The Effects of an Environmental Studies Course on the Defensibility of Environmental Attitudes

Evaluated whether students used information learned in environmental studies (ES) courses to support their stated attitudes toward environmental issues in a 2-phase study based on F. E. Williams's (1968) connective vectors theory. An environmental issues attitude defensibility inventory (EIADI) was designed to measure Ss' value judgment and defensibility. In Phase 1, 82 Ss in 2 ES and 2 general zoology undergraduate summer courses and 2 ES and 2 science education graduate courses completed the EIADI; an additional 59 Ss were also administered the test during the last week of classes. In Phase 2, 199 undergraduates in 2 ES courses at another university were pre- and posttested with the EIADI during 1 semester to assess differences between entering and exiting defensibility levels. Results indicate that while value judgments showed no change, there were significant differences between pre- and posttest defensibility scores at both schools, thus supporting Williams's notion of connective vectors between the cognitive and affective domains of attitudes. (13 ref)