Year of Award
2016
Document Type
Professional Paper
Degree Type
Master of Arts (MA)
Degree Name
Environmental Studies
Other Degree Name/Area of Focus
Environmental Education
Department or School/College
Environmental Studies Program
Committee Chair
Fletcher Brown
Commitee Members
Dan Spencer, Amy Ratto-Parks
Keywords
environmental education, outdoor education, NOLS, gender
Publisher
University of Montana
Subject Categories
Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
Abstract
There is an extensive database of literature about diversity in outdoor Environmental Education and any of the studies focus on NOLS specifically. Several studies have investigated the impact of course composition in terms of gender as well as socioeconomic diversity; however, the research studies about course composition and gender were limited to differences between single gender and coed groups. The role of gender ratios on coed groups has not been widely researched. This study was designed to fill this gap in the research literature. Using course quality survey data, results showed that the student responses were significantly different between gender balanced and imbalanced courses. Students on gender-balanced courses responded more positively to questions about social interactions, their sense inclusion and group effectiveness. This is only a preliminary study however, and is unable to answer questions about why these differences exist. Outcomes from this study do raise additional questions about the nuanced social dynamics on NOLS field courses. Based on these results, I compiled a series of suggestions for NOLS, including future research questions.
Recommended Citation
Alway, Alexandra M., "A Comparison of Course Quality Surveiy Results from Students on Gender Balanced and Gender Imbalanced Field Courses at NOLS" (2016). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 10805.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/10805
© Copyright 2016 Alexandra M. Alway