Excellence in

Environmental Education —

Guidelines for Learning (K-12)

Teaching from the Guidelines

Excellence in Environmental Education--Guidelines for Learning (K-12) is primarily focused on learner achievement. The instructional strategies necessary for implementing environmental education are taken up in more detail in two other documents in this series, Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence (1996) and the Guidelines for the Initial Preparation of Environmental Educators (2000).

Learning and instruction are closely linked, however, so these environmental education guidelines for learning include examples that offer specific ideas for implementation in instructional settings. These examples are based on several general principles that help guide environmental education instruction:

The learner is an active participant. If learning is to become a natural, valued part of life beyond school, instruction should be guided by the learner's interests and treated as a process of building knowledge and skills. Using the guidelines and knowledge of individual learners and different classes, instructors can make environmental education relevant to specific learners at particular developmental levels.

Instruction provides opportunities for learners to enhance their capacity for independent thinking and effective, responsible action. Engaging in individual and group work helps learners develop these capacities independently and in collaborative situations that anticipate the ways in which problem-solving happens in the community, on the job, and in the family. A strong emphasis on developing communication skills means that learners will be able to both demonstrate and apply their knowledge.

Because environmental issues can prompt deep feelings and strong opinions, educators must take a balanced approach to instruction. Educators incorporate differing perspectives and points of view even-handedly and respectfully, and present information fairly and accurately.

Environmental literacy depends on a personal commitment to apply skills and knowledge to help ensure environmental quality and quality of life. For most learners, personal commitment begins with an awareness of what immediately surrounds them. Instructors foster learners' innate curiosity and enthusiasm, providing them with early and continuing opportunities to explore their environment. "Taking the show on the road"--or at least out of the classroom--is an important instructional strategy for engaging students in direct discovery of the world around them.

How the Guidelines are Organized

Excellence in Environmental Education--Guidelines for Learning (K-12) offers a vision of environmental education that makes sense within the formal education system and promotes progress toward sustaining a healthy environment and quality of life. Guidelines are suggested for each of three grade levels--fourth, eighth, and twelfth. Each guideline focuses on one element of environmental literacy, describing a level of skill or knowledge appropriate to the grade level under which it appears. Sample performance measures illustrate how mastery of each guideline might be demonstrated.

The guidelines are organized into four strands, each of which represents a broad aspect of environmental education and its goal of environmental literacy. The strands are:

Strand 1: Questioning and Analysis Skills
Environmental literacy depends on learners' ability to ask questions, speculate, and hypothesize about the world around them, seek information, and develop answers to their questions. Learners must be familiar with inquiry, master fundamental skills for gathering and organizing information, and interpret and synthesize information to develop and communicate explanations.

Strand 2: Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems
An important component of environmental literacy is understanding the processes and systems that comprise the environment, including human systems and influences. That understanding is based on knowledge synthesized from across traditional disciplines. The guidelines in this section are grouped in four sub-categories:

• 2.1--The Earth as a physical system;
• 2.2--The living environment;
• 2.3--Humans and their societies; and
• 2.4--Environment and society.

Strand 3: Skills for Understanding and Addressing Environmental Issues
Skills and knowledge are refined and applied in the context of environmental issues. These environmental issues are real-life dramas where differing viewpoints about environmental problems and their potential solutions are played out. Environmental literacy includes the abilities to define, learn about, evaluate, and act on environmental issues. In this section, the guidelines are grouped in two sub-categories:

• 3.1--Skills for analyzing and investigating environmental issues; and 3.2--Decision-making and citizenship skills.

The Guidelines at a Glance

Excellence in Environmental Education--Guidelines for Learning (K-12) sets appropriate expectations for learner performance and achievement at the end of fourth and eighth grades and by high school graduation. The diagram on page 7 will help the user understand how this Guidelines document is constructed, and what kinds of information it offers.

Sample classroom techniques for meeting the guidelines are included throughout the publication. These summaries also indicate correlations to specific guidelines and suggest additional performance measures.

Also included in this Guidelines document are:

• Introductory materials that place the guidelines in context, outlining a comprehensive vision of environmental education.
• Background for the Development of the Learner Guidelines Framework, an appendix that relates key developments in the field of environmental education to the framework around which the guidelines are structured.

These are the national standards documents referenced and the short titles used to represent them:

References

Brundtland, G. H. (1989) Our Common Future: The World Commission on Environment and Development. New York: Oxford University Press.

NAAEE (1996) Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence. Washington, DC: North American Association for Environmental Education.

NAAEE (2000) Guidelines for the Initial Preparation of Environmental Educators. Washington, DC: North American Association for Environmental Education.

UNCED (1992) Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. New York: United Nations.

UNESCO-UNEP (1976) "The Belgrade Charter." Connect: UNESCO-UNEP Environmental Education Newsletter, Vol. 1 (1) pp. 1-2.

UNESCO (1978) Final Report Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education. Organized by UNESCO in Cooperation with UNEP, Tbilisi, USSR, 14-26 October 1977. Paris: UNESCO ED/MD/49.

UNESCO (1997) Educating for a Sustainable Future: A Transdisciplinary Vision for Concerted Action.(Report from the International Conference on Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability, Thessaloniki, December 8-12, 1997.)

Next Section: Guidelines for Fourth Grade