Gauging the Perceptions of High School Students in Different Demographics on Environmental Education Topics

Environmental education is a topic that has been promoted by advocates and researchers for more than three decades; however, a majority of public schools still fail to cover the fundamental basics of environmental education in their curriculum. This project seeks to understand how high school aged students (10th grade) understand three environmental concepts including: 1) recycling; 2) food production; and 3) concept of the natural environment, amongst the demographics of: 1) rural; 2) urban cluster; and 3) large metropolitan/inner city. Questionnaires were designed using the Likert Scale questions in order to quantify differing perceptions between rural, urban cluster, and large metropolitan/inner city school students. Initial focus groups were conducted to enhance the survey instrument. The survey was conducted in Minnesota with 204 tenth grade high school students; 90 from rural schools, 55 from urban cluster, and 59 from large metropolitan/inner city areas. Results indicate that students in different demographics understand recycling differently; as pupils in large metropolitan/inner city and urban cluster areas find recycling to be a priority while students in rural areas often do not view recycling as important. Students do perceive the topics of food production and nature similarly across demographics. Students have a general understanding of where their food comes from and food production. Additionally, the study found students today are spending less time watching television, but have greater access to multiple electronic devices that account for a large portion of how they spend their time. Finally, as a result of challenges throughout the research project, this study examined the issues and process of working with children in a public school setting. This research can be used by both formal and non-formal educators to understand the perceptions of the students they work with in order to better educate them