Ten Principles Behind Excellent Environmental Education Programs
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY 
on 09.21.07
In case you’ve been looking for a few pointers on what specifically constitutes excellent environmental education, Green Street has put together a top ten list, and I think they’re definitely worth considering.
The list varies from the obvious things like ensuring you’re educating students based on factual research to the less common like integrating it across the curriculum and giving students a sense of the past, present, and future of the planet. The complete list follows after the break, and I suspect it may well help to improve our efforts at educating children and each other about the necessity of protecting the environment.
--- Are credible, reputable, and based on solid facts, traditional knowledge or science.
--- Have their values, biases, and assumptions made explicit.
--- Involve a cycle of continual improvement that includes the processes of design, delivery, evaluation, and redesign.
--- Are grounded in a real-world context that is specific to age, curriculum, and place.
--- Encourage a personal affinity with the earth through practical experiences out-of-doors and through the practice of an ethic of care.
--- Like the environment itself, programs transcend curricular boundaries, striving to integrate traditional subject areas and disciplines.
--- Provide creative learning experiences that are hands-on and learner-centered, where students teach each other and educators are mentors and facilitators.
--- Examine environmental problems and issues in a comprehensive manner that includes social, economic, political, moral, and ethical dimensions and the interdependence between these.
--- Motivate and empower students through the provision of action skills and strategies for responsible citizenship.
--- Promote an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future.
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I am a new 6th grade teacher and I would like to make environmental issues a major focus of my current events curriculum. There is so much out there to discuss that I'm a bit overwhelmed as to where to begin. I could use some ideas and suggestions. Thanks for your input and support.
Mike