EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

TO INCREASE PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR

Final Paper

Presented as

a Partial Fulfillment for the Study Completion

in Program of Studying English Intensively

Hanif Akhtar

13.09.17.447

Program for Studying English Intensively

Islamic University of Indonesia

2014

ii

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

TO INCREASE PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR

By:

Hanif Akhtar

13.09.17.447

Approved by

Ferry Desnita, S.IP., M.Hum. Yogyakarta, 14 May 2014

Advisor

iii

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

TO INCREASE PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR

Presented by

Hanif Akhtar

13.09.17.447

was defended in front of the Board of Examiners

and declared acceptable

Board of Examiners

Ahmad Tarmizi, S.S

Lulu Sylvianie, S.IP. M.Hum.

Yogyakarta, 14 May 2014

Program for Studying English Intensively

CILACS Islamic University of Indonesia

Pinus Jumaryatno S. Si., M. Phil., Ph. D. Apt

iv

PAGE OF DEDICATION

I dedicate this paper for all of people who have supported me to finish this

paper. First, I would like to dedicate this paper for my lovely parents who have

given me strength and pray to finish this work. I also dedicate this paper for my

entire teachers in Cilacs UII, especially Ms. Ita, who has helped me to finish this

paper. At last, I would like dedicate this paper for all of my friends in Cilacs UII.

Hopefully we can achieve our ambitions.

v

STATEMENT OF WORK ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that all ideas, phrases, and sentences, unless otherwise stated, are

the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the writer of this final paper. I understand the

full consequences including certification cancellation if I took somebody else’s

ideas, phrases, or sentences without a proper reference.

Yogyakarta, 14 May 2014

Hanif Akhtar

vi

AKNOWLEDGEMENT

First, I would like to thank God because of His bless and mercy, finally

this paper entitled “Experiential Learning to Increase Pro-environmental

Behaviour” can be finished on time.

This paper is to fulfill the final assignment of English at Progressive

Program Cilacs UII. I realize that without any help, it seems impossible that this

monumental work will be resolved on time. Therefore, in this chance, I would like

to express my gratitude to::

1. Pinus Jumaryatno S. Si., M. Phil., Ph. D. Apt as a director of Cilacs UII

2. Ms. Ferry Desnita as my supervisor of final paper for her support and help

3. All of my teachers in Cilacs UII for their guidance

4. My parents for their support

5. All of my friends in Cilacs UII for their advice, support, and help

Eventually I realize that this paper is not perfect. There are many mistakes

in the execution of this paper. Hopefully this work can be useful for the writer and

the reader.

Yogyakarta, May 2014

Hanif Akhtar

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

PAGE OF TITLE ……………………………………………………………….. i

PAGES OF APPROVAL ………………………………………………………. ii

PAGE OF DEDICATION .…………………………………………………….. iv

PAGE OF STATEMENT OF WORK ORIGINALITY ………………………. v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ……………………………………………………... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………… vii

I. Introduction …..…………………………………………….……………… 1

II. Pro-environmental behaviour …….……………………………………….. 2

III. Increasing pro-environmental behaviour…….………………………... …... 3

A. Behavioural Change Theory………………………………………......... 3

B. Experiential Learning…………………………………………………… 5

IV. Discussion …………………………………………………………………. 7

V. Cconclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 12

A. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… 13

B. Recommendation ……………………………………………………….. 13

VI. Rreferences ………………………………………………………………… 13

1

Experiential Learning

to Increase Pro-Environmental Behaviour

I. Introduction

Environmental issue is currently being debated in many places. Many of

these problems root in human behaviour and become the concern of the

researchers and practitioners. The first modern environmental movement was

shown when Rachel Carson released Silent Spring in 1962 (Soemarwoto, 2009).

After that moment, other movements focused on increasing the quality of

environment have emerged. The purpose of this movement is to increase the

people‟s pro-environmental behaviour.

Pro-environmental behaviour refers to the behaviour that harms the

environment as little as possible or even benefits the environment (Kollumuss &

Agyeman, 2002). Changes in human behaviour are needed to increase the quality

of the environment. Education is one of the most important variables in

behavioural change. Researchers suggest that individuals that have higher

education seem to have a higher level of environmental knowledge which is

translated into pro-environmental behaviour (Lozano, 2006).

