About ACEE, and theory pertaining to curriculum February 2009

How to Move Learners to Action

Kathy WorobecAlberta Council for Environmental Educationkathy@abcee.org; 780-916-2511

1Participant surveyMoving learners to action: a review of current research, and implications for your environmental education program93% said exactly what we need or would have some valueMoving Learners to Action also receives a very high rating in our annual needs assessment of agency professionals

2ACEE Polls: 2009 (adults); 2010 (youth)

http://abcee.org/about-us/polling3What do you PREDICT Albertans answered to the following questions?A: What % of Albertans answered confident or very confident to the following:

Q8.How confident are you that your personal actions to protect the environment actually make a difference? Would you say very confident, somewhat confident, not very confident or not at all confident?

4What do you PREDICT Albertans answered to the following questions?B. What % of Albertans disagreed with the following:Schools in Alberta should give top priority to providing students with opportunities to do environmental action projects.

5What do you PREDICT Albertans answered to the following questions?C: What % of Albertans gave a 4 or 5 when asked the following:Q13: To what degree do you feel you actually DO the following? Please use a five-point scale where 1 means you dont do it at all and 5 means you do it as much as you possibly can. Reduce water consumption in and around your home Write an effective letter to the editor about an environmental issue

6What do you PREDICT Albertans answered to the following questions?A: What % of Albertans answered confidentor very confident to the following: Q8.How confident are you that your personal actions to protect the environment actually make a difference? Would you say very confident, somewhat confident, not very confident or not at all confident? ---> 80%

B: What % of Albertans disagreed with the following:Schools in Alberta should give top priority to providing students with opportunities to do environmental action projects. ---> Just 8%C: What % of Albertans gave a 4 or 5 when asked the following:Q13: To what degree do you feel you actually DO the following? Please use a five-point scale where 1 means you dont do it at all and 5 means you do it as much as you possibly can. Reduce water consumption in and around your home ---> 65% Write an effective letter to the editor about an environmental issue ---> 9%

7Why should we move learners to action?

8Why should we move learners to action?Some reasons

David Orr said: Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up; taking meaningful action provides an antidote to hopelessnessAction is about meaning, and engaging in meaningful acts is motivationalAction requires active citizenship and society likes citizenship!Environmental action helps the planetWithout action, environmental education is just talking, talking, talking. (Dr. Wangari Maathai)9Action connection to your goalsDefinitionTake action on; deal withThe fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aimA thing done; an act:GoalsAll have something to do with asking people to do something ACT10Categories for Action ProjectsEducate and informShopping habitsConsumer actionPolitical actionGet Down & Dirty projectsLifestyle choicesOtherHand outThis is just a beginning discussion you will doing much more work on this so I just want to get you started thinking about it. There is no right or wrong answer and not something you have to stick too. This is a starting point for discussionIf we had this figured out, it would be easy. Getting people to take action often involves changing behaviours and this has some challenges11Action is often linked to changing behaviors Challenges:Knowledge does not always increase behaviorShort-sighted responses to environmental threatsPerceive as separate from natureSocial norms guide behavior

From Conservation Means Behavior. Schultz, P. Wesley, Conservation Biology, Volume 25, No. 6, 2011.P. Wesley Schultz, Psychologist, California State University, Cal State San MarcosPsychological studies have shown that increasing knowledge through education, whether related to health, safety or conservation does not lead to change in behavior knowledge alone will not induce a change in behaviourFeel things are worse globally than locally things are worse there than here. Things will become worse in the future things are better now than they will be later. Public ranks environmental threats as lower that other threats economics, terrorism, etc.Most people see themselves as separate from nature those with a higher degree of connectedness are more likely to engage in conservation behavioursPeople tend to look at the behavior of othoers as a guide for choosing a course of actionIll go into more of his work on social norms later

12Awareness --> knowledge --> behaviourDEBUNKED!How do learners get to responsible environmental behaviours?13A model that has been used for a long is that awareness and knowledge leads to behaviour change. This is not necessarily true and there are a lot of factors that influence whether a person changes their behavior. Knowledge is important but knowledge alone will not automatically lead to behaviour change.In the 1990s, started combining environmental education and psychology of behaviour change.

