Approaching Environmental Issues In The Classroom

Approaching Environmental Issues in the Classroom

One of a series of environmental education (EE) units intended for use by "any workshop facilitator who wants to help teachers address environmental issues in their classrooms." The unit includes advice on getting around barriers to introducing students to controversial issues, guidelines on choosing an issue to investigate, skills students and teachers need to develop, and ways to present a 5-step process for solving environmental problems

Resources in Education

Approaching Environmental Issues in the Classroom

This booklet is one in a series of resource manuals to help teacher educators conduct environmental education (EE) teacher workshops or promote EE programs. The unit is presented in seven sections that describe: (1) a rationale for teaching environmental issues; (2) a five-step process for addressing environmental issues; (3) classroom approaches to environmental issues; (4) decision making, facilitating, critical thinking, and conflict management skills for students and teachers, as well as, characteristics of effective teachers of environmental issues; (5) common barriers teachers face when bringing environmental issues into the curriculum and ways to circumvent them; (6) nine activities for the workshop; and (7) a list of 34 resources for skill building, exploring issues, understanding solutions, making it happens, and organizations to contact. The nine activities make up the majority of the booklet and focus on the value of dealing with issues, skills teachers need as facilitators of students investigating issues, and what teachers can do if they choose one of the three approaches to addressing issues. (MDH)