Measuring interest in science and nature is one way to gauge participant engagement. Developing a high interest in science and nature is key to sustained learning for adults. This tool measures interest, which is defined by how much someone assigns personal relevance to a subject.
This survey can be used to assess the degree of hope present in high school students with respect to climate change. It captures an individual’s ability to move from despair or helplessness to optimism and efficacy, and how much they believe that they and society can solve problems caused by climate change.
This tool, the Draw-an-Ecosystem task, takes a qualitative approach to evaluation. Participants draw and label an ecosystem before and after a program to measure their change in environmental knowledge.
Environmental action measured by this survey is defined as intentional civic behaviors focused on systemic environmental issues and collective sustainability efforts. Examples include attending environmental community events or organizing a protest.
The Environmental Identity (EID) Scale can be used to measure a person’s environmental identity, or their sense of connection to the natural world. It can be helpful to assess a person’s environmental identity because this identity can have a broad and lasting influence on their behavior. The scale measures different aspects of a person’s environmental identity, including 1) self-identification (based on the extent and importance of an individual’s interaction with nature), 2) ideology (based on support for environmentally friendly lifestyle choices), and 3) positive emotions toward the environment (based on enjoyment obtained in nature).
The Life Effectiveness Questionnaire (LEQ-H) is a survey used to measure personal development in several areas related to life effectiveness, or “a person’s demonstrated capacity to adapt, survive, and thrive” (Neill, 2008). The LEQ-H measures 8 domains, including time management, social competence, achievement motivation, intellectual flexibility, task leadership, emotional control, active initiative, and self confidence. The tool has been used to assess how outdoor education programs, including a variety of Outward Bound programs, influence a person’s self-perception of their skills in these areas.
This set of qualitative tools intend to help programs/organizations understand how participants experience their program(s). Because of the qualitative nature of the tools, this approach lifts up participants’ voice in their own words, as opposed to a closed-ended survey tool. These tools help capture the nuance and story of participant experience and can be useful for both internal understanding and external reports to funders, boards, community members, and other key partners.
This scale is a very brief measure of positive youth development (PYD) as conceptualized by the Lerner and Lerner Five Cs model of PYD (Lerner et al., 2015). The Five Cs model emphasizes that thriving youth are characterized by five Cs (competence, confidence, connection, character and caring). Youth who exhibit the five Cs are more likely to contribute to their families, schools, and communities, thus developing the “sixth C”, which is contribution.
This tool is a reflection question that can help participants consider what they felt during a program. It can be formatted as a journal prompt or exit slip. Have participants say or write down their responses to the following question to assess attachment to place:
When I spend time in waterways and trails near my home, I feel…