Proposed syllabus for a course in Environmental Education
Course Objectives: This course is designed specifically for upper level undergraduate students enrolled in either the environmental studies program or the Rossier School of Education. However, students from other programs may benefit from the course because the content is interdisciplinary by nature. The course aims to familiarize future educators, administrators, planners and researchers with concepts in environmental education. The course reviews various types of environmental education, learning theories that relate to environmental education, methodological approaches to environmental education and research that that has been done on environmental education. In addition, the course will be structured with a secondary objective to help students develop critical thinking skills that will prepare them for graduate level courses or jobs in the field of environmental education.
Course
1) Palmer, Joy A. (1998). Environmental Education in the
21st Century.
Routledge.
2) Park, Patricia D., Blackman, Deborah A. and Chong, Gin.
(Eds,1998). Environmental
Education and Training.
3) Course reader.
4) Suggested readings and videos will be placed on reserve in Leavey Library.
Syllabus:
Week 1-Introduction
· Course overview
· Defining environmental education- In class writing assignment: Students spend 10-15 minutes writing a definition of environmental education. This is followed by 10 minutes of group work in which students discuss what they wrote.
·
Lecture: History and development of
environmental education (Chapter 1, Palmer). Key events timeline; milestones of
the 70s;
Assignments: 1) Journal
#1-Write a one page explanation of your personal goals for the course. 2) Read
Part 1 in Palmer (pp.3-34) 3) Read excerpts from Milbrath, Bowers, Lovelock and
Orr in course reader.
Suggested readings(on reserve): The Tbilisi Report; Beyond Rio readings
Week 2- Philosophies related to environmental education
· Lovelock and Gaia
· Bower-principles of environmental education
· Milbrath- a new social paradigm
· Orr-“All education is environmental education.”
·
Possible group problem- “daisey world” or
Assignments: 1) Journal # 2-reaction to Orr’s quote, 2) Read Palmer, Part II, pp. 35-82.
Week 3- The Global Agenda
· Issues
· Development and the environment
· Impacts and causes
· The role of education
· Group work- Local vs. global perspectives
Assignments: 1)Journal #3-How does law relate to environmental education? 2) Read Part I Park, Blackman & Chong (pp. 1-40).
Week 4- The Local Agenda
·
Environmental issues in
· Local environmental Campaigns (Heal the Bay,
Week 5 – Environmental laws and legislation
· Environmental legal education
· Legal controls vs. consciousness raising campaigns
· Group work “hypothetical case” discussions
Assignments: 1) Journal #4- Explain how a particular learning theory is appropriate to describe any type of environmental education. 2) Read excerpts on learning theories in course reader. 3) Visit learning theory websites.
*Paper topic and outline due. Students are encouraged to schedule a conference to discuss their topics with the instructor.
Week 6-Learning theories
· Group work-students share their journal assignments on learning theories in small groups
· Behaviorism
· Social cognitive learning
· Experiential learning
· Acquisition vs. learning
·
Organizational learning
Assignments: 1) Journal # 5 – students write about what sustainable development means in their lives. 2) Read Palmer, Part III, pp. 83-132. 3) Read selected readings on research in course reader.
Week 7-Theory and research in environmental education
· Sustainable development and politics
· Environmental improvement
· Educational practice
· Trends in environmental education
Week 8- Environmental education: Structure and practice.
·
Nine components of education for the environment
·
Integrated model for structuring environmental
education
·
Intetgrated model vs. distinct visions
Assignments: 1)Journal #6 - Compare and contrast two environmental
education programs. 2)
Week 9 --Environmental Education in Schools
· Examples worldwide
·
EE in
Week 10- Nonformal environmental education
· Community-based education
· Protected areas and reserves
· Environmental organizations and learning
· Environmental education in the workplace
· Group work- students share their responses to journals #6.
Assignments:
*Progress report on the final paper due. Students are encouraged to schedule a second conference with the instructor to discuss challenges and progress of the term paper/ project.
Week 11
The role of distance education in environmental education
· Instructional technology
· Computers and the internet in EE
· Limitations of technology
Week 12
Government campaigns
· Whose responsible for EE?
· How do we know we are getting the truth?
Week 13- Media Campaigns-Truth or lies
Week 14 April 20
Student presentations
Week 15 April 27
Student presentations
*Final drafts of final papers due. No exceptions.
Course Format: Most weeks will consist of a “mini” lecture followed by student discussion and/or group work. There will be a fair amount of group work that involves generating ideas and problem solving. Some weeks, individual students will give informal presentations on the assigned readings. Homework assignments and journal topics will be discussed. There will be some email communication to promote sharing of interesting websites, articles and general information.
Course requirements and assesment:
·
Attendance and
class participation- 15%
(This includes at least
one informal presentation of the readings.)
· Journals- 15%
· Envi portfolio
·
Literature review paper 50%
·
Final presentation 20%
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~environ/
American Society for Environmental History
Environmental news Network
North American Association for Environmental education
http://egj.lib.uidaho.edu/index.html
The Electronic Green Journal
http://www.phil.unt.edu/bib/index.htm
Environmental Ethics search engine
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/cityinstress/
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/www/graded/weaverindex.html
A forum for new ideas in environmental research