What moves learners to action?Awareness?Knowledge?Motivation?Passion/interest?

14What are the essential elements of an excellent EE program?Awareness?Understanding?Critical thinking skills?Training about action skills?Opportunities for personal action?Opportunities for public action?15Are these the important aspects that we need in our programs. A list of questions you may wish to think about as I go through the matierals.

My approach re: current research on ActionDo not try to satisfy your vanity byteaching a great many things. Awaken peoples curiosity. It is enough toopen minds; do not overload them.Just put there a spark. If there issome good inflammable stuff, itwill catch fire.- Anatole France 16My approach with this is to spark your interest in moving learners to action. I will provide an overview of some of the work done in this area. Try not to overload you and then provide time at the end of the session for you to do a bit of reading and discussion in your team groups.Goal is to get you thinking of this as you embark on your planningOn-line: Educating for Action (Bill Hammond, Green Teacher)

17On-line: Educating for Action (Bill Hammond, Green Teacher)

18Learning About Action learning of action skills and strategies and the history of action projects e.g. case studies, simulations, role-play and presentations from people who have done action projectsLearning Through Action involvement in a real action project select, plan, implement and evaluate a project apply learning to real world problems and increase relevance and meaningLearning from Action students assess the significance of project outcomes not only act but reflect on the significance e.g. a clean-up but systematically reflect on the reasons why they doing it and whether it addresses root causes

Behavioral & Environmental ChangeIssues Investigation - Hungerford & VolkEnvironmental Literacy - Roth & DisingerLearning About Action19Community Problem-Solving - StappSocial Learning - WalsEarth Education - Van MatreEcological Education - Caduto, GoughBioregional & Place-based Education - Smith & Williams, Sobel

Learning Through Action

20Stapp 8 steps for community problem solving taking action, selecting problems, investigating, planning actions, exploring community concerns, assessing and developing student skills, developing visions of a sustainable future, evaluating actions and changes. Book 1996: EE for Empowerment: Action Research and Community Problem SolvingWals 2007 Social Learning towards a Sustainable World Principles, perspectives and praxis. UNESCO Chair University of Wageningen NetherlandsVan Matre Earth Education 1990 their program emphasizes understanding basic ecological processes, developing positive feelings for the natural world and making personal lifestyle changes.Smith & Williams 1998 Ecological Education in Action Smith Lewis & Clark college; Williams Portland State University

Community Action Research - Hammond, Wals & Stapp, RobottomAction Competence - Jensen & SchnackSustainability Education - Fien, Huckle, SterlingLearning From Action21How do learners get to responsible environmental behaviours?Key variables:Environmental sensitivityKnowledge of action strategiesSkill in using action strategiesIndividual and group locus of control

From Predictors of Responsible Environmental Behaviour: A Review. Marcinkowski, 199122In the 1990s say the introduction of behaviour change models bringing in psychology. New field developed called environmental psychology.How do learners get to responsible environmental behaviours?

23Intention to Act the individual must have the intent to take actionPersonality Factors:Attitudes people with more positive attitudes are more likely to report in engaging in actionsLocus of control extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Internal believe they can control their life. External believe that their decisions and life are controlled by environmental factors that they cannot influence.Knowledge is necessary two types of knowledge knowledge of issues and knowledge of action strategiesAction skills having the skills to actually do the actionSituational factorsAnother Model

Perceived positive and negative consequences determines the global attitude toward a behavioral option.Attitudes does not directly determine behaviour but only indirectly via behavioural intention. Perceived behaviour intention takes into account their attitude toward the behaviour but also their ability to perform the behaviour.There has been a lot more focus on norms and specifically social norms in the last few years

24Norms

Norms are the demonstration of what society expects citizens to do. Social norms guide behaviour.Social norms can facilitate pro-environmental behaviorNeed to be careful of the boomerang effect

