The Study on Designing Environmental Education With NGSS and STEAM on Elementary School Senior Grade Students―An Example of “Food and Agriculture Curriculum” Course Design

This study aims to use the six self-developed teaching activities on “Food and Agriculture Curriculum”. The Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were used to design the Environmental Education of Direction Governing for the 12-Year Basic Education Curricula. In order to discuss the effects of these teaching activities on sixth-grade students, this study adopts single group pre-test and post-test design, which are both qualitative and quantitative studies. The subjects are 106 elementary school sixth-graders. Quantitative research tools include “Environmental Education Themes Scale for Elementary School Students”, and qualitative methods include questionnaires, value clarification activities, activity logs, journals, semi-structural interviews, and teachers’ reviews. The results indicated that the former “Environmental Education Themes Scale for Elementary School Students” is higher than the latter scale. Through the instructional activities of the “Food and Agriculture Curriculum”, the overall environmental learning subjects were enhanced of elementary school senior grade students, and promoting environmentally conscious behaviors and their interests in environmental learning.