Influence of educator's emotional support behaviors on environmental education student outcomes

• Published in: Environmental education research 2020-11, Vol.26 (11), p.1556-1577
• Main Authors: O'Hare, Anna, Powell, Robert B., Stern, Marc J., Bowers, Edmond P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Education; Elementary School Students; Emotional behavior; Environmental Education; Field Trips; Informal Education; informal science education; instruction; Middle School Students; Organizations (Groups); Outcomes of Education; Program Effectiveness; Science Education; Social support; Student Attitudes; Student Surveys; Students; Teacher Student Relationship; teaching
• ISSN: 1350-4622; 1469-5871
• DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2020.1800593

Environmental education (EE) aims to create environmentally literate individuals that have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to solve important environmental issues. However, little research examines whether and which educator's emotional support behaviors, such as responsiveness and positive communications, enhance outcomes in an EE program. Utilizing student surveys, programmatic observations, and qualitative notes collected from 334 EE field trip programs for fifth through eighth grade students (ages 9-12) provided by 90 different organizations across the U.S., this study examined linkages between educator's emotional support behaviors and positive learning outcomes. Past research in formal educational settings suggests that emotional support behaviors yield positive outcomes for students. This research also found that positive emotional support behaviors positively influenced student outcomes and explained 10% of the variance. Based on the resulting model, we suggest that positive emotional support behaviors should be considered in future environmental educator training programs.