Students and Scientists Connect with Nature in Uganda, East Africa

We studied the impact of environmental education (EE) workshops on Ugandan youth’s
(N = 84) perceptions of their relationship with nature, self efficacy, and civic attitudes
and skills. Two nature-related measures and two measures related to social competencies
were administered before and after EE workshops that were designed to educate youth
about environmental conservation through field experiences with university scientists
and inquiry-based activities with environmental educators. Pre- and post-workshop
scores were analyzed using Mixed Design ANOVAs to determine if EE workshop
program format length and setting differentially affected male (n = 43) and female (n =
41) participants’ perceived benefits of EE workshops. Participants’ scores increased
following EE workshops, except those in the urban setting, who reported a decrease in
their connections to nature compared to those in the rural setting. Longer workshops
with more field experiences had the most profound impact on participants’ feelings of
connection to nature, social competencies, and commitment to civic action. Males
showed increases in self efficacy in the rural workshop and greater connectedness to
nature in the longer workshops compared to females. Results underscore the importance
of considering geographical and cultural contexts when developing and evaluating EE.