Teaching Of Environmental Education Research Articles

Ubuntu Philosophy for ecological education and environmental policy formulation

Abstract A world faced with global climate change needs actionable ways to curb its effects. We suggest that Ubuntu philosophy is a way to achieve peaceful coexistence between humans and the ecosystem. From an African perspective, we use Ubuntu philosophy’s concepts to understand how humans can create environmental policies and environmental education pedagogy. We use historical ecology and document review to explore the connections between humans, ecology and Ubuntu philosophy. An understanding of how philosophy and ecology relate is proposed to fill the gap in the cosmological premise between the African person and ecology. The study first sets out a relational model of humans and the ecosystem, then applies the ecology of education to environmental policy formulation. The research demonstrates that humanness with humaneness and collectivism, afro-eco-communitarianism, Ubuntu consensus politics, and Ubuntugogy are concepts underlying how the essence of Ubuntu philosophy can inform an eco-friendly society. The ethno-philo-cological underpinnings help conceptualize these concepts of community. Finally, the study’s conclusion shows how the concepts of Ubuntu philosophy suggest ways to improve environmental education and policy formulation. Climate concerns can be resolved by handing responsibility to the community.

El papel de la sostenibilidad en el bienestar y la calidad de vida de los estudiantes

Abstract It is necessary to promote the teaching of sustainability and environmental education at all educational levels. Therefore, schools should be involved in the protection of the environment, given the damage that has been caused to it today. This opinion article aims to reflect on the importance of sustainability in the well-being and quality of life of students. For this reason, a critical and emancipatory approach was adopted that seeks, through environmental education, the formation of a generation of ecologically conscious learners committed to preserving the planet. It can be concluded that environmental education is fundamental to conserve the environment, in addition to seeking its sustainable development, which should be present in all social scenarios.

How Participation in a Teachers' Eco-Pedagogy Workshop Affects the Promotion of Teachers’ Environmental Education and Organizational Concepts

<p style="text-align: justify;">Eco-pedagogy is a pedagogy utilized in the framework of teaching environmental education in schools. The adoption of various eco-pedagogy programs within schools has proven to be helpful in improving students' environmental attitudes, and it was concluded that schools are the best place for critical learning of environmental concerns. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate how a teachers' eco-pedagogy workshop promotes teachers' educational, environmental, and organizational concepts. An integrated study (quantitative and qualitative) was carried out that included a sample of 44 teachers in elementary schools. The sample was divided into two groups: an experimental group that participated in the workshop, and a control group that did not participate in it. Improvement was found in the environmental education and the organizational concepts of eco-pedagogy for teachers who participated in the program, compared with those who did not. The study's key findings indicated that attending an eco-pedagogy workshop helped teachers perceive the subject more favorably, developed their higher-order thinking skills, and they learned more about it. Another finding was that a workshop is crucial for teachers to advance their professional development.</p>

Desafio das Armadilhas: game as an Environmental Education tool for fauna preservation

This article presents Desafio das Armadilhas, a didactic and cooperative card game to popularize science and raise environmental awareness with a thematic “combat hunting”. Methodologically, this is research of pedagogical intervention. The game was developed in partnership with Instituto Pró-Tápir, and approaches educational information about endangered animals, illegal hunting data, animal trafficking and the damages to biodiversity. We describe how this material was produced, its motivation and context. We made the cards available for download and highlighted the use of cooperative games as useful tools for the teaching-learning process in the teaching of Science and Environmental Education and we emphasize that students felt motivated to learn through the game.  

Electronic media learning technologies and environmental education pedagogy in tertiary institutions in Nigeria

