Environmental Education
Characteristics of Environmental Education
Environmental Education
l Is a continuous process
l Is for all age groups
l Caters to all socio-professional groups in the population
l Is a newly created field
l Orients to an environmental issue or problem
l Involves concern for situations that have real consequences for a society
Environmental Education
l Is interdisciplinary
l Includes action in relation to the problem
l Aims to clarify values, and in some instances to change them in relation to environment
l Is concerned with the base for choice between alternatives
l Seeks to develop skills for solving environmental problems
l Seeks alternative solution for environmental situations
Goals of Environmental Education
Goals
l To foster a clear awareness of and concern about economic, social, political and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas.
l To provide every person opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitments and skills needed to protect and improve the environment.
l To create new patterns of behavior of individuals groups and society as a whole towards the environment.
Aims of Environmental Education
Aims
l To Develop constructive attitude towards the environment, in both the philosophical and programmatical senses, which have not yet become an ingredient in everybody’s thinking and acting.
l To develop awareness of and concern about the environment and its associated problems, and to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations and commitments to work individually and collectively towards solutions of current problems and prevention of new ones.
Aims
l To succeed in making individuals and communities understand the complex nature of the natural and the built environments resulting from the interaction of their, biological physical, social, economic, and cultural aspects, and acquire the knowledge, values and practical skills to participate in a responsible and effective way in solving environmental problems.
Objectives of Environmental Education
Objectives
l Awareness.
To help individuals and social groups acquire and awareness of and sensitivity to the total environment and its allied problems.
l Knowledge.
To help individuals and social groups acquire basic understanding of the total environment and its associated problems
l Skills:
To help individuals & social groups acquire the skills for the solving the environment & its associated problems
Objectives
l Attitude:
To help individuals & social groups acquire social values, strong feelings of concern for the environment & the motivation for actively participating in its protection & improvement.
l Evaluation Ability:
To help individuals & social groups evaluate environmental measures & education programmes in terms of ecological, political, social, aesthetic,& education factors.
l Participation:
To help individuals & social groups develop a sense of responsibility & urgency regarding environmental problems to ensure appropriate action to solve those problems.
Principles of Environmental Education
Principles
l Consider the environment in its totality- natural and built, technological and social.
l Be a continuous life long process, beginning at preschool level and continuing through all formal and nonformal stages.
l Be interdisciplinary in its approach, drawing on the specific content of each discipline making possible a holistic and balance perspective.
l Examine major environmental issues from local, national, regional and international points of views so that students receive insights into environmental conditions in other geographical areas.
Principles
l Focus on current and potential environment situations, while taking into account the historical perspective.
l Explicitly consider environmental aspects in plans for development & growth;
l Enable learners to have a role in planning their learning experience & provide an opportunity for making decision & accepting their consequences;
l Relate environmental sensitivity, knowledge, problem solving skills & values clarification to every age but with special emphasis on environmental sensitivity to the learners own community in early years.
Principles
l Help learners discover the symptoms & real causes of environmental problems.
l Emphasise the complexity of environmental problems & the need to develop critical thinking & problem solving skills.
l Utilise diverse learning environments & broad array of education approaches to teaching/ learning about & from the environment with due stress on practical activities & first- hand experience.
