Environmental education as a transformative social process: An activity systems analysis of environmental education and the role of environmental educators

Environmental education (EE) is grounded in the idea that the process of teaching-learning can transform how individuals interact with and behave toward the environment, and in turn support the long-term health and sustainability of the planet. Yet even after decades of EE programming, widespread changes in human behavior related to the environment remain slow and difficult to cultivate. The main premise of this study was that the application of a well-aligned guiding theoretical framework to EE could support the growth and development of the field and the transformative goals to which it aspires. Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) provided a cohesive fit with the transformative goals of EE, as a theory of human development in which individuals contribute to the ongoing transformation of the world through interacting in the world with other people. To explore the application of CHAT to EE, data was collected from award-winning environmental educators in this multiple case study. Data consisted of one-on-one interviews with educators and teaching observations of environmentally focused lessons. In each of the three manuscripts that make up this dissertation, the professional experiences of environmental educators were analyzed in light of three CHAT concepts: the contradictions present in activity systems, the self as a leading activity, and the transformative activist stance. The connections between the experiences of the educators in this study and these theoretical concepts demonstrated the effectiveness of CHAT as a coherent guiding framework for the practice and research of EE as a transformative social process, and supported the premise that a CHAT approach can support the growth and development of the field of EE.