Quantifying a relationship between place-based learning and environmental quality

The goal of this study was to investigate the degree to which school-based and nonformal education programs that focus on air quality (AQ) achieved measurable AQ improvements, and whether specific instructional methods were associated with those improvements. We completed a standardized telephone interview with representatives of 54 AQ education programs. Quantitative analysis of these interviews generated three key findings: (1) nearly half (46%) of the programs we studied reported evidence that AQ had actually improved over the course of their projects; (2) most (89%) of the programs we studied took some sort of action to improve AQ; and (3) programs reporting more place-based learning qualities and practices such as service-learning and community partnerships were more likely to report improvements in AQ (r = .40, p < .01).