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Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 USA COGNITIVE AND AFFE- LEARNING IN OUTDOOR EDUCATION Dennis Eaton A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education Department of Cuniculurn, Teaching And Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto @ Copyright by Dennis Eaton 1998 National Library Bibliotheque nationale of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington OttawaON KIA ON4 OttawaON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Your Ms Vorre retermce Our file Notre raterrnee The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, hstribute or sell reproduire, preter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts &om it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be p ~ t e odr otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent &re imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE LEARNING IN OUTDOOR EDUCATION Dennis Eaton, Ed-D., 1998 Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning University of Toronto ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to determine whether an outdoor education experience would have a more positive impact on the cognitive achievement and environmental attitudes of junior- Ievel students than in a traditional classroom setting. During the spring of 1997, six classes of junior-level students attended a half-day programme in beaver ecology at the Nonquon Outdoor and Environmental Education Centre near Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada (treatment group). Another six classes of junior-level students were taught a half-day prograrnrne in beaver ecology in traditional classrooms (control group). The learning outcomes for both programmes were very similar. A total of 184 students participated in this study. Re- and post-test questionnaires were administered to the students, one day before they participated in the programmes (pre-test), one day after they had finished the programmes (post- test), and two weeks later (retention). The questionnaire consisted of four sections. The first section asked students for demographic information such as name, gender, grade, teacher's name and the school's name. The second section consisted of survey items that derived information from the student about hisher prior experience with nature. Section three consisted of Likert-style items and measured attitudzs towards nature. Section four of the questionnaire measured cognitive achievement and consisted of 12 short-answer questions on the topic of beaver ecology. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations and reliabilities) for all student variables were compiled using SPSS, a statistics software programme. The effects of the treatment were determined using univariate analysis of variance. The results from the data analysis indicate that: (1) neither treatment nor the control programmes had an impact on changing environmental attitudes, (2) both the control and treatment groups made gains in cognitive learning. However, the programme offered by the Nonquon Outdoor and Environmental Education Centre made a greater contribution to cognitive learning compared to the classroom programme. The results of this study demonstrate that outdoor education programmes are effective for promoting cognitive changes in students. Most outdoor educators continue to believe that their programmes have a positive impact on environmental attitudes. The results of this study have been unable to confirm this claim. Acknowledgements I would like to express my many thanks to my thesis supervisor, Dr. John Ross, for his invaluable suggestions and guidance throughout the course of this work. His counsel was a source of tremendous support. I wish to extend my thanks also to Dr. Phil Nagy, and Dr. Merl Wahlstrom, who acted as members of my thesis committee. I am grateful to both of them for their advice. Sincere thanks to Peter Gray and Sue Elgie for their generous assistance and patience while helping me with the statistical analysis of my data I also wish to thank Dr. Mike Lancaster of the Durham Board of Education and Dr. Warren Rosborough of the Victoria County Board of Education for granting me permission to conduct this study. The students and teachers who participated in the shldy also deserve my thanks and praise. Without their cooperation, this thesis could not have been written. This study is dedicated to my loving family: my wife Helen, daughter Heather and son David. They support my many undertakings with unconditional love, patience and a generous willingness to offer their help. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRAcr 1 .. . ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS m TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF APPENDICES CHAPTER f Introduction Background Definitions of Outdoor Education Environmental Education Other Terms Frequently Used in Place of Outdoor Education History of Outdoor Education in Ontario Early Development Dominance by Non-School Agencies Establishment of Outdoor Education Centres by Boards The GoIden Age Decline of Outdoor Education Research Design Expected Litations Researcher' s Orientation CHAPTER 2 Foms of Outdoor Education Classification Based on Programme Duration Classification Based on Programme Gods Integrated Outdoor Education Studies of Curriculum Integration In Indoor Education Studies of Integrated Outdoor Education Experiential Outdoor Education Outdoor Education in an Outcome-Based Education Environment Implication For Outdoor Education in an Outcome-Based Environment Goals of Outdoor Education Multiple Intelligences Affective Second Language Acquisition Holistic Psychomotor Review of the Literature Concerning Cognitive and Affective Learning in Outdoor Education Meta-Andys is Cognitive Affective Cognitive and Affective Research Questions and Predictions CHAPTER 3 Methodology Sample Development of the Test Instrument Experimental Conditions Analysis AnaIysis of Variance CHAPTER4 Results Equivalence of Test Forms Reliability of the Instrument Equivalence of the Two Samples Riot to hstmction Descriptive Statistics Effect of Treatment on Environmental Attitudes Effect of Treatment on Cognitive Outcomes Analysis of Variance - Environmental Attitudes - Effect Size Environmentai Attitudes Analysis of Variance - Cognitive Achievement - Effect Size Cognitive Achievement CHAPTER 5 Summary and Discussion Environmental Attitudes Cognitive Achievement Implications of this Research Epilogue LIST OF REFERENCES APPENDICES