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The value of outdoor environmental education programs for girls and youth of color: cultivating positive dispositions toward science and the environment

By Melissa A. Collins, Valeria Fike Romero, Aujanèe Young, Rena Dorph, Jedda Foreman, Craig Strang, Aparajita Pande and Vasiliki Laina

Outdoor environmental education (OEE) programs can provide a valuable entry point for youth of color and girls who may have felt excluded and/or marginalized from traditional science learning experiences. This study investigated: (1) Can OEE programs contribute to the development of positive dispositions toward science and the environment?, and (2) Are there differences in effects by racial/ethnic and gender identity, or interactions thereof? Youth (n = 457; grades 4-6, approximate ages 9-12) reported their dispositions toward science and the environment along 5 scales before and after participating in OEE programs. Results found growth across all subscales for youth overall. Girls showed stronger effects than boys, and youth of color showed stronger effects than White youth. Girls of color showed particularly strong growth in Comfort in Nature. The implications of these results, particularly as a challenge to long-standing biases and inequities in the field, are discussed.

View Article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504622.2024.2340502#abstract

Publication: The value of outdoor environmental education programs for girls and youth of color: cultivating positive dispositions toward science and the environment

Publisher: Environmental Education Research

Year: 2024

Topics:

  • Environmental & Outdoor Science Education
  • Environmental Dispositions
  • Science Dispositions

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