TY - JOUR
T1 - Teacher college students' views of controversial evironmental issues
T2 - Ambivalence and readiness to adopt a stance
AU - Weinberger, Yehudith
AU - Dreyfus, Amos
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - One of the most important goals of discussing controversial issues in the classroom is to educate students to possess an inclination towards reason, open mindedness and fairness. However, research tends to show that teachers are not adequately trained to lead fruitful discussions about controversial issues and do not possess the necessary skills to perform such a task. This paper refers to one aspect of teaching controversial issues in environmental education, namely, the inclination of teachers towards ambivalence (agreeing to some extent with both favourable and unfavourable arguments concerning a proposition) and its potential consequences. The aim of the current study is to assess teacher college students' ambivalence concerning environmental issues, to explore their readiness to adopt a stance and when doing so to check their tendency to adopt a stance in favour of the environment. The findings showed that ambivalence was less common than non-ambivalence, although it varied across the issues. Most of the ambivalent students voted for a side. Furthermore, ambivalence did not prevent pro-environment decisions. The implications of the findings on environmental education are discussed.
AB - One of the most important goals of discussing controversial issues in the classroom is to educate students to possess an inclination towards reason, open mindedness and fairness. However, research tends to show that teachers are not adequately trained to lead fruitful discussions about controversial issues and do not possess the necessary skills to perform such a task. This paper refers to one aspect of teaching controversial issues in environmental education, namely, the inclination of teachers towards ambivalence (agreeing to some extent with both favourable and unfavourable arguments concerning a proposition) and its potential consequences. The aim of the current study is to assess teacher college students' ambivalence concerning environmental issues, to explore their readiness to adopt a stance and when doing so to check their tendency to adopt a stance in favour of the environment. The findings showed that ambivalence was less common than non-ambivalence, although it varied across the issues. Most of the ambivalent students voted for a side. Furthermore, ambivalence did not prevent pro-environment decisions. The implications of the findings on environmental education are discussed.
KW - Ambivalence
KW - Controversial issues
KW - Environmental education
KW - Teacher education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84886824786&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.12973/ijese.2013.224a
DO - 10.12973/ijese.2013.224a
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AN - SCOPUS:84886824786
SN - 1306-3065
VL - 8
SP - 627
EP - 643
JO - International Journal of Environmental and Science Education
JF - International Journal of Environmental and Science Education
IS - 4
ER -