Written by: Roumenka Chapkanova Sustainability – a world ethic
What is environment?
The natural environment
The social environment
The personal environment
What is environmental education?
Learning how to care for our environment. It involves understanding concepts ABOUT the environment, developing sensitivities THROUGH the environment for fostering values that commits to acting FOR the environment.
Principles of environmental education
- It’s interdisciplinary
- It’s holistic
- Incorporates concepts that are integral to an understanding and values that accompany such understanding; builds awareness of the interrelatedness of local and global environments
- Encourages problem solving
- Examines issues of local and global significance
- Generates actions
- Uses variety of teaching and learning strategies and resources
- Is student centered
- Has a community orientation
- Is coherent and progressive
- Is exemplary – students and teachers have a special responsibility to model the behavior that they are promoting.
- Is inclusive, providing subject matter, language, learning opportunities and assessment methods that meet the needs of all students;
- Has direct experience at its core.
Teachers can contribute by incorporating the principles underlying EE in their learning and teaching programs and learning and teaching environment.
Students will:
- use all their senses to explore a variety of environments;
- evaluate and reflect on these explorations;
- observe and record information, ideas and feelings about Environment;
- investigate and communicate concern about environmental matters;
- gather, analyze and synthesize information logically;
- present information in oral, written and graphic form;
- view environmental matter from variety of perspectives;
- discuss and debate alternative viewpoints on environmental issues
- identify, clarify and express value judgments that relate to the environment.
- Attitudes
- Knowledge
Experiencing
Frameworks for investigative learning in environmental education
How to teach; What to teach – an active investigative process;
IMPORTANT
- the student’s choice and negotiation
- the incorporation of reflection with learning /and teaching/ process
- an emphasis on critical thinking and active life learning.
Types of teaching/learning approaches
- Action research;
- Social investigation strategy
- English Language Art Model
- Investigating environmental issue
WORTHWHILE ACTIVITIES
- blindfold trust walk
- cartoons in the classroom
- cause and effect wheel
- cooperative squares;
- cooperative faces
- development consequence chart
- diamond ranking
- field work
- flow chart
- futures timeline
- group roles
- road map
- role-playing and drama;
- space time grid
- values scales;
- woolly thinking
Work on lnguage skills development
- Criteria for well -written biography
- Developing and improving interviewing skills
- Achieving a balance between information and values
- Presentation of biography
- Reflecting on the unit of work
- Interviewing
Work on specific science matter /chemistry, biology, physics/
- People and environment
- Gathering and recording of data
- Comprehension analyses and application
- Synthesis, evaluation and decision making
- Reporting
METHODS LEARNER / TEACHER ROLES
| METHOD | LEARNER | TEACHER |
| Situational language training /SLT/ | Imitator Memoriser |
Context setter Error corrector |
| Audio linguism /AL/ | Pattern Practicer Accuracy enthusiast |
Language Modeler/Drill Leader |
| Communicative Language Teaching /CLT/ | Improviser Negotiator |
Need analyst Task designer |
| Total Physical Response /TPR/ | Order Taker Performer |
Commander Action monitor |
| The silent way/SW/ | Inventor Problem solver |
Pantomimist Natural observer |
| Community Language Learning /CLL/ | Collaborator Whole Person |
Counselor Paraphraser |
| The Natural Approach /NA/ | Guesser Immerser |
Actor Props User |
| Suggestopaedia /S/ | Relaxer True believer |
Autohypnotist |
NEW TRENDS IN TEACHING SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY-ENVIRONMENT-SOCIETY
/STES/ and HOCS
A meaningful science and technological teaching is envisioned as interdisciplinary critical thinking – problem solving and decision making, oriented teaching and consequently High Order Cognitive Skills /HOCS/ learning in the science-technology-environment-society /STES/ interface context learning to a capacity to transfer beyond the subject/s/ or discipline/s/ specificity.
A STES oriented HOCS teaching should not only be consonant with the environmentally imperative interdisciplinary HOCS orientation in teaching but it also should foster HOCS learning. It is vital to develop the HOCS of students and not simply to force them learn to apply algorithms and “exercise” sets.
So that the only necessary precondition for the people’s reasonable environmental behavior and action of teachers and students alike as partners in a collaborative interactive reflective science-technology- teaching – learning oriented process.