the environment: A case study of participation in a community outdoor event
Van Rooy, Wilhelmina
Van Rooy, Wilhelmina
Author
Abstract
Clean Up Australia Day is the country's largest community-based environmental annual event when participants work in teams to remove rubbish from their local environment. This article describes an interpretive study in which a sample of preservice primary teachers' (n = 30) responses to questions about their involvement in the event were evaluated to determine their developing knowledge and understanding about environmental and sustainability issues. The study evaluated a university assessment task for its ability to identify and challenge preservice primary teachers' views as consumers of manufactured products, environmental citizens, and future teachers. The data were drawn from students' written work that formed part of the assessment task. Results indicate that students found participation in this community event to be a significant, valuable part of their learning about the environment that contributed to their understanding about sustainability and highlighted the power of positive community participation as a force for good.
Keywords
elementary teachers, environmental education, preservice science primary teacher education, preservice teachers, sustainability education
Date
2017
Type
Journal article
Journal
Australian Journal of Environmental Education
Book
Volume
33
Issue
2
Page Range
81-96
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled