Student Wars: The Envirothon Strikes Back - Questions for the 2005 CORE Envirothon and A Reflective Guide to Developing Questions in a Competitive Enviroment

Student Wars: The Envirothon Strikes Back - Questions for the 2005 CORE Envirothon and A Reflective Guide to Developing Questions in a Competitive Enviroment

Shaw, Cameron

Haliburton Highlands Stewardship Council
Host contact: Tuyten, Nicole

Tufts, Steven; Wurtele, Susan
Department: Geography

TP-488

2005

U-Links Office and online

Haliburton County

Environmental education history

Discusses research methods, analysis of the findings, and how these findings can be used in classrooms, work environments, or future Envirothons.

In developing questions for an Envirothon, several important tasks were undertaken to grasp a full understanding of the competition. First, related literatures were found in order to discover what research had been done, and what areas were in need of more insight. Articles on classroom competition, ethics of pressured environments, urban issue domination, as well as thought pattern classification are researched and discussed. This paper also outlines the important methods that were used to collect valuable secondary and archival data such as sample questions, study packages and student curriculum lessons. The analysis procedures such as organization and categorizing questions into different styles and formats (i.e. easy vs. hard, multiple choice, true/false or fill in the blank), as well as colour coding, careful reading, and counting are discussed in detail. Also included is an in-depth presentation of my research findings. This section outlines how question styles tend to be at an advanced level, formats were generally distributed evenly, and how most sets satisfied Bloom’s taxonomical classification system. Also discussed is a comprehensive analysis on how this research project can be applied to the real world, such as in classrooms, occupational environments, or Envirothons yet to come. A brief summary concludes the project with an overview on what areas surrounding the Envirothon require further research. Finally, my composed questions sets, as well as a comprehensive and reflective guide to developing question sets for future or similar competitions is enclosed in the appendices section at the end.

Trent University