Term

Summer 2018

Capstone

Thesis

Degree Name

MAED: NSEE

Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair

Patty Born Shelly

Secondary Advisor/Reader One

Nate Fritz

Peer-Reviewer/Reader Two

Jen Heineman

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine if an environmental focused Genius Hour will affect students’ attitudes toward the environment. Over an eight week period ninth grade students in an Honors Civics class self-selected an environmental topic to research, write a research paper and present their findings. The study was completed in a suburban high school setting. The study Quantitative and qualitative data was gathered using student interest surveys and the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Likert Scale Survey. The participants were surveyed before completing their Genius Hour project and after completion. The results of the survey show that an environmental focused Genius Hour can slightly affect students’ attitudes toward the environment. More research is needed to see if attitudes are affected long term.

Research Methodology

Survey (attitude scale, opinion, questionnaire)

Keywords

Environmental Studies, Motivation, Teachers/ Teaching

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Theses and Dissertations

Included in

Education Commons

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