Informal learning setting

Children have become less connected to nature in recent years due to innovations in technology and more time indoors. Specifically, children and adults are more affected by this disconnect in urban areas because there are usually fewer opportunities to experience natural settings. Many in environmental education believe that direct contact with the outdoors can achieve increased knowledge, attitudes, and a deepened connection to nature based on existing research.

One goal of environmental education is to expose students to career opportunities in the environmental sector. Environmental education programs can attempt to increase student interest in environmental jobs, but the focus typically leans toward science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) careers even though the environmental field includes various other career types such as law, business, and social advocacy. A student's vision of environmental jobs may therefore be limited, and research suggests this is true especially among students of color.

Energy and water conservation recommendations ask individuals to conserve their use of these utilities, such as turning off the lights when leaving a room. Research shows that people need a reasonable number of options to give them agency and limit indecision. Listing five behaviors as examples rather than making them seem mandatory might improve the outcome. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) says a person's elaboration of a message, or how much conscious effort they put into understanding the message, influences how deeply they can be persuaded.

Environmental research organizations often run citizen science programs which bring non-expert volunteers into the scientific process to collect and analyze data. These programs help further scientific research and generate positive outcomes for volunteers, including learning and place attachment, which is defined as an appreciation for the intangible value of a certain location. Past research shows that place attachment and learning can both contribute to conservation behavior and advocacy in participants.

Climate change education spans a wide array of topics and issues stemming from the cause of climate change: greenhouse gas emissions. One of the effects of these emissions is ocean acidification, during which the pH level of seawater decreases, or becomes more acidic, over time. This inhibits the ocean ecosystem to function normally, causing serious implications for environmental and human health. Despite ocean acidification being taught in the curriculum and scientific research on ocean acidification made available to the public, many people are still unaware of its impacts.

Park managers try to maximize visitors' enjoyment and satisfaction with personal interpretation experiences – face-to-face interactions such as amphitheater shows and guided hikes – to create lasting behavior change in visitors. Research suggests that interpretation enhances visitor learning; enhanced knowledge can alter a person's attitudes; and many factors that improve attitude change also improve visitor satisfaction. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model shows that attitudes can influence a person's behaviors.

One pillar of environmental education's mission is to shape the pro-environmental values and behaviors of learners. Though many researchers have measured the outcomes of environmental education, the way values are communicated by an educator or teaching facility has not been explored in-depth. Value-belief-norm theory (VBN) states that an individual develops a value, has their beliefs affirmed from an external experience, and then actively demonstrates pro-environmental behaviors based on those values and beliefs.

Environmental education has traditionally focused on increasing knowledge and encouraging pro-environmental behavior but has paid little attention to the emotional needs of its audience. Research shows that climate change disasters can cause lasting mental health impacts in children, and merely learning about climate change may harm a child's mental health. In addition, children are affected by adults' emotional states when experiencing or learning about climate change. Media articles indicate that parents and teachers seek advice on ways to speak to children about climate change.

In order to successfully combat the ever-increasing challenges of climate change and to lessen the overall impacts, it is of the utmost importance for humans to shift toward environmentally-friendly behaviors. Environmental education (EE) has been proven to positively effect pro-environmental behaviors (PEB). Based on the role climate change has on the overall health of the environment, pro-climate behavior (PCB) is a subset of PEB. PCBs are individual actions that can support reducing energy and carbon emissions and other negative impacts of climate change.

The political worldview of neoliberalism emphasizes individual behavior change to address larger issues, which is insufficient as a solution to climate change. Adaptation to climate change will require wide-structural change and collective action, such as rethinking transportation and energy sources. However, these mechanisms require people to be willing to act on climate. Past research has shown that hope, not just concern, may inspire action on climate change, especially among young people.