Previous research on applying electronic media learning tools to learning has focused on a diversity of other subjects rather than environmental education. One of the first studies to evaluate the use of electronic media learning tools for environmental education pedagogy in Nigerian tertiary institutions is the one that is currently underway. We anchored the study on constructivist learning theory and e-learning methodology. We adopted the descriptive survey research design. We employed a convenience sampling technique to sample all 35 environmental educators from the University of Calabar and the College of Education in Akamkpa, where they run environmental education programs. We raised three research questions to guide the study. We employed a 31-question survey utilizing a 4-point Likert scale with distinct response options for each section. Through this, we observed a high level of internal consistency, as indicated by a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.88. we conducted thorough statistical assessments to confirm its reliability and validity, including face and content validity evaluations. Therefore, we can confidently assert that this questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool for our research investigation. Frequency counts and straightforward percentages were used to examine the data, which was then displayed in bar charts. The significant findings from the study include the following: only some electronic media learning facilities were available to lecturers and owned mainly by them. Considerable utilization is made of available electronic media learning technologies. Several constraints bedevil the availability and utilization status of electronic media learning technologies. Based on the study's findings, we recommended that the federal, state governments and tertiary institution proprietors make adequate budgetary allocations to provide robust electronic media learning technologies in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Compensate lecturers who own and utilize these technologies for classes. In contrast, environmental education lecturers should, as a matter of necessity, update their knowledge of electronic media learning technologies and apply them in their classes for curriculum effectiveness.

Development of Environmental Education Teaching Materials Based on Class VII Middle School Entrepreneurship

This research aims to develop entrepreneurship-based teaching materials in environmental education for class VII junior high school students. The development approach follows the ASSURE model, which includes potential and competency analysis, setting learning objectives, selecting methods, media and materials, student participation, as well as evaluation and improvement. After development, the teaching materials were tested on class VII junior high school students in Jambi City. Validation results by design and materials experts show product conformity with the writing procedures and curriculum used. Student responses to teaching materials show enthusiasm and improvement in environmental learning. Formative and summative evaluations are also carried out to measure the effectiveness and attractiveness of teaching materials. Comments and suggestions from experts and peers are used to make revisions to the product. The novelty of this research lies in the development of entrepreneurship-based teaching materials in environmental education for junior high school students, which can increase interest and effectiveness of learning. The implication is that the adoption of this teaching material can improve the quality of environmental learning in schools.

Errors and inaccuracies about celestial bodies in the Greek texts of children’s fiction books about atmospheric pollution

This paper examines children’s fiction books on air pollution in terms of the accuracy of their content in the representation of celestial bodies. The qualitative content analysis identifies and records in the text of 18 books passages containing errors and inaccuracies about celestial bodies. The passages are organized and presented in a category system while also being linked to the possible alternative ideas they may generate in children. The results show that the Earth, the planets, the Sun, and the stars are only sometimes represented based on scientific standards. Finally, the common errors and inaccuracies are presented. At the same time, suggestions are made for using these books in teaching and learning in science and environmental education in order to avoid misconceptions from their students.

Retracted: Construction of Evaluation Index System of Physical Education Teaching Environment in Colleges and Universities Based on 5G Technology

Retracted: Construction of Evaluation Index System of Physical Education Teaching Environment in Colleges and Universities Based on 5G Technology

Environmental Education and Literary Reading: A strategic pedagogical approach to the teaching-learning process

Right to be observed in the educational process and especially in basic education, Environmental Education is a transversal theme to the school curriculum that requires specific teaching methodologies. Based on this assumption, the present study aimed to investigate the use of literary reading mediation in the pedagogical making to the teaching of Environmental Education in the classroom, even because literature is also a basic right and a formative and informative tool. This is a bibliographic research of qualitative approach and exploratory purpose, which made use of narrative review through the technique of Thematic Analysis of Braun and Clarke (2006). As a result, it was verified that, besides constituting recognized basic rights, Environmental Education and Literature can intersect for the instrumentalization of a cohesive teaching-learning process aimed at human, social, political and emancipatory formation, which meets the principles and objectives legally provided for such a transversal field of education.  

The Effect of Environmental Education Open Inquiry Learning Kits on the Environmental Literacy of Pre-service Biology Teachers

Abstract Pre-service biology teachers’ environmental literacy is still generally low. It is necessary to improve their environmental literacy through the innovation of open inquiry learning kits. There are two primary aims of this study: (1) to develop appropriate open inquiry learning kits that can foster pre-service biology teachers’ environmental literacy in environmental education courses, (2) to examine the effectiveness of open inquiry learning kits in improving environmental literacy. This study used the procedure of the 4-D Thiagarajan model, i.e., four stages: (1) define, (2) design, (3) develop, and (4) disseminate. The products produced are open inquiry lesson plans, student worksheets, and environmental literacy test instruments. The product validation was carried out by experts in the field of environmental education and biology teaching and learning. The preliminary field testing and the main field testing were carried out in environmental education courses. The data were collected through observation, questionnaires, and written tests. The data were analyzed in a quantitative descriptive way through the calculation of the gain score. The results obtained from the research and development are open inquiry learning kits to improve the environmental literacy of students, which as a whole are suitable to use in environmental education lectures based on expert judgment. These open inquiry learning kits are not very effective in improving students’ environmental literacy based on the calculations of the gain score due to various shortcomings.

