Environmental Education in Merrill Area Public Schools : A Teacher Survey

This study assessed Merrill Area Public School teachers' perceived competencies in, attitudes toward, and class time devoted to teaching environmental education and compared the results to an identical assessment of Wisconsin teachers done by Jennie Lane in 1992. The Merrill teacher response rate was 65% (N=l 70). Results indicated Merrill's teachers lack of knowledge was the main reason for not infusing environmental concepts into the curriculum and administration support was needed for teachers to change and begin infusing EE into their classroom instruction. The Merrill teachers and the Wisconsin teachers indicated effective use of cognitive educational methods for infusing environmental education. Both groups, however, showed a decline in competencies in the affective and behavioral methods of environmental education. Merrill teachers and Wisconsin teachers indicated strong support of environmental education and believed it should be infused into the curriculum. However, the Merrill teachers, as did the Wisconsin teachers, spend less than thirty minutes per week per subject infusing environmental education. The majority of Merrill . teachers who do infuse indicated they never refer to the district's plan for environmental education