Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T15:24:18.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Conservation Awareness through an Environmental Education Programme in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Suzana M. Padua
Suzana M. Padua
Affiliation:
Coordinator for Environmental Education, IPE—Instituto de Projetos e Pesquisas Ecológicas, Av. des Operários 587, 13416-460 Piracicaba SP, Brazil.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Few environmental education programmes established in parks in Brazil have been formally evaluated. This paper describes the study of a school programme that was established to use formative evaluation to select and improve programme strategies, and employs summative evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the programme as a whole. The programme consisted of pre-visit strategies, such as a slide show and information given to teachers; on-site activities, which comprised Nature trails and a visitor centre; and post-visit materials furnished to the students at their schools. For the evaluation procedure, child students (N=144) from fifth to eighth grades were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups and answered a written questionnaire on three different occasions — pre-test, post-test, and memory-retention test. The results were statistically analysed and significant differences were assessed between the two groups (F=98.29, p≤0.05). A Scheffé Test demonstrated correlations and located significant differences among the variables. A reliability test was done on the written questionnaire (r=.77). Informally, the programme contributed to the conservation of the Park as it encouraged community involvement in helping to solve specific problems.

The results of the Black Lion-tamarin environmental education programme suggest that such programmes in Nature parks and reserves can be effective and should be established far more widely. Awareness education programmes should be encouraged, especially in underdeveloped countries which still hold great portions of the planet's biodiversity. This education programme was beneficial to both students and members of the local community, who learned about the Park and became proud of it as their natural legacy, as well as to the Park itself of which the protection became enhanced through awareness and community involvement. The Black Liontamarin programme serves as an effective example to other sites with similar contexts and constraints.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , Summer 1994 , pp. 145 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashbaugh, B. & Kordish, R. (1971). Trail Planning and Layout. National Audubon Society-Nature Centre Planning Division, New York, NY, USA: 76 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Berkmüller, K. (1984). Environmental Education about the Rain Forest. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA: 124 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Bernard, R. (1988). Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Sage Publishers, Beverley Hills, California, USA: 520 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Brace, J.B., White, R. & Bass, S.C. (1977). Teaching Conservation in Developing Nations. Peace Corps Manual, Washington, DC, USA: 251 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Campbell, D. & Stanley, J. (1963). Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs for Research. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts, USA: 84 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Censo Demográfico (1983). Famílias e Domicílios. IX Recenseamento Geral do Brasil — São Paulo—1980 (1983). Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística — IBGE, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 264 pp.Google Scholar
Dietz, L.A. (1986). Projeto Mico Leão Dourado, V: Programa de Edicação Comunitária para a Conservação do Mico-Leão-Dourado. Pp. 249–59, illustr., in A Primatologia no Brasil—2. Sociedade Brasileira de Primatologia, Brasilia, DF, Brazil: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Disinger, J. (1987). Cognitive learning in the environment: elementary students. (ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education.) ERIC/SMEAC Environmental Education Digest (2). [Not available for checking].Google Scholar
Ferrari Leite, J. — See Leite, J. Ferrari.Google Scholar
Gagné, R. (1985). The Conditions of Learning and Theory of Instruction. Holt Rinehart & Winston, Inc., New York, NY, USA: 361 pp. illustr.Google Scholar
Gennaro, E. (1981). The effectiveness of using previsit instructional materials on learning for a museum field-trip experience. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 18(3), pp. 275–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guillaumon, et al. , (1983). Proposta para Manejo da Reserva Estadual do Morro do Diabo. Instituto Florestal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil: 121 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Huck, S., Cormier, W. & Bounds, W. (1974). Reading Statistics and Research. Harper & Row, New York, NY, USA: 387 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Hungerford, H. & Volk, T. (1990). Changing learner behavior through Environmetal Education. Journal of Environmental Education, 21(3), pp. 8–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iozzi, L. (1989). What research says to the educator, Part one: environmental education and the affective domain. Journal of Environmental Education, 20(3), pp. 3–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, S. (1990). A model for using a developing country's park system for conservation education. Journal of Environmental Education, 22(1), pp. 19–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, S. (1991). Evaluation model for developing implementing, and assessing conservation education programmes: examples from Belize and Costa Rica. Environmental Management, 15(2), pp. 143–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keppel, G. & Zedeck, S. (1989). Data Analysis for Research Designs. W.H. Freeman & Company, New York, NY, USA: 594 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Kubota, C. & Olstad, R. (1991). Effects of novelty-reducing preparation on exploratory behavior and cognitive learning in a science museum setting. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 18(3), pp. 225–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leite, J. Ferrari (1981). A Ocupação do Pontal do Paranapanema. UNESP, Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil: 361 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Mehrens, W. & Lehmann, I. (1984). Measurement and Evaluation in Education Psychology. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, NY, USA: 658 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Nowak, P. (1984). Direct evaluation: a management tool for programme justification, evaluation, and modification. Journal of Environmental Education, 15(4), pp. 27–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Padua, J.A. (1987). Natureza e projeto nacional: as origens da ecologia política no Brasil. Ecologia & Político no Brasil, Editora Espaço e Tempo e IUPERJ — Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro, Coleção Pensando o Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, pp. 5–32.Google Scholar
Padua, S.M. (1991). Conservation Awareness through an Environmental Education School Programme at the Morro do Diabo State Park, São Paulo State, Brazil. Master's thesis, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA: 103 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Ramsey, R. & Hungerford, H. (1989). So… you want to teach issues? Contemporary Education, 60(3), pp. 137–42.Google Scholar
Shuell, T. (1986). Cognitive conceptions of learning. Review of Educational Research, 56(4), pp. 411–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stapp, W.B. (1974). Historical setting of environmental education. In Environmental Education: Strategies Toward a More Livable Future (Eds Swam, J.A. & Stapp, W.B.). Sage Publications, Beverley Hills, California, USA: 349 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Stufflebeam, D. et al. (1971). Educational Evaluation and Decision Making. Peacock, Hasca, Illinois, USA: 368 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Swan, J.A. (1974). Some human objectives for environmental education. In Environmental Education: Strategies Toward a More Livable Future (Eds Swam, J.A. & Stapp, W.B.). Sage Publications, Beverley Hills, California, USA: 349 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Valladares-Padua, C. (1987). Black lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus): Status and Conservation. Master's thesis, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA: 71 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Ullery, D. (1987). Designing a Nature Centre Discovery Room. National Audubon Society, Dayton, Ohio, USA: 55 pp., illustr.Google Scholar