Educators’ Perceptions and Approaches to Environmental Education and Pro-Environmental Behaviour in South African Secondary Schools

Environmental education is taught within the geography curriculum in the basic education system of South Africa. However, owing to various contextual challenges faced in 21st century South African schools, the teaching of environmental education has remained largely paper based. This poses a challenge to educators who are assigned the responsibility to teach environmental education and foster pro-environmental behaviour in learners. The objective of this study was to investigate how geography educators understand environmental education, as well as determining the possible reasons for the gap between content knowledge of environmental education principles and learners’ pro-environmental behaviour. This study was conceptualised and articulated using the Tbilisi Principles of Environmental Education (TPEE) of 1978. An interpretivist paradigm was utilised for this study as it supports the qualitative approach of the study. This study was guided by phenomenology. Five geography educators from five non-fee-paying schools were sampled from a population of educators in the Kwa-Mashu Circuit of the Durban Pinetown educational district of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data was acquired through voice recordings of five semi-structured interviews, which were consequently transcribed non verbatim to eliminate redundancies in the data. The data was analysed thematically according to the Tbilisi Principles, and discussed according to the research questions they satisfy. The findings indicate that educators are failed by a lack of resources to teach environmental education, as well as a curriculum which does not accommodate the teaching of environmental education constructively. The results of this study further revealed obstacles such as a lack of interest from geography learners, which then increases educators’ challenges when teaching environmental education. It is recommended that the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) document be revised to include environmental education constructively within grade 11 geography. This can be done by allocating teaching time specifically for environmental education, as well as ensuring that assessment methods are specific and allocated with resources.

Haecceity Altercation: Thisness as Pedagogy

I write into the haecceity of recent events in and around my teaching in environmental education to explore the concept of thisness as pedagogy.

Expert Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Students’ Environmental Literacy and the Practice of Environmental Education

Abstract Effective environmental education (EE) is urgent as climate change and environmental degradation are proceeding. More theoretical models to enhance the effectiveness of environmental education are constantly presented, but a comprehensive view from teachers’ perspectives is absent. This paper presents unique results from expert ENO Schoolnet Association’s (ENO) expert EE teacher group interviews from the World Summit of Students for Climate Event (WSSC). These educators represent over 40 nations. The group interviews explore the teachers’ perceptions of their students’ environmental literacy and teaching of EE. The data were analyzed with content analysis. The results point out that these expert EE teachers feel that most students fail to achieve operational environmental literacy. This paper examines the potential school-related and student-related barriers preventing this operational literacy. Furthermore, the EE provided by the teachers usually lacks behavioral literacy methods. At the same time, the teachers feel that these methods should be emphasized to ensure the effectiveness of EE. In the future, it would be useful to study environmental clubs’ potential to overcome some of the barriers and promote pro-environmental actions.

Factors influencing science and environmental education learning of blind students: A case of primary school for the blind in Thailand

The main objective of this research was to study the factors influencing the science and environment of education program for blind students at the elementary level. This research used mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative approaches), specifically a questionnaire survey was conducted to better understand the current situation on Science and Environmental Education Learning among 192 blind students in 14 primary schools for the blind in Thailand and in-depth interviews with the directors, science and Environmental teachers, and students’ parents, 30 interviewees in total. The data were collected and analyzed into frequency and percentage (and K-means clustering) using SPSS software. The research findings from data collection from 192 blind students illustrated that the importance of facilitator that involve teaching materials (43%) was support appropriate to Science and Environmental Education teaching materials for blind students, 34% students had a good relationship with their classmates and teachers. A total of (32%) were provided more Braille textbooks for Science and Environmental Education teaching. K-means cluster analysis showed four clusters of science and environmental education learning blind students. The study concluded that the factors influencing effectiveness of science and environmental education learning of blind students consisted of facilitators, the creation of scientific learning processes, media and technology as the medium for communicating scientific knowledge, appropriate curriculum for blind students, and cognitive abilities of blind students in physical, mental, intelligence, and emotion terms.

