Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T23:18:59.095Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Research in Environmental Education: Some Thoughts on the Need for Conceptual Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Bob Jickling
Bob Jickling*
Affiliation:
Arts & Sciences, Yukon College
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

When considering a topic as broad as research in environmental education it seems worthwhile, at the outset, to make some basic distinctions. First, establishing research priorities is not simply an empirical question. While it is undoubtedly useful to try to establish perceived needs and interests, and to consider them when establishing research priorities, this can only describe part of the task at hand. There are surely some logical requirements as well.

Second, a much more challenging task, it seems to me, is to more clearly understand the nature of the questions to which we seek answers. We must seek to distinguish between those research techniques which are more or less consistent with the nature of our task. Unfortunately, research in education generally, and in environmental education, in particular, has been hindered by a failure on the part of the research community to recognize the need for a more complete range of research perspectives than those customarily found, and by a failure to recognize the occasional and inevitable misapplications of technique which can occur when appropriate methodologies do not seem available.

With some misgivings about the scope of research in environmental education in mind, I am led to my concern: How do we go about furthering our understanding of concepts central to our field of study? In exploring this question I propose that conceptual analysis is an important research area. Further, I also argue that it is not simply an option, but rather a logical necessity if we are to establish greater coherence within environmental education and avoid unnecessary confusion (see for example: Barrow & Milburn, 1986; Scheffler, 1960; Soltis, 1978; and Wilson, 1969). Further, it is in the nature of this question that we find appeal for this particular approach to research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 9 , 1993 , pp. 85 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

References

Bailey, C. Beyond the Present and the Particular: A Theory of Liberal Education, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1984.Google Scholar
Barrow, R., & Milburn, G. A Critical Dictionary of Educational Concepts, Wheatsheaf, Brighton, Sussex, 1986.Google Scholar
Barrow, R. St. C., & Woods, R. G. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (3rd. Ed.), Routledge, London, 1988.Google Scholar
Disinger, J. F. “Environmental education for sustainable development?” Journal of Environmental Education, 21(4), 1990, pp.3–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamm, C. M. Philosophical Issues in Education: An Introduction, Falmer, New York, 1989.Google Scholar
Harvey, G. D. Environmental Education: A Delineation of Substantive Structure, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 1976.Google Scholar
Hendee, J. C. “Challenging the folklore of environmental education”, Journal of Environmental Education, 3, 1972, pp. 19–23.Google Scholar
Hungerford, H. R., & Volk, T. L. “The challenges of K-12 environmental education”, Monographs in Environmental Education and Environmental Studies, 1, 1984.Google Scholar
Hungerford, H. R., Peyton, R. B. & Wilke, R. J. “Goals for curriculum development in environmental education”, Journal of Environmental Education, 11(3), 1980, pp.42–47.Google Scholar
Jickling, B. “Why I don't want my children to be educated for sustainable development”, Journal of Environmental Education, 23(4), 1992, pp.5–8.Google Scholar
Jickling, B. “Environmental education, problem solving, and some humility please”, The Trumpeter, 8(3), 1991a, pp.153–155.Google Scholar
Jickling, B. “Environmental education and environmental advocacy: The need for a proper distinction”, To see ourselves/to save ourselves: Ecology and culture in Canada, Association for Canadian Studies, Montreal. 1991b, pp.169–176. An earlier version of this paper appeared in L. A. Iozzi & C. L. Shepard (eds.), Building Multicultural Webs Through Environmental Education, Proceedings of 17th Annual Conference of the North American Association for Environmental Education, North American Association for Environmental Education, Troy, Ohio, 1989, pp.143-146.Google Scholar
Orr, D. W. Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World, State University of New York, Albany, 1992.Google Scholar
Peters, R. S. “Aims of education: A conceptual inquiry”, In Peters, R. S. (ed.), The Philosophy of Education, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1973, pp.11–29.Google Scholar
Rees, W. Defining “Sustainable Development”, CHS Research Bulletin, UBC Centre for Human Settlements, 1989.Google Scholar
Roth, R. E. “Fundamental concepts for environmental management education (K-16)”, Journal of Environmental Education, 1, 1970, pp.65–74.Google Scholar
Saunders, G. “Top 10 research items”, Unpublished research summary presented at Eco-Ed, Toronto, 1992.Google Scholar
Scheffler, I. The Language of Education, Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1960.Google Scholar
Soltis, J. F. An introduction to the Analysis of Education, Addison-Wesley, 1978.Google Scholar
Slocombe, D. S. & Van Bers, C. “Seeking substance in sustainable development”, Journal of Environmental Education, 23(1), 1990, pp.11–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stapp, W. B. et al. “The concept of environmental education”, Journal of Environmental Education, 1(1), 1969, pp. 30–31.Google Scholar
Swan, J. A. “The challenge of environmental education”, Phi Delta Kappan, L1, 1969, pp.26–29.Google Scholar
Taylor, D. M. “Disagreeing on the basics: Environmental debates reflect competing world views”, Alternatives, 18(3), 1992, pp.26–33.Google Scholar
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization-United Nations Environment Programme (Unesco-UNEP), “The Tbilisi Declaration”, Connect, 3(1), 1978, pp.1–8.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. Thinking With Concepts, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1969.Google Scholar
World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987.Google Scholar