Teaching for Quality Education in Environmental Education: Challenges and Possibilities
The paper is based on critical reflection about 'innovative' teaching strategies and learning experiences of a facilitator and learners about the environmental education course at Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development, Pakistan. This
16-week elective course on environment education was offered from October 2004 to February 2005. This paper examines "what teaching strategies and learning experiences are most effective in environmental education course for bringing about positive change in knowledge skills and attitude towards environment conservation?" To answer this question, presenters collected reflections of students as part of their course assignment; teaching conservation through environmental infusion in school; designing and implementing conservation projects in schools; field visits to WWF and coastal communities, and participating in AKU-IED OL website discussion forum.
These reflections from learners were analysed based on the following themes:
- Learners ability to connect their learning to the understanding of complex systems affecting the environment (political, economic and social) (knowledge)
- Evidence of inquiry into real world environmental issues for their teaching and learning (skills)
- Ability to understand relationship of environment, education and sustainable development (knowledge)
- Preparedness / willingness to take social action for conservation (change in attitude and action for conservation).
Significance of reflections analysis is that it will help us to design quality teaching programme for teachers in future for environmental education. Furthermore, we will learn what were most effective teaching strategies and learning experiences in order to develop learners knowledge, skills, and attitude for conservation action.
Constructivism pedagogical discourse, along with the teacher, also places the learner in the attention. The central premise of learning involves construction of ideas by the learner rather than transmission of ideas to the learner. The learning experiences in a course should provide students the opportunity to construct their own knowledge in purposeful and interesting ways. Reflection on teaching and learning provides a focus for analyzing and developing learning and teaching.
Quality in education comes from partnership among learner and facilitator. It rests on collaboration and the creation of confidence between learner and facilitator, so that each partner can learn how to improve. Quality teaching in environmental education has two dimensions. The first dimension is to develop innovative strategies, new skills, capabilities and understanding of learners about the environment, environmental issues and conservation. The second dimension is the change in learner's knowledge and skills due to contextually relevant, learning experiences.
For introducing the first dimension, the facilitator relied on the definition of Environmental Education. Environmental Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of people to address environment and development issues (deforestation, water pollution, air pollution, and poverty). Environmental Education also involves knowing, breath and depth of understanding, and an ability to apply new knowledge in understanding and judging issues that are important in a personal life.
The second dimension of quality teaching in environmental education was introduced through ensuring quality learning experiences to the learners. Learners viewed the experience of designing and implementing the conservation project in schools as one of the most contextually relevant experiences. They recognized that field visits to coastal community groups were meant to understand the environment and community relationship, which helped them to understand complex interaction of environment with community. During the field visit, they also explored the nature in mangrove ecosystem through partnership with WWF Pakistan. These are some of the unique experiences which have resulted in learners understanding of the environmental education with the perspective of teacher educators and environmentally literate citizen.
Teaching of environmental education for teacher education requires innovation in teaching and partnership with learners. It also requires continuous reflection and redefinition of partnership between learner and facilitator. The partnership between them will ensure that the design and implementation of contextually relevant environmental education experiences. These experiences have provided learners with knowledge, skills and attitude to conserve the environment at school and in the community. The learners necessitate these real life experiences for the appreciation of various relationship of environment with human. As a result of these learning experiences, learner value and appreciate environment and explore the opportunities to take social action for conservation of environment.
The course has impacted learners in terms of knowledge and personal development, through the experiences of partnership, community interaction and taking responsible conservation action in schools. They were able to understand, cope with and positively influence the environment in which they found themselves.
We conclude that environmental education can be effectively offered to in-service teacher educators by providing them real life experiences of environmental conservation in the environment, appreciation about the environment, project conservation work in schools for the environment, through developing collaborative work, partnerships between facilitator and learner, and encouraging learners to think themselves as environmental literate citizens.