Infusing Environmental Education in the School

CurriculumRosanne W. Fortner

Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State UniversityDirector, COSEE Great Lakes

to educate students who are able to experience the richness and excitement of knowing

about and understanding the natural world; use appropriate scientific processes and principles in

making personal decisions; engage intelligently in public discourse and debate

about matters of scientific and technological concern; and

increase their economic productivity through the use of the knowledge, understanding, and skills of the scientifically literate person in their careers.

Goals for School Science(NSES, 1996)

Components of EE

ABOUT

IN

FOR

Two schools of thought: Environment-based education

Uses the environment as subject matter while focusing on academic improvements

Results can be seen in testing programs

Environmental Literacy programs Focus on attitude and behavior outcomes Results harder to measure, longer to achieve

The ideal: Courses for all students, all levels

Reading, writing, mathematics, arts, science, social studies, environment!

Requires philosophical, curricular, and financial commitment

Requires teacher education, preservice and inservice For systems-based subject matter For effective use of outdoor sites/centers For portraying nature’s personal & social relevance

The next best option:

Infusion +

experiences in nature

Rationale :

Tools of the trade for academic subjects

Evidence of effectiveness

Confirmed impacts on science learning through integrated learning in US: KY: EIC* students increased state test scores 10%

IL: Demonstrated higher analytical skills

WA: paired schools -- higher math, reading, writing, science skills with EIC

MN “Zoo School” students: higher ACT scores than peers in state and nation

*EIC= Environment as an Integrating Context

Preventing Nature-Deficit Disorder

Richard Louv, 2005

“staggering divide between children and the outdoors”

Connection to problems:obesityADHDdepression

Why the disorder?

What we can do about itA child said What is in the grass?

fetching it to me with full hands;How could I answer the child? I do not

know what it is any more than he. --Walt Whitman

Learning, or re-learning, to connect with the real world we live in, the Earth…

Integrated subjects + out-of-classroom study = SUCCESS Inquiry based on interactions of Earth

systems -- water, land, air, life

Relationship of environment to people

Relevance through place-based study Not a mainland textbook

Not an outdated environmental issue

Not “their” story but OURS

EE must be delivered in a way that

Achieves adequate depth Forms a long-term basis for

environmental literacy Is compatible with other curriculum

benchmarks Progresses year-to-year

”Scope and sequence”

Research needs Baseline studies Case studies, models Relationship to testing Curriculum infusion points Teacher preparedness, priorities Pilot studies Pre-post assessment

EE in schools: a work in progress