Technology and Environmental Education

Lessons Learned /Projects Created:Technology integration course for teacher candidates

Jana Willis, Ph.D.

University of Houston-Clear Lake

United States of America

willis@uhcl.edu

Brenda Weiser, Ed.D.

University of Houston – Clear Lake

United States of America

weiser@uhcl.edu

Janice Meyer, Ph.D.

University of Houston – Clear Lake

United States of American

meyerj@uhcl.edu

ABSTRACT

Teacher candidates need technology training that supports student-centered

integration in curriculum areas that can be replicated in their future classrooms. Teacher

candidates need to work with a model curriculum that supports a variety of technologies.

Using environmental education (EE) curriculum provides teacher candidates with an

opportunity to work with standards based curriculum. This approach offers teacher

candidates an opportunity to work with curriculum that crosses grade levels and content
areas, promotes and supports the development of well planned technology-rich lessons

and classroom activities while infusing EE into their daily lessons.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of an environmental

education curriculum on teacher candidates’ technology skill development and ability to

integrate technology into curriculum to enhance student learning processes. The study

was conducted during a semester long technology-training course designed to prepare

teacher candidates to use technologies to support their teaching and enhance student

learning. The results of this study will provide invaluable information for science

education and teacher education programs in the area of technology integration.

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

Most of today's students live in either an urban or suburban environment. Many

of these students never experience the outdoors nor do they understand how they are part

of their community. The urban students often see only streets, buildings, and storm

drains. These students have little understanding of their city and most have never heard

of a watershed. The urban student may hear about environmental issues such as

contaminated water supplies or poor air quality but do not understand these and other

issues. Some may experience flooding but most do not understand their place within

their watershed. These students know little about their environment, natural resources, or

the interdependencies among them.

Students of today are the voters of tomorrow. They need a better understanding

of their environment and environmental issues affecting them. One would assume that

the classroom teacher would have the responsibility for teaching these concepts.
However, a majority of the pre-service educators graduate and obtain teacher certification

without any formal instruction in environmental education. According to Rosalyn

McKeown-Ice, only nine percent of teacher colleges require elementary education major

to take a practicum in environmental education and only seven percent of the teacher

colleges require a practicum for high school teachers (McKeown-Ice, 1999). In addition,

very few schools require their teachers to teach about the environment or incorporate

environmental education into their curriculum (Flanagan, 1999). Thus, teachers do not

feel comfortable nor do they have the necessary background to teach about the

environment or environmental issues.

Similarly, if technology is to be used effectively to enhance student-learning

processes, teachers need to identify needs, plan, implement, and assess instruction using

technology and other resources. Many argue that successful technology use in schools

depends on how teacher education programs model technology integration, provide

opportunities for practice and reflection, and prepare candidates to apply technology in

classrooms (Kent & McNergney, 1999; Pellegrino & Altman, 1997). However, too often

technology training is offered early in teacher education programs when candidates have

had little experience integrating technology into student learning processes and do not

have models on which to build their own visions of integrated classrooms (Cifuentes,

2001; Schrum, 1999; Strudler & Wetzel, 1999). Early introduction often leads to

technology use isolated from content, methodology and pedagogy resulting in candidates

with little insight into how to integrate technology.

Though environmental education is interdisciplinary and is easily incorporated

throughout the curriculum in any grade, educators frequently choose not to use or teach
environmental education. Often environmental education is viewed as a science teacher's

responsibility though environmental education incorporates math, language arts, social

studies, and communication skills. Teachers in all the given subjects are often not

comfortable in teaching environmental education and are not familiar with the infusion or

insertion methods in teaching. In addition, administrators, school boards, and state

governments often do not require environmental education and do not provide the needed

training for implementing environmental education. Thus, students are not achieving

environmental literacy.

Efforts have been made at the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) to

incorporate the study of the environment and environmental education into science

methods but this often limits the audience to those pre-service candidates seeking

certification in science related area. If the study of the environment and environmental

education can be infused into other disciplines, then the audience broadens. All teacher

candidates at UHCL are required to take a technology training course that introduces

them to technology integration strategies for use in the PK-12 classroom. Preparing

teacher candidates to effectively integrate technology into their future classrooms

requires experience in instructional planning that utilizes technology to enhance student

learning. Teacher candidates need to work with curriculum that supports a variety of

technologies. Hence, a partnership between the technology course and science methods

course was formed.

METHODS
Complementary data collection processes (Shulman, 1986) were used to provide

depth and breadth in identifying and analyzing the skill development and integration

strategies of the teachers candidates enrolled in the technology training course. In this
study, the integration of survey data, a pre/post technology skill assessment instrument,

reflection paper, WebQuest development, and lessons plans offered the researcher an

opportunity to develop a complete analysis of participant outcomes (Gall, Borg & Gall,

1996). Qualitative and quantitative results of the study based on data collection and

student feedback indicated that teacher candidates developed a deeper understanding of

technology integration strategies when provided with a foundational curriculum during

early technology skill training. Candidates reported benefits of using environmental

education curriculum as the basis for developing lesson plans and indicated intentions of

continued use of the curriculum in their future classrooms. The study also highlighted a

strong need for more investigation into areas of grade appropriate technology,

collaborative learning and group dynamics.

The examined outcomes of this study were: (1) evaluation of measurable lesson

objectives, (2) validation of aligned assessment, (3) determination of appropriate use of

technology that support the lesson objectives and assessment, (4) collaborative projects,

and (5) increased use of environmental education curriculum in the PK-12 classroom and

pre-service education.

DATA SOURCES

The teacher candidates enrolled in TCED 6031: Applications of Technology in

the Classoom at University of Houston – Clear Lake were introduced to the tools and

skills necessary to understand and operate computers, navigate the Internet and World

Wide Web, and create a variety of multimedia products. The course includes educational

applications of instructional and information technologies that promote the integration of

technology into the curriculum. Emphasis was on the comprehensive integration and
implementation of the Technology Applications Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills

(Texas Education Agency, 2001) as required for all beginning teachers in Texas, and

those tools that have important implications for the creation of products with the

specified technologies. Teacher candidates gained experience in the educational use of

such technologies as productivity tools, presentation graphics, multimedia, and

telecomputing technologies. made up the research pool. The candidates were assigned to

use an Environmental Education curriculum as their foundation curriculum for all course

work.

RESULTS
The results of this study are helping the University of Houston - Clear Lake and

the Environmental Institute of Houston develop a reproducible instructional course model

that will prepare teacher candidates to be proficient in developing and delivering

classroom lessons (guided by standards) that effectively integrate technology in the

learning process while discovering how science and the environment can be used as an

integrating context for learning. As a result of this model candidates would obtain the

skills needed to better prepare and teach integrated lessons that are inquiry based and

incorporate technology.

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