An Innovative Approach to Teaching Environmental Education Through Mind-Mapping and Creating Radio Programming

Abstract

Abstract The primary aims of environmental education and courses at universities are for students to develop an environmental mentality and to be able to apply that mindset to solving real-world issues. In this study, pre-service elementary students participated in active learning environments through creating educational radio program activities by researching scientific information on seven topics: water, air soil, global warming, population, green chemistry and artificial intelligence. Presentations of their radio programs were followed by construction of mind maps to exhibit knowledge of the environmental concepts they had learned. This approach demonstrated useful knowledge for future classroom applications for teaching about environmental issues. Mind maps were used to help university students establish patterns between concepts and thoughts, understand cause-effect relationships, and organize and systematize their complex knowledge about environmental issues. A case study design was implemented. Participants were second-year students enrolled in a public university's Elementary Teaching Program in Izmir, Turkey. Results indicated that the incorporation of educational radio activities with mind maps to consider the most prominent environmental education issues and their alternative solutions raised students' awareness of how lesser-known issues are related to the environment. Students concentrated on a cognitive and affective process; learning to look at multidimensional environmental issues from many viewpoints by adding new concepts to those they previously knew.