Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Year-Long Environmental Education Preschool Program for Children ages 2-5 and their Parents at Aldo Leopold Nature Center

File(s)
Date
2011-08Author
Von Dollen, Tara L.
Publisher
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The purpose of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate an environmental
education preschool program for children ages 2-5 and their parents at Aldo Leopold Nature
Center. This was the first preschool program of this design implemented at Aldo Leopold Nature
Center, located in Monona, Wisconsin. The treatment was one year long, twice a month (two
dates per week) during the regular school year and every week over the summer; there were 30
unique lessons taught a total of 47 times. The program was given the name Wonder Bugs
Preschool Program before the implementation phase.
The data were collected through three surveys. The first survey was a session survey that
all parents were asked to complete after each of the Wonder Bugs sessions (47 total sessions).
The second survey was a midway survey that was distributed to families that attended at least
one Wonder Bugs session from March 2010 through August 2010 (spring and summer). The
final survey was distributed to all participating families from March 2010- February 2011 (one-year).
The results indicate that the session activities were appropriate, the session length was
satisfactory, and the sessions overall were valuable and enjoyed. Furthermore, the objectives of
the program were upheld with the majority of people choosing “experiencing nature” and
“child's interest” as the top two choices for attending multiple Wonder Bugs sessions.
“Teachers” was the most important program component followed by “hikes” and then “crafts”.
Different time offerings may encourage people to attend more Wonder Bugs sessions, but 100%
of the people surveyed for the final survey marked will “probably” attend or “definitely” will
attend future programming at ALNC. The most important results for the study relate to the
parents‟ perception of their children's sense of wonder. On the Midway survey 92.9% of people
who responded perceived a positive change in their child's sense of wonder, and on the Final
survey 22 out of 23 people (95.7%) who responded perceived a positive change in their child's
sense of wonder.
Wonder Bugs was a success and should be continued at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center.
Wonder Bugs helps meet the needs of preschoolers, aged 2-5 years, and meets early childhood
guidelines for North American Association for Environmental Education and the Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction's Model Early Learning Standards. The researcher recommends
gathering more data on parents‟ perception of their children's sense of wonder by conducting a
focus group. The researcher also recommends keeping class sizes to 10 children, dividing the
ages to separate the 2-3 year olds during the school year, and offering more date options,
including weekends.