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Analysis of the university colloquium : developing students' ecological perspectives

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Date Issued:
2010
Abstract/Description:
This study focuses on Florida Gulf Coast University's required undergraduate interdisciplinary course on sustainability, IDS 3920 University Colloquium, and how this program impacts the development of students' ecological perspectives. To measure the change in students' ecological perspectives the New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) was given in a pre- and post-course survey format. Students' NEP scores or ecological perspectives were then compared to the results from a professor post-course survey that assessed professors ' backgrounds and the pedagogical strategies they applied in teaching of the University Colloquium course. While the University Colloquium was found to be effective for a majority of students, a sizable minority of student outcomes on the NEP survey indicated a decrease in their ecological perspectives. Although statistical significance was not determined for the remainder of the results due to small san1ple sizes, there were indications of some trends. For instance, students in science fields had overall higher pre- and post-course survey scores while students from non-science fields had overall higher gains. Trends also implied that students whose professors had more experience teaching the course, were from a field other than science, were considered a part-time professor, and spent less class time outdoors had higher gains. Two different teaching pedagogies were also indicated among participating professors and trends implied that students whose professors valued group projects, among other course components, had higher gains. The results from this study, along with continued research, may help influence the University Colloquium curriculum design to enhance achievement of the course objectives of developing student's ecological perspectives and awareness of the natural world.
Title: Analysis of the university colloquium : developing students' ecological perspectives .
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Name(s): Phillips, Jessica D., author
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Thesis
Issuance: single unit
Date Issued: 2010
Physical Form: bound thesis
Extent: 101 pgs.
Language(s): English
eng
Abstract/Description: This study focuses on Florida Gulf Coast University's required undergraduate interdisciplinary course on sustainability, IDS 3920 University Colloquium, and how this program impacts the development of students' ecological perspectives. To measure the change in students' ecological perspectives the New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) was given in a pre- and post-course survey format. Students' NEP scores or ecological perspectives were then compared to the results from a professor post-course survey that assessed professors ' backgrounds and the pedagogical strategies they applied in teaching of the University Colloquium course. While the University Colloquium was found to be effective for a majority of students, a sizable minority of student outcomes on the NEP survey indicated a decrease in their ecological perspectives. Although statistical significance was not determined for the remainder of the results due to small san1ple sizes, there were indications of some trends. For instance, students in science fields had overall higher pre- and post-course survey scores while students from non-science fields had overall higher gains. Trends also implied that students whose professors had more experience teaching the course, were from a field other than science, were considered a part-time professor, and spent less class time outdoors had higher gains. Two different teaching pedagogies were also indicated among participating professors and trends implied that students whose professors valued group projects, among other course components, had higher gains. The results from this study, along with continued research, may help influence the University Colloquium curriculum design to enhance achievement of the course objectives of developing student's ecological perspectives and awareness of the natural world.
Identifier: fgcu_ETD_0453 (IID)
Note(s): Degree Awarded: Master of Science
Department: College of Arts & Sciences
Subject(s): Sustainability
NEP
Ecological perspectives
Colloquium
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fgcu/fd/fgcu_ETD_0453
Use and Reproduction: Creator holds copyright.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FGCU