Environmental service learning: outcomes of innovative pedagogy in Baja California Sur, Mexico

Abstract

AbstractThis article reports on a longitudinal study of a two‐semester middle school environmental learning course that departs from traditional Mexican expository pedagogies through the incorporation of experiential and service learning approaches. In the short term, course participants acquired a heightened awareness of environmental issues, augmented their environmental perceptions and consciousness, and complemented all this with environmentally responsible behaviours. Two years after completing the experiential course, students retained pro‐environmental attitudes and behaviours and unexpectedly exhibited an expanded role in intergenerational learning. The research adds to the handful of studies in this cross‐disciplinary field through qualitative methodologies that refine our understanding of the outcomes of experiential environmental learning.Keywords: experimental environmental educationpro‐environmental behaviourenvironmental service learningintergenerational learningqualitative analysis Notes on contributorAndrew Jon Schneller holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Learning from the University of Arizona and an MPA in Environmental Policy from Indiana University. His research is international in scope with an emphasis on Baja California Sur, Mexico, and focuses on experiential environmental learning, environmental policy, and the growth of Mexican associational life.Notes1. 'Telesecundaria was launched in Mexico in 1968 as a means of extending lower secondary school learning with television support to remote and small communities at a cost inferior to that of conventional secondary schools' (SEP 2007).2. For confidentiality we omitted the names of the organisations and the individuals we interviewed.3. For confidentiality the student names presented are fictional, representing the real participants of the research.