Presenters: Jillian Moroney, Randy Brooks, Tamara Laninga, University of Idaho.
The University of Idaho Extension has organized a Sixth Grade Forestry Tour in Clearwater County, Idaho for the last 51 years. During 2012, the program was evaluated to examine knowledge gained and retained by students in Clearwater County and track changes in behavior and attitudes about natural resources, and general satisfaction with the program’s logistics, staff, and facilities. All sixth grade students at Clearwater County schools were given a pretest in the spring consisting of questions about their knowledge of natural resources and their attitudes and behaviors towards natural resources. They were also asked to draw a picture of themselves in the forest. Students who attended the three-day tour were given the same test on the last day of the tour. A delayed posttest was given in the fall to all previously tested students, now beginning the seventh grade. Clearwater County students who did not attend the three-day tour served as the control group. The pre/posttest experimental design approach was used to determine the beginning knowledge of students, the knowledge gained as well as retained, and the attitude/behavioral changes which could be attributed to program attendance as opposed to maturity. Results from the evaluation will be shared during the presentation.
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