Student's decisions about environmental issues and problems : an evaluation study of the Science Education for Public Understanding (SEPUP) Programme

Koker, Mark Hampton (1996) Student's decisions about environmental issues and problems : an evaluation study of the Science Education for Public Understanding (SEPUP) Programme. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

This thesis describes research undertaken to investigate adolescent student decision-making about selected environmental issues. It is largely an evaluation study of a newly-developed, full year course from the Science Education for Public Understanding Programme (SEPUP). SEPUP materials use a Science-Technology-Society (STS) approach to improve student knowledge of, and decision-making about, environmental issues. Previous pilot studies have investigated the impact of SEPUP supplementary materials - short two week instructional units - but there had been no thorough evaluation of the full year course.

The primary research questions were as follows:

(1) What are students' perceptions of evidence as a concept?

(2) What are students' perceptions of evidence as a concept in terms of its value and use in decision-making?

(3) What other factors influence students in their use of evidence in decision-making about environmental issues and problems?

(4) How do SEPUP students differ, it at all, from comparison group students in their use of evidence on decision-making?

(5) Does the student use of evidence transfer to different science-related contexts?

Overall, this research found important, statistically significant differences in actual student decision-making about environmental issues as a function of their classroom instruction. These differences generally favoured the SEPUP programme. Generally, these related to the role of evidence in making environmental decisions and students perceptions of the nature and value of the instructional materials themselves. Students using the SEPUP programme were more likely to use evidence in making environmental decisions than were comparison group students. Further, SEPUP students were more likely to transfer an evidence-based orientation to problems set in less scientific contexts as compared to comparison group students.

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