Historically… schools were not intended to develop critical thinkers, social inquirers and problem solvers, or active participants in environmental and political (or even educational) decision making... their intended function was not to promote social change or reconstruction. (Stevenson 2007, EER 13, 2) History of Environmental Education

Nature study –Field trips into nature Towards conservation –Political currents stressing importance of preserving and valuing natural resources –Public concern resulted from evidence Influence of the 1960s and 70s –Rachel Carson ’ s Silent Spring –Increase in public awareness

History of Environmental Education First issue of Journal of Environmental Education –gave educational coherence United Nations Declaration on the Human Environment –Stockholm 1972 emerged amidst tangled webs of educational responses to environmental issues basic reform of the way societies looked at socio- environmental problems and engaged in decision making

The Belgrade Charter (workshop in 1975): An international formulated policy statement for the environmental education movement. (Robottom, 1987, p. 88) 1. Environmental education should consider the environment in its totality – natural and man- made, ecological, political, economic, technological, social, legislative, cultural and aesthetic. 2. Environmental education should be a continuous life-long process, both in-school and out- of-school. 3. Environmental education should be interdisciplinary in its approach. 4. Environmental education should emphasize active participation in preventing and solving environmental problems. 5. Environmental education should examine major environmental issues from a world point of view, while paying due regard to regional differences. 6. Environmental education should focus on current and future environmental situations. 7. Environmental education should examine all development and growth from an environmental perspective. 8. Environmental education should promote the value and necessity of local, national and international cooperation in the solution of environmental problems.

The Tbilisi Recommendations: The following set of statements is based upon the Tbilisi Report Recommendation 2. (Palmer, 1998, p. 10 and 11) Environmental Education: 1. is a lifelong process 2. is inter-disciplinary and holistic in nature and application 3. is an approach to education as whole, rather than a subject 4. concerns the inter-relationship and interconnectedness between human and natural systems 5. views the environment in its entirety including social, political, economic, technological, moral, aesthetic and spiritual aspects 6. recognises that energy and material resources both present and limit possibilities 7. encourages participation in the learning experience 8. emphasises active responsibility

The Tbilisi Recommendations: continued (Palmer, 1998, p. 10 and 11) Environmental Education: 9. uses a broad range of teaching and learning techniques, with stress on practical activities and first hand experience 10. is concerned with local to global dimensions, and past/present/future dimensions 11. should be enhanced and supported by the organisation and structure of the learning situation and institution as a whole 12. encourages the development of sensitivity, awareness, understanding, critical thinking and problem solving skills 13. encourages the clarification of values and the development of values sensitive to the environment 14. is concerned with building an environmental ethic

Environmental Education is aimed at producing a citizenry: knowledgeable concerning biophysical and sociocultural environments capable of recognizing values and clarifying concepts concerning those environments committed to developing the skills and attitudes necessary for people to work individually and collectively (politically) towards solutions to environmental problems Trying to Define Environmental Education

Environment and Curriculum international initiatives influencing local planning curriculum and the pedagogy attempted to translate knowledge acquisition into action-oriented processes of change environmental knowledge, attitudes, and skills/behaviours behaviorism and instrumental thinking in education were criticized construction of a global environmental component to personal and social ethics

Environmental Education as representing a spectrum of theoretical positions that range from traditional forms Where does it fit? Tension – new system or fitting in current one Fien ’ s (1993) Conceptualization –Education about the environment –Education through the environment –Education for the environment (what is that supposed to mean)? Environment and Curriculum

- as EE theory evolved through the 1980s and 1990s, fundamental pedagogical differences between EE and science education became more obvious and created tensions/resistances among contending views about students’ active participation in: learning, first-hand experiences in natural and built environments, investigation of issues in community and industrial practices, critical thinking and values clarification skills - during this time many curriculum resources were developed promoting environmental issues investigation, water education for teachers, and animal, plant and ecosystem studies - some of these tended toward more formal environmental studies and others the value of aesthetic experiences in natural environments

- Environmental Education, Education for Sustainable Development and science education have been caught up in a slide away from education’s liberal origins towards a vocational-managerial route - within Environmental Education, Stevenson’s (1987) paper perhaps best illustrates persistent major contradictions in purpose and practice - the socially critical and political action goals associated with the contemporary philosophy of EE vs. traditional practices in schools which emphasized assimilation of factual knowledge as solid foundation for future application

Education About and In/Through the Environment Since human health and prosperity depend on climate stability, the health of natural ecosystems and biological diversity it is impossible to take these things for granted and not address them in education (Orr, 1994) Environment content Learning in the environment Critical environmental educators and researchers are currently active in addressing major challenges of this complex of socio-cultural and socio-scientific ideas within the curriculum and pedagogy of teacher education

-now evident within the science education literature, researchers have become aware of the contested nature of ways of knowing (including the scientific) as part of larger onto-epistemic and methodological framings/positionings -such insight may eventually make it possible for teachers and their students to work with and as inquirers to confront their own notions and ideas about the way the world works and how that implicates reconceptualization of teaching and learning -we might re-imagine fields of science education and EE in terms of their possibilities in creating conditions -counternarrative work needed to challenge taken-for-granted cultural discourses and “official” knowledge. -a postcritical role

-field has attracted a range of scholars and educators who are used to working in uncomfortable spaces -these people accept that they are prone to the kind of critique necessary in pedagogical and theoretical work that crosses traditional boundaries -pushes educators to explore socially critical pedagogies, cultural geographies and new ways of thinking and doing education -the kinds of critical thinking and decision-making skills expected of young people today makes it impossible to ignore socio-scientific and socio-ecological justice issues across disciplines and cultural boundaries