Assessing MarineQuest: a follow-up study on effects of a summer residential marine environmental education program on knowledge and attitudes
- UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Kurt Tressler (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW )
- Web Site: http://library.uncw.edu/
- Advisor
- Joel Mintzes
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a one-week
marine science education program, UNCW’s MarineQuest program, on
the participants’ knowledge and attitudes towards the marine environment.
This study is the second of a multi-year assessment examining the
effectiveness of an informal environmental education program.
Subjects were instructed on creating concept maps using techniques
developed by Novak and Gowin (1984). Knowledge content and structure
scores were obtained from concept maps and multiple choice surveys.
Attitude scores were obtained using the Marine Life Attitude Inventory
created by Andrews (2003) based on Kellert’s (1985) attitudinal
dimensions towards wildlife. Data sets (2003 and 2006) were combined
and analyzed using Chi-squared, Kruskal-Wallis, Wilcoxon, and Tukey-
Kramer tests.
The results of this study show significant differences favoring the
Experimental Group I in structural complexity and knowledge content of
participants. Differences in Mastery of Learning Objectives and Marine
Animal Life Attitude Inventory posttest scores were significant, favoring
the experimental group in all cases. These findings further support the
MarineQuest program’s significant influence on participants’ knowledge
and attitudes towards the marine environment and provide future
guidelines for developing curricular and assessment efforts in
environmental education.
Assessing MarineQuest: a follow-up study on effects of a summer residential marine environmental education program on knowledge and attitudes
PDF (Portable Document Format)
2231 KB
Created on 1/1/2009
Views: 2365
Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science
- Language: English
- Date: 2009
- Keywords
- Environmental education--Activity programs , Marine ecology--Study and teaching , MarineQuest Program
- Subjects
- MarineQuest Program
- Environmental education -- Activity programs
- Marine ecology -- Study and teaching