The recent studies have shown that increased knowledge alone does not

help to change behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). The finding of the Indonesian Ministry of

Environment (2013) shows that Pro-environmental Behaviour Index of Indonesia

is 0.57 which means that almost half of Indonesian people still do not concern on

the environment. This behaviour contradicts the knowledge they have because

more than 60% of Indonesian people have high level of environmental knowledge

2

(Indonesian Ministry of Environment, 2013). This empirical finding shows that

high level of environmental knowledge is not always followed by high level of

pro-environmental behaviour.

Attitude toward behaviour plays a significant role in behavioural change

(Ajzen, 1991). Azwar (2011) states that personal experience and feeling can shape

one‟s attitude. Thus, we can infer that our experience and feeling also play a

significant role in behaviour changing. One kind of learning methods involving

experience and feeling is experiential learning. This paper will explain how

experiential learning can increase pro-environmental behaviour.

II. Pro-environmental behaviour

Kollumuss and Agyeman (2002) define pro-environmental behaviour as

the activities that consciously try to minimize the negative impacts of one‟s

actions on the environment. Besides, Stern (2000) observes pro-environmental

behaviour from an individual‟s intention. Pro-environmental behaviour is

described as one‟s act to change the environment back to normal. Thus, it can be

concluded that there are two approaches of pro-environmental behaviour, namely

impact-oriented approach and intent-oriented approach.

Kaiser, Doka, Hofststter, and Ranney (2003) mention that pro-

environmental behaviour involve behaviour, such as energy conservation,

mobility and transportation, waste avoidance, consumerism, recycling, and more

vicarious and social behaviours toward conservation.

Barr (2007) state that there are two factors that affect recycling behaviour:

psychological factor and situational factor. Psychological factor is related to

3

personal characteristics of the individuals and the perceptions of those individuals

toward the actions that they are undertaking. The situational factor is related to the

behavioural context (for example, service provision), individual characteristics

(such as sociodemographics) and individual knowledge, and experience of the

behaviour in question.

III. Increasing Pro-environmental behaviour

One way to increase Pro-environmental Behaviour is by using education.

Experiential learning is one of the learning methods that is used to increase Pro-

environmental Behaviour. The recent studies have shown that increased

knowledge alone does not help to change behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Other factor

that is predicted to be determinants of Pro-environmental behaviour is still in

quest. Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) is one of the famous theories

that explain how people act. Other studies also found the determinants of pro-

environmental behaviour.

A. Behavioural change theory

Most of the current investigations on Pro-environmental Behaviour come

from social-psychological theories of human behaviour, such as Theory of

Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). Ajzen‟s model of planned behaviour indicates

that the individual‟s intention to act has a direct effect on his/her behaviour. He

also mentions that intention is influenced by three factors: attitude toward

behaviour, subjective norm, and perceived control behaviour.

4

Figure III.1. Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991: 182)

The Theory of Planned Behaviour postulates three independent variables

that influence the intention. The first variable is the attitude toward the behaviour

that refers to the degree of a person‟s favourable or unfavourable evaluation or

appraisal of the behaviour. The second variable is subjective norm that refers to

the perceived social pressure to perform or not perform the behaviour. The third

one is the degree of perceived behavioural control that refers to the perceived ease

or difficulty of the behaviour performed.

The models focused on the environmental behaviour development

specifically emphasize on the knowledge and awareness as the precursor of the

positive environmental attitudes which are prerequisite for the development of

moral norms that influence pro-environmental behaviour (Bamberg & Moser,

2007). According to Kaiser and Fuhrer (2003), knowledge represents a necessary

5

condition for ecological behaviour as the appropriate behaviour will not occur

without any appropriate knowledge.

In another study, Chawla (2006) interviews several environmental activists

to understand what factor influencing their career interest and shaping their

attitudes and environmental awareness. In fact, there was a combination of

factors. The most frequently mentioned answers were to spend a lot of time in

nature as a child and having a family member role model that directs their

attention to nature. Other important factors include having other significant role

model, participating in pro-environmental organization, witnessing environmental

destruction, and studying about environment.

Learning is also influenced by individual‟s emotion. Fredrickson (2004)

states that the positive emotions, such as joy, interest, excitement, and love to

create urge to play, explore, and taking in new experience and information. Under

the positive emotional state, an individual may be more likely to relate what

he/she learns to other aspects of his/her life. In contrast, the negative emotion such

as fear, anger, sadness, and anxiety can make people unable to see the way to

solve their problem. Sense of community also plays a significant role in the

learning process. Research shown that the sense of community can increase

engagement and participation, and give the chance for learner to learn from one

another (Bryant, 1999).

