Guideline 3.1: Critical and creative thinking.

Learners should be challenged to use and improve their critical thinking and creative skills.

What to look for:

• Resources offer learners opportunities to practice critical thinking processes such as problem definition, forming hypotheses, collecting and organizing information, analyzing information, synthesizing, drawing conclusions, formulating possible solutions, and identifying opportunities for action.
• Resources provide learners with opportunities to practice creative thinking processes such as modeling, using metaphors and analogies, and formulating questions.
• Learners are challenged to use higher level thinking processes such as identifying bias, inferring, relating, applying, and reflecting.
• Resources provide guidance for judging the validity of various sources of information, and learners are encouraged to apply these guidelines.
• Learners are given opportunities to practice skills individually and in groups.

Guideline 3.2: Applying skills to issues.

Students should learn to arrive at their own conclusions about what needs to be done based on thorough research and study, rather than being taught that a certain course of action is best.

What to look for:

• Resources help students learn to identify, define, and evaluate issues on the basis of evidence and different perspectives. Ethical and value considerations are included.
• Resources provide a list of organizations and other resources that learners can use to explore the issue on their own, as appropriate for their developmental level. This list should include groups and resources with various perspectives.
• There are opportunities to use different methods of evaluating environmental issues and their potential solutions, as appropriate for the intended age level. These methods may include risk analysis, cost/benefit analysis, ethical analysis, environmental impact analysis, analysis of cumulative effects, different kinds of economic analyses, social impact analysis, etc. Resources help learners understand the strengths, weaknesses, and biases of these different means of evaluating an issue.
• Learners are encouraged to develop their own solutions to issues.
• Environmental issues are presented with a range of possible solutions as well as information about how the problems are currently being addressed. Resources compel learners to consider the implications of different approaches.

Guideline 3.3: Action skills.

Learners should gain basic skills needed to participate in resolving environmental issues.

What to look for:

• Resources give learners an opportunity to learn basic skills for addressing environmental issues, as appropriate for the intended age level. These skills may include defining an issue, determining if action is warranted, identifying others involved in the issue, selecting appropriate action strategies and understanding their likely consequences, creating an action plan, evaluating an action plan, implementing an action plan, and evaluating results.
• Learners hone their ability to forecast and to plan for the long term.
• Learners practice interpersonal and communication skills, including oral and written communication, group cooperation, leadership, conflict resolution, and others.
• Learners are provided with opportunities to develop a variety of citizenship skills, including participation in the political or regulatory process, consumer action, using the media, and community service.
• Resources help students sharpen basic laboratory and field skills such as experimental design, observation, data collection, and data analysis.
• Resources encourage students to learn basic skills of applied science, including environmental monitoring, evaluating others' research, and setting up an independent research proposal.
• Learners use various forms of technology that help them develop and apply their skills. These technologies might include computers and electronic communication networks, data gathering equipment, video equipment, etc.