Abstract:

Knowledge about environmental topics does not ensure a pro-environmental behavior change (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002), therefore it becomes necessary to reinforce another kind of knowledge that has been proven, predicts this kind of behavior. Other concepts and attitudes have to be taught in order to enhance a more holistic approach to the problem such as altruism, affinity to diversity, and nature attachment, among others. These topics are part of the ideas regarding Sustainability Orientation (Corral Verdugo, Fonllem Tapia, Frijo Sing, Mireles Acosta, & Márquez Ulloa, 2008) and Environmental Citizenship. Hence it is important to introduce courses linked to these aspects in various educational levels. The impact of a course on a group of high school students using ICT through Canvas Instructure platform as a pedagogical tool was analyzed. For the development of the course, the theoretical, practical and pedagogical elements necessary were previously investigated through the analysis of study programs and surveys with teachers involved in Environmental Education in High School level. The contents of the course were related to information about the Sustainability Orientation. The course was implemented through an intentional sample with 25 students between 15-18 years of age with high school studies with an experimental design of a pre-test, the course and post-test. The results were analyzed through a qualitative analysis using the Atlas.ti Software and a quantification of the frequency of responses obtained. In general, the results indicate that there was an increase in knowledge of the subjects in the evaluation of the Post-Test when compared with the results obtained in the Pre-Test, mainly in the diversity and complexity of the answers. For the discussion of the results, similar investigations on Environmental Education, Sustainability Orientation and Environmental Citizenship were considered.

References:
[1] Corral Verdugo, V., Fonllem Tapia, C., Frijo Sing, B., Mireles Acosta, J., & Márquez Ulloa, P. (2008). Orientación a la Sustentabilidad como determinante de los Estilos de Vida Sustentables: Un estudio con una muestra mexicana, Revista Mexicana de Psicología, 25(2), 313–327.
[2] Kollmuss, A., & Agyeman, J. (2002). Mind the Gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620220145401

Keywords:

Environmental Education, Environmental Psychology, Sustainability Orientation, Environmental Citizenship, High School level, ICT.