Publication: GewässerCampus - Field trip in the sense of environmental education

The latest publication by the BioVT department and its colleagues appears in the journal Education Science and is entitled ‘GewässerCampus - Field trip in the sense of environmental education’.

In the role of education as a pacemaker for change towards a more sustainable world, there is a need to develop educational concepts that enable young people to responsibly take up the challenges of future-proof development. The GewässerCampus is related to environmental education in the context of the ecological dimension of Education for Sustainable Development. This article focuses on the evaluation of the GewässerCampus project by assessing current motivation, ecological knowledge, and environmental values during participation in an outdoor learning program. In total, 231 German pupils of lower as well as upper secondary level participated in the project. In a quasi-experimental study design, current motivation, pro-environmental and anthropogenic values (Preservation and Utilization), and knowledge were assessed before and immediately after participation in the learning program. The learning activities during the project day significantly led to knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, high individual values of the test items for Preservation and low values of the test items for Utilization were determined. Our results show how important it is to consider the individual teaching and learning requirements of the learner group depending on the grade level as well as the type of school when preparing modules for environmental education in context of sustainable development.

E. Könnel, L. Geuer, A. Schlindwein, S. Perret, R. Ulber; GewässerCampus - Field trip in the sense of environmental education; Education Science (2025) in press