Knowledge and awareness on the fishery resources of elementary and high school students

Knowledge and awareness on the natural resources among elementary and high school students are important attributes for future resource conservation and management. However, the enslaving features of gadgets and technologies has shifted the focus of the students away from nature-based knowledge and has motivated the government to integrate environmental education (EE) to the basic education programs. However, its implementation has not been successful due to lack of teaching materials and limits on teachers’ capabilities. As such, it was found out that knowledge of elementary, junior high school (JHS) and senior high school (SHS) students on the native and unique natural resources of Bicol Region are almost the same, with an average score of 40%. But intervention through the use of EE teaching materials developed from the research publications and reports of Bicol University Tabaco Campus faculty-researchers showed that an increase of 31%, 21%, and 28% have been observed for elementary, JHS, and SHS students, respectively. However, a significant difference (p<0.05) was observed between high schoolers from urban setting as compared to the upland and island students with regards to the prior knowledge on natural resources, on the other hand, significant change was also observed in the increase of knowledge in upland (30% increase for JHS, and 42% for SHS) and island students (22% and 27% for JHS and SHS, respectively) as compared to the urban students (12% and 17% for JHS and SHS, respectively). No differences were observed for the elementary students across sites. Several factors were identified to influence knowledge and awareness of students such as, access to internet and mass media, exposure to local situations and prior knowledge, and influence of family and community.<br /> Overall, knowledge and awareness of elementary and high school students on the local natural resources are relatively low but existence of local and relevant EE learning materials can help increase them. It is therefore, recommended that EE through the KADUNUNG program should be institutionalized to improve knowledge and awareness of students in Tabaco City.

Infiltration Approach of Green Environmental Protection Education in the View of Sustainable Development

In today’s world, global ecological environment problems are increasingly serious, and human beings have gradually realized the importance of protecting the ecological environment. With the continuous deepening of the concept of sustainable development, the concept of green education has also aroused great attention in the education sector; moreover, its concept has gradually been applied to education and teaching. However, there are many problems in the application of green education. For example, the current green education system is not sound, the importance of green education in schools is not obvious, and there is no effective green teacher training program. In order to improve the current application of green education, this paper proposes to integrate the concept of sustainable development into the teaching of green environmental protection education. Through the construction of a sound green education system and green education classrooms, green ecological ideas would thus be infiltrated into many aspects of education and teaching. Due to the uneven distribution of educational resources in many regions, the quality of education in these regions is also uneven. In order to improve this situation, this paper also constructs an educational resource distribution model. Furthermore, this paper also analyzes the educational resource allocation model by using a differential evolution algorithm. From the experimental results, under the algorithm in this paper, the average student–teacher ratio of each county was 4.93, and the average number of books per student was 38.92. The average running time of teacher resources and book resources allocated by the model was found to be 1.47 s and 1.39 s, respectively. Under the traditional algorithm, the average student–teacher ratio in each county was 5.93, and the average number of books per student in each county was 31.8. The average running time of teacher resources and book resources allocated by the model was 2.36 s and 2.58 s, respectively. It can be seen from the above data that the algorithm in this paper can effectively optimize the allocation rationality of the educational resource allocation model and shorten the running time of resource allocation.

Environmental literacy, sustainable education and posthumanist pedagogy: teaching the climate crisis in a global, transatlantic online setting

In this article, we aim to contribute to the theoretical conceptualisation and praxis of development education and global learning by engaging with recent discussions in the areas of ecocriticism, ecological literacy and posthumanism. Employing a pedagogical approach that is learner-centred and participatory, and that prepares learners to question dominant, globally relevant social norms, development education and global learning empower learners to be active global citizens. In congruence with this approach, we discuss the transformative pedagogical strategies employed in an innovative transdisciplinary course on the climate crisis jointly offered online by two institutions of higher learning in the US and Germany. We explore the philosophical and pedagogical stakes of this process-oriented, inquiry-based and immersive teaching intervention, and its logistical and organisational parameters, educational goals, course content and methodology, as well as some course specifics and impact. Adopting a critical pedagogical approach to climate change as a central global issue, our conceptualisation blends a focus on critical media skills (ecocriticism) with a posthumanist critique of dominant anthropocentric views of the more-than-human world. Centrally linking ontological, cultural and linguistic diversity in both curriculum design and pedagogy, this approach encourages learners to develop the transcultural skills needed to effect positive change on a local and global scale.

