Creation and Evaluation of Supplementary DVD Teaching Tools for the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station
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Date
2009-05Author
Miller, Stefanie
Publisher
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The purpose of this research project was to create and evaluate the use of supplementary DVD
teaching tools for use with practicum students at the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station. The
study looked at incoming practicum students with limited or no teaching experience and ways that
would increase their knowledge and skills to become better educators in an outdoor setting. Finding new
ways to introduce material to incoming practicum students at the Central Wisconsin Environmental
Station is essential due to limited training time. Practicum students spend four months at CWES gaining
hands-on teaching experience working with K-12 students, leading the center’s environmental education
programs. Practicum students are trained during a brief three-day program and obtain other lesson
information through a written lesson plan. For this study instructional information was offered to the
students in a DVD format in addition to the traditional written format in order to accommodate for
individual learning styles. Evaluations completed by the researcher and the individual practicum
students was used to compare the lessons taught using the DVD support tools to lessons that only
provided written information. The purposes of evaluating the use of supplementary DVD teaching tools
in addition to written lesson plans for lesson preparation was to measure the effectiveness, if any, that
the DVD’s provide in assisting practicum students with lesson development. The supplementary DVD
teaching tools were an attempt to provide practicum students with more resources while developing the
skills and knowledge to effectively modify and teach outdoor environmental education lessons to K-12
students. The results indicated that practicum students preferred the option of using a supplementary
DVD teaching tool but the tools were not effective in increasing the overall evaluation scores. The
supplementary DVD teaching tools were utilized during lesson preparation but were not essential to
practicum students’ lesson development.