The Influence of Environment-Based Education on Students’ Basic Psychological Needs and Academic Self-Regulation

Abstract

Because of its relationship to perceptions of competence, learning, and achievement, as well as other affective outcomes, sustaining academic self-regulation is key to reversing the concerning trend of declining academic achievement in the United States. According to self-determination theory, satisfaction of three basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) supports students’ internalization and development of self-regulation. The current study uses this lens to investigate the influence of environment-based education on secondary students’ basic psychological needs and academic self-regulation. While literature suggests that environment-based education uses pedagogy that would seem to foster satisfaction of the basic psychological needs (Lieberman, 2013), there is not yet research that examines self-determination theory in the context of environment-based education. Sixty-five students in grades six through twelve from five Midwestern U.S. high schools participated in the study. Data collection occurred during the 2018-2019 school year, with six months of existing environment-based education programs serving as the treatment. Students’ scores on the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-A) and the Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (NSFS) assessed academic self-regulation and basic psychological needs, respectively. Data triangulation occurred through observations and student interviews. When controlling for age, gender, and prior participation, one-way repeated measures analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) indicated no significant difference in preand post- test scores for academic self-regulation, need satisfaction, and need frustration. In light of the typical decline in children’s academic self-regulation and need satisfaction, these results support the use of environment-based education to sustain self-regulation. Potential impacts on research and program implementation are discussed.