Environmental education

About: Environmental education is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 14551 publications have been published within this topic receiving 211056 citations. The topic is also known as: environmental learning.

Facilitating Youth to Take Sustainability Actions: The Potential of Peer Education.

Abstract: Peer education is an understudied yet valuable strategy for sustainability educators in shifting youth to take action for sustainability. This case study conceptualizes the change process in facilitating youth to take sustainability actions, and explores the benefits, dynamics, and challenges of peer education as a strategy in facilitating change. It assesses the learning of youth leaders of the MindShift program, and the extent to which they took action. Findings reveal multifaceted learning related to various antecedents of sustainability actions. The most influential elements of the peer education approach were peer support, meaningful contribution, teaching/leadership role, and student ownership.

Changing schools: Alternative ways to make a world of difference

Abstract: Changing Schools places educational and social aims at the centre of a discussion of educational change It draws on forteen case studies to explore school change which is oriented towards social justice and democracy In an age of global mobility, economic polarization and unprecedented environmental and cultural challenges, the education of all children and young people to higher levels has become a key issue of international policy Educational reform in such a context requires a serious rethinking and reworking of school and classroom practices Social justice is integral to the challenge of raising standards, since this requires removing the ongoing influence of poverty on school success This thoughtful book presents new thinking and practice for bringing about school change, drawn from diverse contexts around the world It distils and compares the experiences and theories-in-action of engaged teachers, school principals and academics It seeks to challenge the dominance that human capital theories of school improvement currently hold on policy making The authors draw on contemporary innovations in practice and theory and also long-standing traditions of alternative thinking and practice Linking together and articulating other ways of conceiving of and implementing school change, the collection bases its findings on values of equality and global citizenship It shows how schools can work to make different languages, knowledge, narratives, and truths integral to the mainstream curriculum, everyday pedagogy, assessment and general culture of the school Changing Schools is directed at all who are concerned with progressive school change and the promotion of democratic citizenship and social justice It will prove an invaluable source of inspiration for all involved in schools, including teachers, head teachers, policy makers, and those currently studying for school leadership positions

What We Need to Learn to Save the Planet

Abstract: The author argues that education, as we see it today, is more a part of sustainable development's (SD) problem than a part of its solution because it reinforces the principles and values of an unsustainable lifestyle and economy. He argues for an economy that is not centred on free market and profit, and which circulates wealth with a logic of cooperation rather than competition. Solidarity economy has incorporated the principles of inclusion and social emancipation. Sustainability and solidarity are emergent and convergent themes. Gadotti proposes that without social mobilisation against the current economic model, education for sustainable development (ESD) will not reach its goals. In addition, education for a sustainable life—not only for a sustainable development—is required. The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development is an opportunity for formal education to construct a new quality of education, a social-environmental quality, to replace the current education model that has been eroding the...

Environmental Education in Côte d'Ivoire/West Africa: Extra-Curricular Primary School Teaching Shows Positive Impact on Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes

Abstract: This paper surveys the consequences of pupils' participation in the extra-curricular environmental education (EE) programme Club P.A.N. (Peoples, Animals and Nature) by monitoring changes in their respective knowledge as well as in their environmental attitudes. The programme was conducted in Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa with the help of the local teacher's organization Cellule des Projets Environnementaux (CPE). We used multivariate analysis of data collected during two years of the programme (n = 1,244 participants), in nine villages around the Tai National Park, to test if this EE programme could lead to (1) knowledge gain and (2) attitude change, and the influences of (3) grade, sex and prior knowledge. Participation significantly increased environmental knowledge and positively influenced attitudes towards nature. Boys gained more knowledge and changed attitudes more than girls and pupils of the sixth grade profited more from the programme on both measures than the younger pupils of the fifth grade. ...

Elements of Success in Environmental Education Through Practitioner Eyes

Abstract: Using the experiences and perspectives of practicing environmental educators, the author identified the elements that contribute most to effective environmental education. First, interviews were conducted with 18 experienced environmental educators from 11 states. Factors that appeared fundamental to the teachers' successes were assembled into an initial elements-of-success framework, consisting of 42 elements arranged in 3 categories: teaching conditions, teacher competencies, and teaching practices. The framework was then sent in survey form to environmental educators across the country. The survey yielded strong and consistent confirmation that environmental educators across the country believe the framework provides a valid and useful representation of the major elements that contribute to successful environmental education.