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B. Experiential Learning

Jarvis et al. (cited in Sharlanova, 2004) defines experiential learning as the

process of creating and transforming experience into knowledge, skills, attitudes,

values, emotions, belief, and senses. It can be inferred then that the focus of

learning is experience. People must experience something to get insight to be

transformed into knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, emotions, belief, and senses.

The most widely cited experiential learning model is the Kolb Learning

Cycle (Kolb in Sharlanova, 2004), which is divided into four continuous stages.

Figure III.2 below shows the process of experiential learning.

Figure III.2. Process of Experiential Learning (Sharlanova, 2004: 37)

In the first stage of the process of experiential learning the learner

experiences a concrete occurrence in which he/she just does the task and does not

need to reflect it. In the second stage, the learner makes an observation and

reflection based on the previous experience. Next, in the third stage, the

observation and reflection are assimilated into a new conceptual understanding

and interpretation of the meaning of the experience. Furthermore, in the last stage,

7

the learner has to apply the knowledge he obtain from his/her conceptual

understanding into new experience.

IV. Discussion

Experiential learning is a part of active learning which involves giving

learners the chance to be the active participants in the learning process. The

learners need to contrast their own understanding of new ideas and knowledge by

exploring, examining, and evaluating their previous experience. The focus of the

learning process is on the learner, not on the teacher. Many studies have found

that the participation in experiential learning produces the short-term positive

results across a range of cognitive and affective outcomes (Jordan, Hungerford, &

Tomera, 1986). In this section, I will discuss the process of experiential learning

and its relation with the behavioural change. The example of recycling activity is

given to describe the relation between experiential learning and pro-environmental

behaviour. The real case about the use of experiential learning in the educational

institution also given.

The process of experiential learning is started with the condition where a

learner experiences a concrete occurrence in which he/she just does the task and

does not need to reflect it. The learner does something he/she likes to start with

positive feeling to do something, so it creates urge to play, explore, and take in

new experience and information. Under the positive emotional state, the learner

may apply his/her information he/she get into many aspects of his/her life.

During the process of experience, the learner also makes an interaction

with his/her friends which will increase his/her sense of community. Learner

knows each other and can learn from them or the other way around. Bryant (1999)

8

says that sense of community can increase engagement and participation. The

learner becomes more active in the learning process. He/she shares the knowledge

he/she has and it increases his/her involvement in the learning process.

The next process of experiential learning is reflection. Reflection consists

of the processes in which a learner is engaged to recapture, notice and re-evaluate

his/her experience, to turn it into learning. In the first stage, the learner just does

the task, but in the second stage the learner must review what she/he has done and

tried. A learner join the other learners to form a group, so the facilitator is needed

and he/she plays a significant role in this process. There are three questions that

he or she might ask to the group of learners: What happened? How did he/she feel

about the experience? What does it mean to you? Learners take a rest for a while,

and give the time for learner to express himself/herself internally. After the learner

is ready, he/she discusses her response in a group and share his/her experience

with others.

The communication skills, such as listening, paying attention, empathy,

and declaring the idea are needed. It is important to neutralize the power structure

within the group so that everyone will feel free to contribute his/her ideas. Even

though reflection can be a group process, the learners are still the individuals and

only they can know their feelings and reflect on those feelings.

The third stage of the process is conceptualization. The conceptualization

includes interpretation of the results and understanding the connections between

them. Theory can be useful as a base of shaping and explaining the results.

During this stage, a learner attempts to answer the question “What actually

happened?” This is the group dynamics phase of the cycle, in which the learner

9

essentially reconstructs the patterns from his/her reports. This is important

because it helps the learner generalize the abstract concepts to other problems or

situations.

The last stage of the learning process is application. This session gives an

opportunity to master the new understanding and its carrying to predict what

is likely to happen later, or what other actions must be taken to improve the way

that he/she uses to treat the task. This conceptual understanding is translated

into „actionable knowledge‟ that is applied and then used to guide new

experiences.

Related to the pro-environmental behaviours, the example of recycling

behaviour is given. In the beginning, a learner just experiences to recycle

something. It starts by separating the waste that can still be recycled. After that,

he/she learns how to recycle something. The instructor gives the example, and the

learner tries to do the same. Thus in the beginning, the learner just imitates the

instructor in doing recycling. After that, the learner is given an opportunity to

explore his/her creativity.

In this activity, the learner‟s creativity will increase because he/she does

something that he/she has not done. He/she uses his/her prior knowledge and

relates it with the contextual situation. This activity also gives a chance for the

learner to interact with others. He/she can work with others to do something, and

it will increase his/her sense of community. The sense of community is something

important to increase the engagement and participation of the learner in the

learning process.

