Robinson, Eva2020-09-212020-09-212019-05https://hdl.handle.net/11299/216277Submitted to the faculty of the University of Minnesota by Eva Robinson in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Environmental Education, May 2019. Adviser: Julie Ernst. This item has been modified from the original to redact the signatures present.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.enUniversity of Minnesota DuluthCollege of Education and Human Service ProfessionsCenter for Environmental EducationMaster of Environmental EducationPlan Bs (project-based master's degrees)Scholarly Text or Essay