From The Constructive, Destructive, and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms. Schultz et al, 2007

If you are using social-norm campaigns have to be careful of the boomerang effect If only include the social norm for those people already adopting the behaviour they think they are below the norm so will increase the behaviour instead of staying the same they need to know that their behaviour is approvedSo often need two messages the social norm and the indication of the approved of behavioure.g. energy reduction campaign for householdes social norm would be the average energy consumption of households the approved behaviour would indicate if they are below this25NormsWhat are our societys environmental norms?What should our norms be?How can we create norms?

26Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM)Selecting BehavioursIdentifying Barriers & BenefitsDeveloping StrategiesPilotingBroad-Scale Implementation & Evaluation

From Fostering Sustainable Behavior An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. McKenzie-Mohr, 201127Are all actions appropriate for all ages and levels of engagement?Level I: Environmental Sensitivity, and Ecological FoundationsLevel II: Conceptual awareness of issues and valuesLevel III: the Investigation and Evaluation levelLevel IV: Action skills level - training and application

From Curriculum Development in Environmental Education for the Primary School. Hungerford and Volk, 1991.28No Tragedies before Grade 4Place-based educationNeed to teach children to love the earth before we ask them to save itFocus on what you want people to do

29Levels of engagementPrioritizingAbility to do the actionEncouraging those that are doing the action

Priorize - Schultz talks about behavioral prioritization target high-priority behaviors CBSM (McKenzie-Mohr) gets into this as wellAbility to do - Ajzens model in forming their behavioral intention people not only take into account their attitude toward the behavior but also estimate their ability to perform the behavior. Make sure recognize those that are doing the action remember the boomerang effect. And this is also a good way to build social norms through modelling.30Role of modeling

At the 2010 Symposium Creating a Legacy Together: Glyn Hughes, Dustin Saxton, Sabrina Niesman31Modeling can play a huge role especially with teachers and students. Modeling in the younger years can be a great way to get to action. Model the action you want.Modeling can help create the social norms

Work of Tanner, Chawla, Palmer

Emphasize the importance of early experiences in creating environmental sensitivity: children should spend time in nature, in the company of a trusted adultenvironmental leaders tend to have had these powerful experiences

Another body of work brings forward the notion of spending time in nature from the power of being in nature not going out to learn about nature but being a part of nature the sense of beauty and wonder32Richard Louv transformative power of the natural worldLast Child in the WoodsMovement to reconnect children with natureNature-deficit disorderNo Child Left Inside Act in the United StatesThe Nature Principle another powerful call to action this time for adults.

33Moving learners to action is not straightforward but it is necessary!As educators, we cancreate opportunities for actionmodel actions we value and talk about them with othersencourage gaining knowledge teach skills for effective actionencourage emotional connections to naturehelp people develop intrinsic motivationexpect action through expressed norms and creating a culture of stewardship and citizenship34Some relevant on-line resourcesAction Education resources:

http://www.abcee.org/actioneducation/

Teacher activity guide for ACTION36Leap into Action - OUTLINESection 1: Background on Action Education

Why Do Action Education? What Motivates People to Take ActionThe Teachers Role in an Action Project Action for All Ages Action Project Trouble-shooting Tips Teaching Controversial Issues: A Framework for Educators Evaluating Action Projects: Ways to Measure Success

37Some relevant on-line resourcesHow to Evaluate the success of your EE program AND two relevant presentations by Rick Kool:

http://abcee.org/bookshelf/Team Activity 15 minutes Choose an articleBrowse the article for 10 minutesFrom the session and reading, each team member to answer:What is something you think your group should consider in terms of getting to action?Team Activity contd 15 minutesAs a group use the following questions to guide a discussion:Further refine what it is you are asking people to doWho are you asking (your audience)?How many things are you asking people to do? Should you priorize the actions?Have people heard this message before? Do they need more help on how to do it?Action this is how we make a difference!