2015 Volume 11 Issue 4 Pages 337-347
Objective. This paper examines the process of designing and implementing, as well as the impact of, an environmental education program based on Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) in an elementary school. The program of LCT-based materials and methods for the elementary school was developed and implemented over four years, started in 2010. The program then designed lessons and instructional materials on green wall cultivation using a rainwater harvesting system in the fifth year. In this final year, a questionnaire study on rainwater, green wall cultivation, and LCT was conducted for both the implementation group (N=58) and the control group (N=316) to assess the effects of the program. A questionnaire study was also conducted on the critical thinking aptitude of the implementation group only, before, during, and after implementation, and at follow-up.
Results and Discussion. The implementation of the environmental education program started in 2010, when a rainwater harvesting system was also installed at the elementary school. In 2011, lessons in environmental education were introduced for the students, who started to cultivate the green wall and to attend lessons based on LCT in 2012. By the final year, 2014, the lessons included worksheets to calculate the amount of CO2 discharged by using the rainwater harvesting system to cultivate the green wall, as well as group discussions about better ways to reduce the environmental load of this system. The results of the questionnaire studies completed in 2014 demonstrated that the implementation group had a significantly higher level of interest, willingness, and knowledge and understanding of rainwater, the green wall, and LCT than the control group. However, it did not demonstrate the expected effect of enhancing their aptitude for critical thinking.
Conclusions. Two conclusions could be drawn from these findings. First, it is important to garner students’ interest and willingness towards familiar environmental topics from the outset to enhance their knowledge and understanding of LCT. Second, students should acquire an aptitude for critical thinking through learning and understanding LCT. As the results showed aptitude for critical thinking not to be enhanced, future studies should develop instructional methods and materials that will improve critical thinking, and consider measurement tools to assess the effects of understanding LCT.
