Barriers to and Motivations for Curriculum-Based Education Program Participation at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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dc.contributor.authorWright, Mary Elizabeth Convilleen
dc.contributor.committeechairStern, Marc J.en
dc.contributor.committeememberMcMullin, Steve L.en
dc.contributor.committeememberPowell, Roberten
dc.contributor.departmentForestryen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:32:44Zen
dc.date.adate2010-04-20en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:32:44Zen
dc.date.issued2010-03-05en
dc.date.rdate2010-04-20en
dc.date.sdate2010-03-19en
dc.description.abstractGreat Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) provides quality education programs to local schools. In order to continue this success and expand programs to reach more middle and high school students, a mixed methods study was conducted to help better understand why local middle and high school teachers participate or not in park educational programs. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, teacher surveys measured factors that influence teacher intentions to participate in park programs to best predict their likelihood of future involvement. In addition, school administrators were interviewed to understand their perceptions of teacher involvement. Results provided insight to how GRSM can better provide valuable services to local middle and high schools. The best predictors of teachers' intentions to participate in future programs were their perceptions of whether programs would enhance academic achievement, how easily and comfortably they could incorporate the programs into their pre-existing curricula, and whether the experience would be a fun experience in nature for both their students and themselves. Future communications with teachers should therefore emphasize that Park programs are fun, relevant learning experiences that address academic requirements for various subjects and are relatively easy to incorporate into pre-existing curricula.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-03192010-160259en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-03192010-160259/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/31503en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartWright_MEC_T_2010.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartWright_MEC_T_2010_IRB.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectTheory of Planned Behavioren
dc.subjectGreat Smoky Mountains National Parken
dc.subjectparticipationen
dc.subjectmotivationen
dc.subjectplace-based educationen
dc.subjectenvironmental educationen
dc.titleBarriers to and Motivations for Curriculum-Based Education Program Participation at Great Smoky Mountains National Parken
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineForestryen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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