Instructors use of high leverage practices and tools in environmental service-learning courses

Abstract

There has been little scholarship about the use of instructional practices in undergraduate environmental service-learning courses. In this study, we examined the implementation of high leverage practices (HLPs) in environmental service-learning courses (i.e. E-Corps). These HLPs included: eliciting initial ideas, informing approaches to problems, and developing informed solutions. We employed interviews and observations to gather data to investigate the characteristics of instructors’ use of HLPs over the course of three academic years, from Fall 2019 to Spring 2022. First, several specific moment-to-moment instructional moves as tools emerged as important when enacting the HLPs (e.g., questioning, making connections between environmental issues and impacts, proposing initial solutions, and considering diverse perspectives). Second, a range of instructional tools were identified (e.g., use of real-world scenarios, group discussions, guest lectures, roleplaying, and presentations to the community). These tools were used in both similar and different ways within the three different E-Corps courses (i.e. Brownfields, Climate Change, and Stormwater) depending on the specific teaching and learning contexts. Findings illuminate the role HLPs can play as anchors for supporting students’ environmental service learning as well as instructors’ use of tools in the context of implementing HLPs in higher education contexts.

Keywords

• Environmental education
• E-Corps
• high leverage practices (HLPs)
• higher education
• instructional tool
• service learning