The effect of Project GREEN, an interdisciplinary garden program, on the environmental attitudes of elementary school students

Abstract

Environmental preservation is an important goal in today's society. Schools have become the source for teaching children how to care for the environment; however, many schools express the need for methods with which to incorporate environmental education. Project GREEN, Garden Resources for Environmental Education Now, is a garden program designed to help teachers integrate environmental education into their classroom using a hands-on tool, "the garden." The objectives of this research project were to: 1) develop Project GREEN, an interdisciplinary garden activity guide to help teachers integrate environmental education into their curricula; and 2) evaluate whether children are developing positive environmental attitudes by participating in Project GREEN. Four schools throughout Texas participated in the Project GREEN research study. Students taking part in the Project GREEN research study were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group. Children in the experimental group participated in the Project GREEN program during the 1997 spring semester, while children in the control group did not participate in the Project GREEN program. The experimental group consisted of 153, 2nd and 4th grade students. The control group consisted of 84, 2nd and 4th grade students. All students were administered a survey at the end of the 1997 spring school semester. The survey consisted of questions from the Children's Environmental Response Inventory and a biographical information section. Students participating in the Project GREEN garden program had higher environmental attitude scores than those students who did not participate in the Project GREEN program. These higher scores indicate more positive environmental attitudes. In addition, age and grade level significantly affected environmental attitudes. Younger students scored higher than older students. Additionally, second grade students scored higher than fourth grade students. These findings support research showing that younger students have a better disposition for developing positive environmental attitudes. In addition, this research found a correlation between the number of outdoor related activities students had experienced and their environmental attitudes. Results showed that the more outdoor related activities students had experienced, the better their