Chapter 21 Environmental education

Main content

21.1 The role and position of environmental education

21.2 The goals and implementation approach of environmental education

21.3 The method of environmental education

21.4 The environmental quality and environmental behavior of citizens

21.5 Case study

21.1 The role and position of environmental education

21.1.1 The significance of environmental education Strengthen environmental education and raise environmental awareness,fit your actions to sustainable development regular pattern, which is the basis of environmental protection Environmental education’s aim is to raise public environmental awareness and makes the educated gain necessary knowledge and values of understanding, protecting and improving the environment.

Figure 21-1 The role and position of environmental education

21.1.2 Environmental education and sustainable

development In June,1992,the conception --- "re-education for sustainable development" was proposed in "Agenda 21" in "Environment and Development conference “ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.In December 1997, Environment and Society International Conference was held in Cesar Rodney ,Greece, issued "Declaration of Cesar Rodney," and proposed that the environment education is for the environment and sustainable development.Environmental education is most important to sustainable development.Education is the key of sustainable development which makes it from concept to action.

21.1.3 Citizen environmental literacy and environmental

education

Environmental education can improve people's environmental awareness.After environmental education, people can recognize and understand the complex structure of environment,and it can promote importance of environment in development to people.Environmental education can make people fully understand the interdependence of economy, polity, and ecology in the worldFrom this poeple can correctly understand and analyze environmental problems and actively thinking about how to reduce and solve these problems.

21.2 The goals and implementation approach of environmental education

21.2.1 Characteristics of environmental educationComprehensiveness: environment education is related to natural and social science and is a multidisciplinary education Diversity: many forms of education Continuity:The education which aims to solve environment problems is a continuous process.UniversalistPracticalness:It emphasis environment action and solution of environment problems in environment education.

21.2.2 The goals of environmental education

With the development of environmental education and its gradual deepening, the aim of environmental education is dynamically developing,and its main process is showed as the table 21-1. Now,the environmental education is essentially for sustainable development.Its goal is in a full range, and it should include several levels

(awareness) （ knowledge ） (attitude) (practice)

Table 21-1 Evolvement course of environmental education goals

Time Conference name The goals of environmental education

1972Belgrade Conference

on Human Environment

Improve the environment awareness of all the people in the world, and make them concern about the environment and its problems, make the individuals or group have knowledge, skills and attitudes to solve the current problems and prevent new problems ,and make them engage into this work.

1977 Tbilisi Conference

People are awared to understand and make concern to the interdependence of the economy, society, polity and ecology in rural and urban areas;Provide people the opportunity to get the necessary knowledge, values, attitudes, duties and skills for improving the environment; Establish the new patterns of behavior for the treatment of environment by individuals and groups.

1992World Conference on

Environment and Development

Make people understand that the lifes on this planet are interdependent;Promote people’s understanding of environment’s promotion or encumbrance in sustainable development; Cultivate people’s awareness, abilities, attitudes and values, so that they can participate the national and international sustainable development activities effectively , to get a fairer and more sustainable future.

 Figure 21-2 Environmental education goals attainments figure

21.2.3 The implementation approach of environmental education

（ 1 ） Orientation of environmental education There are three relative independent forms of environment education :Reference to the environmental education :Teach the knowledge of the environment to help learners to understand the generation,development and its relationship to humans in environmental problems at different areas.Education in the environment: the familiar or the related environment are regarded as the education resources and places,take the learner experience in the environment as an education agency.Education for environment:make the learners to have the responsible attitudes and behavior to the environment,take care of the environment, protect the environment.

Figure 21-3 Goal and orientation ideogram of environmental education

（ 2 ） The implementation approach of environmental education

① Environmental education in schoolDivided into two kinds as basic education and professional educationBasic school education is mainly to primary and secondary schoolsSchool professional education is for different levels of the environmental professionals

② Community environmental education

Community landscaping is the obligations of teachers and students, and also creats a favorable external conditions for school environmental education .

