Earthkeepers: The Relationship between Instructional Strategies on the Program Outcomes

Abstract

The study focuses on the relationship between selected characteristics of the outdoor environmental (earth) education program Earthkeepers and its impacts on students' environmental values and knowledge. It is rooted in the authors' previous research that is being both applied and reflected here. For providing empirical evidence, it uses data collected by the environmental center Lipka that implemented the program in the Czech Republic in 2020-2021 (N=80). The program successfully influenced students' environmental values and understanding based on the analyses. Students described the programs' instructional strategies as highly encouraging, experiential, empowering, and straightforward. At the same time, student descriptions of the program correlated with the environmental values they held before the program; students who viewed the program more positively also tended to be more positively influenced by the program. Implications for the practice of outdoor environmental education are also discussed.