The Integrated Science 10 Program at Menominee High School, Menominee, MI, Influences Students' Locus of Control, Behavior, and Knowledge Regarding Environmental Education

Abstract

The ninth and tenth grade students at Menominee (MI) High School do not take the traditional physical or earth science as freshmen and biology as sophomores. Instead, they are involved in an integrated science program where each of these three branches of science are taught together. The freshman section is called Science 9 and the sophomore section is called Science 10. In September of 1996, students in the sophomore section of Science 10 were surveyed as to their level of locus of control, behaviors and knowledge regarding environmental education. In addition, two other groups of students, acting as control groups, were surveyed. These control groups were sophomores from Marinette (WI) Catholic Central High School (MCCHS) and juniors in chemistry at Menominee High School (MHS). All students were again surveyed in May of 1997. Conclusions were drawn based upon a comparison of the pre and post data. The survey results indicating that the chemistry students were the highest scoring in all categories in both the pre and post surveys. However, although the Science 10 students scored slightly higher than the MCCHS students in the presurvey, the MCCHS students scored higher than the Science 10 students in the post-survey. It was recommended then, that a greater environmental education emphasis should be placed in the MHS Science 10 integrated program. If students are given more time to engage in environmental activities and to learn ecological concepts in the classroom, they may become more environmentally skilled and knowledgeable in their communities at large.