Figure 21-4 The relationship between curriculum and environmental education

③ In-service environmental education

At present ,there are many staff not having systematic environmental professional training in China's environmental protection department,so the important part of environmental education is to these staff

In 1981, the first environmental service cadre training school was established ---- Chinese Environmental Management College,and this school is responsible for taking academic education, continuing education and job training for the cadres in national environmental protection system.

21.3 The approach of environmental education

21.3.1 Teaching strategies of environmental education Use various means and methods of teaching comprehensively

Emphasize the autonomy of the learner

Guide the learners to identify problems in daily life

Do from "able to solve problems" ,do from now on and from myself

21.3.2 Teaching mode and teaching methods (1) Inquiry teaching Inquiry-based learning can be divided into five steps by the student:Identify and ask the questionsMake the plan to the question on “what has been known and what need to know next”Collect the information and analyze and synthesize itAnalyze and arrange the information, make a solution, and select and determine the action caseMake implementation plans,have social action, evaluate and adjust the plan

Figure 21-5 Inquiry learning steps figure

（ 2 ） Participatory teaching and interactive teaching

Currently,interactive environment education method is based on problem(take environment problems to coordinate the teaching content) which is more popular in international and the main organization forms are combined with cooperative learning in groups, individual independent study and group discussions

Figure 21-6 The process of interactive teaching method （ Notes ： quoted from Li Zijian ， 1998 ）

Figure 21-7 Continuum of teaching(Notes ： quoted from Li Zijian ， 1998)

Table 21-2 Classification table of environmental education methods in school

The name of the method Implementation approaches

Results of implementation

Observe and investigate type

Use the sense of vision, hearing , touch and taste

Have a good habits of carefully observation and experience

Discussi and debate type Interactive communication

Exercise of thinking ability and achieve emotion, attitude and values’ conversion

Experiment type Use some equipment by your hands

Have a rigorous scientific attitude and realistic spirit

Simulation experience type

Play a relevant role From perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge

Multimedia application type

Multimedia teaching Software

Get perceptual knowledge to raise thinking

Interactive teaching of community education environment

Community service and practice

Outdoor teaching by the community environment

Outdoor environment education,aims to contact with the nature

Environmental education from the school to the urban community

21.4 The environmental quality and environmental behavior of citizen

21.4.1 The environmental quality of citizen

Environmental quality is the component of scientific quality of human, it is scientific literacy and psychological quality which is from childhood to the continuous development for all life to the environment as a specific functioning object.

Environmental quality of the citizen is an important measurement to see whether a country is progressive or not

21.4.2 Environmental behavior regulation of citizen

Saving resources, reduce pollution Green consumption, environmental protection and buy Reuse, repeated use Classification recycling, recyclingRefuse wild food, rescue

21.4.3 The environmental quality cultivation of citizen

Training the leaderships with environmental quality

Training the professionals with environmental quality

Training primary school students with environmental quality

21.6 Case study - environment awareness and behavior of different citizenIn transboundary pollution treatment,the "big blocks" loses to the “

protective umbrella”

On March 22nd,2002,the tenth World Water Day,a special trial was holding in Zhejiang Changxing People's Court. The plaintiff is the fish farmers in Changxing Si’an reservoir.They litigated Anhui Guangde organic synthesis chemical plant onto the court to require the compensation for the loss of the dead fish caused by pollution reservoir.After trial, the verdict is: the defendant compensate the plaintiff 617,500 yuan,and should pay it with 10 days after the commencement of this decision. The fee of this case 11,185 yuan is charged on the defendant.

The contradiction both parts consider the issue from their own interestsIt should respect the right of survival and development of the others in sewage, and is responsible to their own environment actionsThe leaders in government, should know how to coordinate the relationship in environment protection ,economy development and social continuance .From this incident,we can see that we should gradually improve China's environment protection system,and also improve the environment quality of the general public radically.

 Case study

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