ASSOCIATION TESTS AND OUTDOOR ECOLOGY EDUCATION

This paper deals with the analysis of written associative responses in the context of a week-long outdoor ecology education at a National Po lk (treatment). Firstly, 12-13 year old pupils were instructed to resp ond freely to two selected key words (''Environment'' and ''Conservati on'') by listing all words that they associate with them. All observed associations were categorized into a preselected cluster of 8 (or 9) domains. Secondly, the same procedure was applied in a follow-up surve y: For both key words, participation in the education programmer influ enced frequencies as well as the choice profiles themselves indicating an increase in positive emotional and conservational associations. Ad vantages and limitations of the method are discussed.