Attending to student psychological needs may increase effectiveness of environmental education programs in promoting pro-environmental motivation and intentionThis case study examined elementary school children's interest in a school garden project, the reasons for that interest, and its possible link with environmental motivation and intention for environmental action. Environmental motivation is the condition where a person has or acquires intrinsic (self-determined) and extrinsic (external) incentives or motives to engage in pro-environmental behaviors and actions.
Seventeen students (age 11-12) from an urban primary school in Cyprus participated in a school garden project initiated by the authors of this paper. While the classroom teacher and the first author worked with the students throughout the project, the garden activities were based on students’ wishes, thoughts and decisions. The students, in fact, had the most active role in implementing the project. The aim of this student-directed approach was to help the students feel effective in bringing about desired outcomes. This aim is consistent with self-determination theory (SDT) which includes the understanding that feeling efficacious is one of the key factors enhancing intrinsic motivation. Other key factors include autonomy (feeling self-determined) and relatedness (feeling welcomed and a sense of belonging). The project promoted self-determination by giving students opportunities to make their own decisions about activities in the garden. The project promoted a sense of belonging by having students work in small collaborative groups. The satisfaction of these three psychological needs (competence, autonomy and relatedness) is recognized as an important prerequisite of environmental motivation.
The study used three sources of data: (a) pre- and post-test questionnaires, (b) 3-minute notes, and (c) focus group interviews. The Motivation Toward the Environment Scale (MTES) was used for the pre/post questionnaires. This scale helps distinguish the different types of motivation. With the 3-minute notes, participants rated garden activities from 1 to 3 according to their interest and wrote a short note explaining the rating of each activity. These short notes were used to identify the characteristics of the project that stimulated the students’ interest. The focus group interviews included further probing into students’ interests and also addressed students’ intentions regarding future pro-environmental plans. For data analysis, each participant was considered a separate case.
The data indicated that most of the participating children had very positive opinions about the various activities and actions they implemented during the school garden project. Reasons for their interest in the activities were identified as “Autonomy,” “Competence,” “Relatedness,” “Enjoyment,” “Pride,” and “Acquirement of new knowledge and experience.” Results also showed that external motivations (i.e., motivations that were not self-determined) decreased significantly, while intrinsic motivation increased. This increase, however, was not statistically significant. By integrating the three sources of data for each participant, the researchers were able to examine connections between students’ type of motivation, interests in the activities of the project, and his or her pro-environmental intentions. Results showed a connection between students’ interest in the activities, their motivation, and their intention to act.
This research indicates that interest and motivation are inextricably connected, and that interest is associated with the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. This research suggests that attending to the psychological needs of students may increase the effectiveness of environmental education programs in their efforts to promote pro-environmental motivations and future intentions.
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