The development, implementation, and evaluation of a course in environmental science for elementary teachers

A graduate course in environmental science was taught to South Carolina public school teachers using two different methods of teaching. Both methods involved using lectures which were enhanced with activities. In the first method, affective domain, adult participation activities were used. The second method involved cognitive domain, child participation activities. A pre-test and a post-test were administered to evaluate the two teaching methods.; It was found that both methods of teaching the course were effective in increasing teacher's commitment to teaching environmental issues, but the course using affective domain, adult participation activities was more effective. It was also found that both methods were effective in increasing teachers' knowledge about environmental issues, but neither method was superior to the other.; No correlation was found between teachers' level of commitment to teaching environmental issues and knowledge about environmental issues. Neither was a correlation found between the grade level at which a teacher teaches and commitment to teaching environmental issues.; Additional information included the teachers' rank ordering of the importance of several environmental issues and of the time spent in teaching about each of the issues.