Using Motive-Alignment to Enhance Environmental Education for Youth: A Participatory Field Experiment
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| Title: | Using Motive-Alignment to Enhance Environmental Education for Youth: A Participatory Field Experiment |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Jenna Spitzer (ORCID |
| Source: | Developmental Science. 2026 29(3). |
| Availability: | Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 14 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Environmental Education, Learning Activities, Behavior Change, Goal Orientation, Youth, Motivation, Career and Technical Education, Climate, Student Participation, Voting, Sustainability, Intention |
| DOI: | 10.1111/desc.70197 |
| ISSN: | 1363-755X 1467-7687 |
| Abstract: | We conducted a pre-registered longitudinal field experiment to test whether educational activities inspired by sustainability motive-alignment theory can boost the effectiveness of real-world environmental education. Motive-alignment interventions aim to encourage behavior change by linking new behaviors with goals that are salient to a target group (e.g., for youth, experiencing autonomy, gaining peer status, or contributing to society). First, we used participatory methods to develop two motive-alignment inspired (MA-inspired) environmental education activities with youth. We then randomly assigned 31 classes of vocational school students to receive a lesson including the MA-inspired activities or an existing lesson about climate change. Ordinal and linear hierarchical Bayesian regression analyses showed that, as hypothesized, the MA-inspired lesson (vs. the original lesson) increased students' involvement in school eco-teams and pro-environmental voting intentions from pre-lesson to post-lesson and two-week follow-up. Exploratory analyses suggested that youth who received the MA-inspired (vs. original) lesson did not feel more motive-alignment during the lesson. However, they did report a heightened sense of environmental efficacy, indicating that the MA-inspired lesson presented pro-environmental engagement as more relevant to youth's motivation for societal contribution. These findings reveal the potential for motive-alignment inspired educational activities--particularly those that tap into youth's motivation for societal contribution--to enhance real-world environmental education. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Notes: | https://osf.io/jc8e3 |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1504266 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | We conducted a pre-registered longitudinal field experiment to test whether educational activities inspired by sustainability motive-alignment theory can boost the effectiveness of real-world environmental education. Motive-alignment interventions aim to encourage behavior change by linking new behaviors with goals that are salient to a target group (e.g., for youth, experiencing autonomy, gaining peer status, or contributing to society). First, we used participatory methods to develop two motive-alignment inspired (MA-inspired) environmental education activities with youth. We then randomly assigned 31 classes of vocational school students to receive a lesson including the MA-inspired activities or an existing lesson about climate change. Ordinal and linear hierarchical Bayesian regression analyses showed that, as hypothesized, the MA-inspired lesson (vs. the original lesson) increased students' involvement in school eco-teams and pro-environmental voting intentions from pre-lesson to post-lesson and two-week follow-up. Exploratory analyses suggested that youth who received the MA-inspired (vs. original) lesson did not feel more motive-alignment during the lesson. However, they did report a heightened sense of environmental efficacy, indicating that the MA-inspired lesson presented pro-environmental engagement as more relevant to youth's motivation for societal contribution. These findings reveal the potential for motive-alignment inspired educational activities--particularly those that tap into youth's motivation for societal contribution--to enhance real-world environmental education. |
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| ISSN: | 1363-755X 1467-7687 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/desc.70197 |