Environmental Education Based on Local Values: Its Integration in the Indonesian Elementary School Curriculum

Environmental Awareness is a necessity for all age groups, including elementary school students. Proper understanding of ecological issues requires earlier initiation and introduction of students to local-based content. This paper aims to describe the need to integrate the environmental problems based on local wisdom within the elementary school curriculum. The authors seek to guide education planners in Indonesia on how to incorporate environmental issues based on local values or local content in specific subject content for proper awareness creation among the elementary school students. The target is to address gaps in the teaching of environmental education in primary schools across the archipelago. Elementary school students are the future citizens, whose understanding of how the environment works from a localized perspective will help bring about better future environmental management. The study used a survey method, applying two clusters of random sampling techniques. It was conducted in selected elementary schools around Bandung, the capital city of the West Java Province, Indonesia. To collect data, structured questionnaires were used to examine. Later, data was analyzed using simple statistical methods, drawing inferences and descriptive analytics. Conclusively, this study established that specific environmental education themes based on local values and local content need to be included in the elementary school curriculum for more clarity and understanding of topics. The suggested thematic topics should comprise of issues related to overcoming environmental pollution; preventing global warming; wise use of the environment flora and fauna, and appropriate values needed for ecological conservation and sustainability.

Environmental education to engage urban youth: anecdotes from Southwest China

ABSTRACT Environmental education (EE) is a concern in modern society. Plant blindness and nature-deficit disorder highlight how important nature contact and plant consciousness is for urban populations. Considering rapid urbanisation, these phenomena are of increasing concern in China. Integrating EE curricula in Chinese cities is necessary to help younger generations appreciate the environment and understand how to address environmental challenges. Based on our EE teaching experiences in Southwest China’s largest urban conglomeration, Chengdu, we discuss anecdotes and propose strategies to improve Southwest China’s EE, with guidance for future research. Although children are more drawn to animals, EE education should focus on ecosystem-wide approaches rather than entirely zoocentric or anthropocentric perspectives, since these could reinforce the problematic view that plants are merely ‘backdrops’. Urban greenspaces should be utilised in active education schemes, with teachers trained via professional EE modules rooted in local environmental concerns and complementing national/regional priorities. EE programmes should actively engage parents, encouraging their interaction with schools during EE activity preparation and venue selection, as their participation can help overcome obsessive safety and liability concerns. Older generations should be encouraged to transmit their own environmental and ecological knowledge, with implications for both cultural resilience and biocultural diversity conservation efforts.

Low Carbon Education: How is Its Existence in Schools?

This research aims to investigate how is the teacher’s understanding of Low Carbon Education (LCE) concept explicate and implicit, the implementation of environmental education that has already implemented, implementation of the adiwiyata program. This research used a survey method of the 58 teachers of elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school) in Kota Bogor. The instrument that is used is 76 questions included in the questionnaire about Low Carbon Education (LCE) comprehension, implementation in classes, and implementation of environmental education and green school program. Data are also taken by interviewing the teachers who have already done the environmental education teaching and learning in the classes and also the teachers who had already done the green school program (Adiwiyata). low carbon education terms have not been familiar explicitly in teachers at schools and also there is not a specific subject or topic in Indonesian curricula, while the low carbon education topics have already been integrated into Environmental learning which has been implemented in Indonesian curricula. The implementation of environmental learning at schools has in the good category, either pertaining with low carbon education concept or general. Research results is the implementation of environmental teaching materials also has already in good category. Besides that, the environmental practice pertaining low carbon education has been organized by the government for instance green school concept that led to Adiwiyata program for schools. Teacher understanding about that program has in great value which relate to teachers’ attitude toward environment during and after that program.