Planting Seeds for a Sustainable Future: The Vital Role of Environmental Education for Children
Advisor: Marvin McCollum
Internship Location: TIDES at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy
Onsite Mentor: Haley McClanahan
Only 12% of high school and middle school students have a foundational understanding of environmental issues & solutions. This number is extremely low, especially with the rising environmental problems that continue to arise in recent years. This study will explore the impacts of environmental education and examine its benefits within an after-school program curriculum.
Incorporating environmental education into after-school programs is essential to developing Gen Z’s central knowledge, skills, and value systems in becoming eco-friendly citizens. In learning about environmental issues at a young age, children are more likely to incorporate sustainable practices and eco-friendly solutions into their daily lives. This education is also crucial for Gen Z students to make informed decisions about environmental issues and eventually become leaders in promoting environmental sustainability within their communities.
I intend to work directly with an organization specializing in children's environmental education. Hopefully, with this experience, I will also be able to collect surveys to compare the percentage of students that were environmentally aware before and after the completion of the program in hopes of seeing a noticeable difference. I will also review academic literature produced by experts in the field of education and environmental sustainability. I plan to obtain this academic literature from the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Public Library, and online resources through Jstor. Utilizing these resources I will be able to properly display the benefits of environmental education with both quantitative and qualitative evidence.
Project Blog
Week 0
Hi! I’m Alex Davolio, I’ve been at BASIS since the 5th grade and am graduating this year. For the next 10 weeks, I will be blogging about the research I will be doing about the benefits of environmental education on children. Throughout high school, I’ve always been interested in environmental science and sustainability, and I plan to pursue an environmental engineering major in college. Through my project, I will explore the benefits of environmental education on children, seeing if these types of programs show a significant change in the behaviors and actions of this generation, hopefully leading to more sustainable practices. For my on-site, I plan on working with an organization specializing in environmental education in an after-school program to collect data through observations and surveys in hopes of seeing positive results. My final deliverable will be a research paper about my findings, outlining the benefits of environmental education for children. If you want any more details on my project my proposal is linked here.
I look forward to starting my research and blogging about my progress.
Week 1
Hi everyone! Hope all of you are doing well. This first week of my senior project has been exciting. I’ve been trying to create a concrete schedule for my research to progress in my findings before going and working on-site with participants in the TIDES program. For the majority of my time, I’ve been refining my methods of research whether that be interviews or surveys as well as finding relevant material on my subject to analyze.
In regard to my on-site placement, I’ve scheduled a meeting with Haley Mclanahan, the Head of Education at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy where we will be making a concrete schedule for me to go and assist with the educational process as well as collect the data I need to for this research project. I believe I will start working in person in the coming week so I look forward to updating the blog about my experience and my findings.
Thank you for you interest in my project!
Weeks 2-3
Hi everyone! Hope all of you are doing well. In these past 2 weeks, I’ve been in contact with Haley Mclanahan, the Head of Education at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy about finalizing a more concrete schedule, where I would go in 3 days a week working with an environmental education program called TIDES (Teens Interested and Dedicated to Environmental Stewardship) at their educational center in Dumbo.
In regard to my research, I’ve been making steady progress on the majority of my sources, looking into the benefits of environmental education and whether there are positive outcomes from it, and if it should be implemented into school curriculums. I’ve also been working on surveys I intend to collect from the TIDES participants in hopes of tracking their knowledge as they progress through the TIDES program.
Weeks 4-5
Hi everyone! Hope all of you are doing well. These past 2 weeks have been very exciting, I’ve started to work at my on-site placement at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy with a program called TIDES which I was a part of back in the 10th grade. My main job has been to assist in the teaching process of these high schools and guide them as they progress through the program answering any questions they have along the way. Also, I was able to give out my Environmental Education survey which is one of three surveys I will be asking the teens to fill out. And so far I’ve gotten great responses. I’m excited to see how my project continues to develop.
Week 6
Hi everyone! Hope all of you are well. This past week for me has just been gathering all of the responses I’ve gotten on my recent survey, which I linked in my last blog post if anybody wants to check that out. I’ve been organizing the responses I’ve gotten and putting them into categories and ranking them by their awareness of environmental issues and practices. In regard to my on-site, this past week’s topic was “Sustainable landscape”, this involved a tour of Brooklyn Bridge Park accompanied by members from the architecture firm that designed and renovated the park who basically explained all the sustainable features and solutions that went into the pars renovations to limit things such as noise pollution or water runoff and things of that nature. In these next few weeks, I’m gonna be shifted my focus onto my sources and really look into the benefits of environmental education on teens. If you have any questions feel free to comment.
Weeks 7-8
Hi everyone! These past 2 weeks, I’ve been working with the TIDES program helping out, these weeks were more focused on the volunteering side of the program. The 2 projects that need to be accomplished were a Coastal Clean-up alongside Pier 2 beach in Brooklyn Bridge Park and a Green Team in the park as well. My main job was to help pass out materials and also oversee and be available if anyone needed help. As the middle of the program is approaching I am currently working on a mid-program survey to see the progress that they made in their knowledge of the environment as well as their understanding of these issues. I’m also planning on interviewing my on-site advisor about environmental education since she is the head of the education department and talking to her about what her thoughts are on environmental education.
Post 7: Final Blog : Deliverable And Senior Project Presentation
Hi everyone and welcome to my last blog, I just wanted to start off by saying thank you to Mr. McCollum my senior project advisor for all his help and guidance on this project. I could not have done it without him. I also want to thank Haley McClanahan, my on-site advisor who also helped me tremendously on this project, taking me under her wing and helping me with my research on environmental education. I want to thank TIDES and all the individuals in the program because without them my research would be non-existent. I had an amazing time working with all these wonderful people and wish them all the best. Below I linked both my deliverable which is an expansion of my research as well as my senior project presentation.