Taiwan's government enacted the Environmental Education Act in June 2011. In the beginning of the implementation of the Act, a national assessment of schoolteachers' environmental literacy was performed in order to establish the baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental education policy. This large-scale assessment…

This study at a public high school in the Northeastern United States explores how students' environmental identities are affected by various activities in an Environmental Science course. Data was collected as part of an ethnographic study involving an Environmental Science teacher and her tenth-twelfth grade students. The results focus on…

This article describes research designed to find evidence that the methodology of "Global Storylines" offers a valuable pedagogy though which to explore concepts and issues, and to develop the associated skills and values for both pupils and teacher, in education for sustainable development (ESD), and global citizenship education (GCE).…

An in-depth case study on children's participation in environmental management activities in a primary school in Botswana was undertaken, drawing on cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and the action competence model. This research revealed that due to a lack of dialogue between teachers and children, teachers tended to view children's…

There are many documented barriers to implementing school-based sustainability. This article examines a) the barriers faced by principals and staff in two regional primary schools in Far North Queensland, Australia, well known for their exemplary practice, and b) ways the barriers were overcome. Through interviews conducted with principals and key…

Building on self-determination theory, this study presents a model of intrinsic motivation and engagement as "active ingredients" in garden-based education. The model was used to create reliable and valid measures of key constructs, and to guide the empirical exploration of motivational processes in garden-based learning. Teacher- and…

Despite the importance of teachers to the school garden movement, we still know very little about what drives particular teachers to incorporate a school garden into their pedagogy. In response, this article reports the findings of a study designed to investigate the internal processes and products involved in rationalising and sustaining…

Education for Sustainability (EfS) has been prioritised in the School of Education at James Cook University (JCU), Townsville, Australia. This article presents a case study that explores the ways in which teacher educators integrate EfS in their teaching in the Bachelor of Education (BEd) (Primary) at JCU, and their perceptions of enablers and…

This article reports on an inquiry into ecological understanding and the professional practice of a selection of teachers in alternative and/or independent non-systemic schools in Australia, Canada and the United States. Through a reflective, participatory framework, based on the premise that it is one thing to observe "an ecology",…

Theories of responsible environmental behavior (REB) have most often been applied in developed countries and to direct forms of REB such as recycling and conserving water. This study applied a model of REB to a developing country setting in Tanzania based in part on variables from a Hungerford and Volk (1990) model and targeting an indirect form…

This article investigates benefits and challenges of forest education in view of 257 Swiss elementary school teachers (1st-3rd grade), by means of a written questionnaire and 15 in-depth interviews. Two thirds of the teachers carried out forest education during normal lesson hours (mean visits = eight per year). Forests were clearly considered as…

This qualitative case study of Island Community School provides a detailed description of how one school incorporated place-based, environmentally conscious education over the course of more than a decade. The study explored the conditions that supported and constrained this approach in an isolated rural community. Data came primarily from…

This exploratory study investigated elementary teachers' beliefs about, perceived competencies for, and reported use of scientific inquiry to promote students' learning "about" environmental issues and "for" environmental decision making and action. Data were collected through a questionnaire administered to a simple random sample of elementary…

Environmental education (EE) and social studies education share an interest in behavioral outcomes. This study compares behavioral outcomes--including both self-reported knowledge of actions and reported actions taken--in the context of a land use curriculum enacted in secondary science versus social studies classes with 500 students and nine…

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been recently recognized as an important area in the new Chinese educational reform. As teachers play a pivotal role, knowing and developing an effective and easy-to-use instrument for tapping teachers' beliefs is essential. This article reports an attempt to develop an instrument with mixed methods.…