Availability and Distribution of Environmental Education Field Trip Programs for Adolescent Students in the U.S.: A National Study of Spatial Accessibility

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  • Author(s): Tyler L. Hemby; Robert B. Powell (ORCID Robert B. Powell (ORCID 0000-0003-2775-2571); Marc J. Stern (ORCID Marc J. Stern (ORCID 0000-0002-0294-8941)
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    Environmental Education Research. 2024 30(2):214-234.
  • Publication Date:
    2024
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Reports - Research
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      21
    • Sponsoring Agency:
      National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
    • Contract Number:
      1906610
    • Education Level:
      Elementary Education
      Grade 5
      Intermediate Grades
      Middle Schools
      Grade 6
      Grade 7
      Junior High Schools
      Secondary Education
      Grade 8
    • Subject Terms:
      Field Trips; Environmental Education; Grade 5; Grade 6; Grade 7; Grade 8; Middle School Students; Access to Education; Geographic Distribution; Middle Schools; Student Characteristics; Geographic Location; Equal Education; Social Characteristics; Cultural Context
    • Accession Number:
      10.1080/13504622.2023.2237706
    • ISSN:
      1350-4622
      1469-5871
    • Abstract:
      What is the availability and distribution of single-day environmental education field trip programs for adolescent students across the U.S.? We assessed the spatial accessibility to EE field trip programs for U.S. schools that serve grades 5-8 (ages 10-14) by (1) compiling a comprehensive national database of 2,930 EE providers that offer field trip programs, (2) identifying 89, 311 middle schools' locations, student populations, and relevant demographic information, and (3) calculating drive times between schools and EE provider locations using a high-performance computing cluster. We then used the integrated Floating Catchment Area method to calculate each school's relative spatial access to EE field trip providers. Results suggest that "spatial access" was highly spatially clustered, particularly around several geographic regions (coastal California metropolitan areas, the southern Rockies, northern Kentucky, North Carolina, the western shore of Lake Michigan, and the high-density, contiguous metropolitan areas of the Northeast). Spatial access was also strongly related to partisan lean and urbanity, with more rural, White, and Republican-leaning areas generally having significantly less spatial access to EE field trips.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • Publication Date:
      2024
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1412204