Evaluation of Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment and Research (MADE CLEAR)

• In Event: Enacting Systemic Climate Change Education: Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment and Research (MADE CLEAR) Research and Practice for a Changing Planet

Abstract

The evaluation of MADE CLEAR is focused on determining the extent to which the project’s four goals are achieved. It includes both process and outcome components that focus primarily on the infusion of climate science in K-12 education, informal education, and higher education pre-service education programs. Changes in the two states’ policy context are also examined. An important challenge has been to document the various strategies that project staff have adopted to interact with different subsets of participants (K-12 teachers, pre-service teachers, informal educators, and higher education faculty), the focus of their interactions (climate science content, pedagogy, assessments, and resources), as well as the outcomes of these interactions. Towards this end, a variety of methodological approaches have been used to gather both process and outcome data. Process data are collected to determine the nature of the MADE CLEAR implementation activities. Both short-term and long-term outcomes have been identified and are assessed over the life of the project.

Participants include K-12 teachers, informal educators, higher education faculty involved in pre-service teacher education, and state education and policymakers. Data have been collected from a variety of sources that include: observation of project activities, content-knowledge tests completed by participants, examination of participants’ work samples (e.g., lesson plans, implementation plans, course syllabi), participant satisfaction surveys, interviews of participants about their involvement in the project and application of project content. The particular approach depends on the focus of the data collection effort and the feasibility of gathering specific data.

Findings revealed somewhat different strategies have been used with different subsets of participants. K-12 educators and pre-service educators have received more traditional professional development, with an emphasis on building content knowledge and pedagogy. Over time, project staff has tried different professional development strategies to increase content knowledge and pedagogy, and introduce curriculum resources. Strategies for informal educators have relied more on building communities of practice with climate science the focus of their practice. All participants have been asked to incorporate climate change education into their practice with students or other audiences. Educators’ practices have been found to vary both within and between subgroups. The full paper will discuss these finding in more detail.

The evaluation work looks at the impact of professional development over time. Too often, evaluations of professional development have focused on short-term outcomes rather than examine how educators’ classroom practices incorporate curriculum, pedagogical strategies, and resources over time. In addition, this evaluation will document strategies for working with different subgroups of educators that have implications for researchers and educators working in the field of environmental and teacher education.

Authors

• Joan L. Buttram, University of Delaware

• Hilary Mead, University of Delaware