Describes how first‐year civil engineering students interpreted the content and structure of an ecology course. Students’ learning processes were analysed from an intentional…
Abstract
Describes how first‐year civil engineering students interpreted the content and structure of an ecology course. Students’ learning processes were analysed from an intentional perspective, i.e. a perspective that takes into account the students’ educational aims and conceptions of the study situation. Interviews were carried out with six civil engineering students who had taken the ecology course. Classroom observations were carried out and the dialogue between the lecturers and the students recorded. Interviews were transcribed and analysed from an intentional perspective, i.e. meaning is ascribed to the students’ actions and utterances in terms of intent. Students contextualised the content of the ecology course in different ways – within natural science, cultural, social and political, applied and professional, and existential contexts. Students found the content of the ecology course to be a question of value judgement. Also, among the students there were feelings of accusation on behalf of engineers as professionals. Learning processes among the students were analysed in terms of contextual awareness and contextual inconsistency. Students mainly enhanced their knowledge in the sense that they tended to elaborate concepts solely on an empirical level and learned more facts. Suggests that environmental issues can be seen and dealt with from natural science, social science and philosophical perspectives, and that it is important that these different perspectives are explicitly addressed on a meta‐level. The tendency to enhance the amount of content matter to be taught without considering the meta‐level issues can cause the students problems in their efforts to learn. Suggested that the premises for teaching certain content should be made explicit by the teacher. To know why certain content has been included in the teaching may be of considerable help for the students in formulating relevant learning projects.
Details
Keywords
To present results from a research project on postgraduate and undergraduate students' learning about environmental issues in education.
Abstract
Purpose
To present results from a research project on postgraduate and undergraduate students' learning about environmental issues in education.
Design/methodology/approach
Three cases were carried out with civil engineering students, biology students and postgraduate students. Discussions in classroom were tape‐recorded, as well as discussions while working with assignments, and interviews were carried out.
Findings
Shows how differently environmental issues can be interpreted, i.e. scientifically, existentially and politically, and the way values and emotions become an aspect of the learning process and reveal the students' difficulties in differentiating between values and descriptions of phenomena. This is analysed and explained in relation to the students' various projects that come into conflict in the educational setting.
Practical implications
The paper can be of use to those who are engaged in environmental education and raises questions regarding the content of today's environmental education.
Originality/value
Gives an insight into students' learning processes and experiences in environmental education and the difficulties they can experience when studying such a subject.