All Academic, Inc. Research Logo

Info/CitationFAQResearchAll Academic Inc.
Document

Impact of a university course in pre-service teachers’ environmental conceptions
Unformatted Document Text:  Research Symposium Impact of a university course in pre-service teachers’ environmental worldviews Konstantinos Korfiatis and Tasos Hovardas Department of Education, University of Cyrpus Abstract This paper presents the results of the evaluation of a university-level environmental course on pre-service teachers conceptions of environmental issues. The applied evaluation method leaned on the presuppositions of the theory of social representations and used stimulus terms in order to trigger respondents ideas associated with these terms. The method based on the belief that giving a stimulus word and asking respondents to freely associate what ideas come to their mind gives unrestricted access to mental constructions. Analysis showed that the course caused improvement of perceiveness of environmental awareness as an active process, which involves critical thinking. Among the interesting outcomes of the analysis was a depiction of human society after the course as both the destructor and the thoughtful protector of the environment. On the other hand, changes were not homogeneous across the sample. Overall, results offered valuable insight for the proper transformation of the course, while the easiness of the applied method in data collection, renders feasible the longitudinal monitoring of course effects on students’ conceptions. INTRODUCTION

Authors: KORFIATIS, KONSTANTINOS. and HOVARDAS, TASOS.
first   previous   Page 1 of 11   next   last



background image
Research Symposium
Impact of a university course in pre-service teachers’ environmental worldviews
Konstantinos Korfiatis and Tasos Hovardas
Department of Education, University of Cyrpus
Abstract
This paper presents the results of the evaluation of a university-level environmental course on
pre-service teachers conceptions of environmental issues. The applied evaluation method leaned
on the presuppositions of the theory of social representations and used stimulus terms in order to
trigger respondents ideas associated with these terms. The method based on the belief that giving
a stimulus word and asking respondents to freely associate what ideas come to their mind gives
unrestricted access to mental constructions. Analysis showed that the course caused
improvement of perceiveness of environmental awareness as an active process, which involves
critical thinking. Among the interesting outcomes of the analysis was a depiction of human
society after the course as both the destructor and the thoughtful protector of the environment.
On the other hand, changes were not homogeneous across the sample. Overall, results offered
valuable insight for the proper transformation of the course, while the easiness of the applied
method in data collection, renders feasible the longitudinal monitoring of course effects on
students’ conceptions.
INTRODUCTION


Convention
All Academic Convention is the premier solution for your association's abstract management solutions needs.
Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf.
Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets!
Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more!
Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering.
Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more!
Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches!
Click here for more information.

first   previous   Page 1 of 11   next   last

©2008 All Academic, Inc.