10

The next session is reflection in which a learner joins the other learners to

form a group. In this session, a facilitator is appointed to facilitate the learners‟

experience sharing. This session is also used to train the communication skill of

learners. These skills include listening skill, paying attention, empathy, and

declaring the idea. The problem during the recycling activity is discussed.

Providing learners with opportunities to solve simple problems in the beginning

will help them refine the skills they need to solve more complex problems in the

future.

The next process is making a conclusion from the discussion and relating

the knowledge they get into broader area of life. The facilitator should give a

direction where the discussion will end. He/she should correct if there is a

misconception from the learners. Because the evaluation and reflection are a

crucial component of experiential learning, the facilitator must ensure that the

feedback and debriefing occur. The benefits of the activity they have done are

discussed to motivate learners.

When the learners have studied about recycling, they related this activity

into broader aspect of behaviour related with recycling that is pro-environmental

behaviours. Recycling is a part of pro-environmental behaviour that has many

benefits. Recycling makes the environment healthier. Other pro-environmental

behaviours, such as energy conservation and waste avoidance can also create a

healthy environment. The facilitator must ensure that the learners know the

concept of pro-environmental behaviour, how to do it, and what they will get from

their action. In the end, the facilitator has to ensure that the learners get not only

the knowledge about their action, but also the positive attitude toward action they

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take. Eventually, they will apply the information they get into the broader aspect

of their life.

Experiential learning is such a learning method that can be applied in

formal and informal educational institution. This method can be used in the

classroom in the school. This method also can be used to make an intervention to

the social community. There are many communities that use this kind of method

to make their member become more pro-environmental.

One school that has been applied this kind of method is SDIT Alam Nurul

Islam. The curriculum used in this school is based on three aspects. The first

aspect is standard curriculum from the ministry of education that is used in every

single school in Indonesia. The second aspect is integrated Islamic curriculum.

The third aspect is environmental curriculum that focuses on the active learning.

In this school, learning process is occurred not only in the classroom but

also outdoor. It is done by the reason that student will know the environment and

care with their environment better. Once a week, the students walk around their

school and learn many things directly from the environment. Outbound and

outdoor activities such as gardening, recycling, and cleaning the village also

performed. The purpose of these activities is to ensure that the students get the

experience of learning directly and become more aware to their environment.

The study of the application of experiential learning in SDIT Alam Nurul

Islam has been done by Syoraya (2008). The result of this study indicates that

experiential learning method can increase student‟s level of curiosity. This

curiosity is important to maintain student‟s motivation in the learning process and

make conducive learning process. Learning process is no longer seen as a burden,

12

but a necessity. Experiential learning not only activates left-side of brain, but also

right-side of brain. Right-side of brain is related to individual‟s creativity and

feeling. Thus, experiential learning is important to develop cognitive aspect and

affective aspect.

The big idea of the experiential learning is on the way to start the learning

process. The learners start to do something they like and it will shape their

positive attitude toward the behaviour. Attitude is something similar to feeling.

The positive feeling for something will broaden learners‟ mindset, attention, and

cognition. It also motivates them to do something more. The interaction between

learners is also an important part of the learning process. It will shape the sense of

community that will increase their engagement and participation in the learning

process.

The experiential learning may help influence pro-environmental behaviour

when the activity is able to foster some of the experiences described by Chawla as

positive feelings and attitudes described in Theory of Planned Behaviour

(TPB). How learners feel about what they are learning is just as important as their

cognitive engagement. They must accept their feelings and believe that those

emotions will frame their actions. It is impossible to have cognitive experience

without an accompanying affective component.

V. Conclusion

From the discussion above, a conclusion about the way experiential

learning can increase pro-environmental behaviour is made. Besides, some

suggestions are recommended related with the discussion in the paper.

13

A. Conclusion

Experiential learning is effective to increase pro-environmental behaviour,

because it does not only consider the cognitive aspect but also the affective aspect.

Both of them are important to change the behaviour. Besides, experiential

learning increases the sense of community that can increase the engagement and

participation in learning process.

B. Recommendation

Based on the conclusion above, it is suggested that the government should

improve the environmental education. The curriculum should not be limited to

knowledge-based education, but it should include the activities that create the

positive environmental attitude. Teacher can apply the experiential learning

method in the classroom to encourage the students‟ pro-environmental behaviour.

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