Advanced Theory and Practice of Environmental Education
EDUC 470
Spring 2015
From the syllabus:
Education 470 is an emphasis course for the STEEM MA emphasis area and a core course for the MA-IDE program. It is intended to be interdisciplinary and emphasizes hands-on learning through critical thinking, problem solving, and student initiative. In addition, the goal is to explore, in various ways, the meaning of ecological literacy and its application in the classroom. This seminar is exploratory in that it examines theoretical premises of environmental education as a powerful but flexible tool that can potentially provide a focus for strategies to use the environment as a foundation for project-based learning, service learning, and theme-based learning. Thus, three broad aspects of environmental literacy will be used for this purpose; developing inquiry through investigative and analytical skills, acquiring knowledge of environmental processes linked to human systems, and developing skills for understanding and addressing environmental issues by practicing personal awareness of civic responsibility for environmental decisions. These three environmental literacy goals (North America Association of Environmental Education NAAEE, 2000) provide the basis for service learning experiences that can be integrated into an investigative curriculum for developing successful and responsible citizenship. These and other aspects of learning will be examined in discussions generated from the reading assignments.