A study of differences between a single discipline approach and an interdisciplinary approach in teaching environmental education at the middle school level

Abstract

This thesis has studied the differences in value change of different groups of eighth grade students when exposed to different lessons on a particular aspect of the environment (forests) ranging from a single discipline approach to an interdisciplinary approach -utilizing the subjects of science and history.Three groups viewed a historical-social, biotic, and historicalsocial-biotic (combination) presentation respectively and were then administered a test (the Semantic Differential developed by Osgood, Suci, and Tannenbaum, 1957). In addition, there was a control group (administered the test only) to determine if there were any significant value changes held by the students after viewing the presentations. The results of the study were broken down into four groups.The test results of males and females were also computed because of the difference in development within this age group. The two-way analysis of variance (AMOVA) was used to analyze the findings.The study showed no significant differences between group mean scores. In this research, therefore, no value change occurred as a result of viewing the presentations nor were there differences as a result of subject matter presentation.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306