Environmental Education Flooding our Schools

By Jessica Spencer

This condensed version first appeared in the Spring/Summer 2003 Newsletter of the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM)

Dickinson College
Environmental Studies Dept.
PO Box 1773- College & Louther Streets
Carlisle, PA 17013-2896
(717) 245-1565

Education is environmental education, according to James Orr (1994) the author of Earth in Mind. This is a very important statement because it addresses how environmental education encompasses everything that we do in our everyday lives. The environment is full of interconnections that need to be understood individually to help us all understand the whole. Education is the tool that will help us make these connections and keep us in touch with our environment. That is why it is important for environmental education to have a place within our schools.

Environmental education has existed since the 17th and 18th centuries mainly through nature studies, which are hands-on experiences with the outdoors. Environmental education has evolved to include more than just outdoor studies. It now incorporates a variety of learning strategies both in indoor and outdoor settings through the use of textbooks, lectures, and labs.

Recently, environmental education classes have only been offered as electives in schools. The programs can also be found in different departments based on the focus of the course. A course that contains more social and economic details are usually offered in a social studies department, whereas, courses that focus more science-based methods and lab experiences are usually in the science department. Also, programs may be left out of schools altogether and taught at local environmental centers. I find these variations to approaching environmental education to be another example of how inclusive environmental education can be in our schools. The field of environmental education contains social, economic, political, scientific, and aesthetic values to completely form the base of this form of education.

Since there is not a traditional curriculum for environmental education to be based from, it has taken many forms throughout the education systems in the United States. Each state implements different requirements and courses for environmental education. The big push in Pennsylvania for environmental education has been to mandate this curriculum in the K-12 grade setting. The Department of Education has set the standards on the environmental education curriculum, and describes the exact level of understanding about the environment that each grade should receive. Environmental education is now more than just an elective in our classroom, and carries equal importance to our biology, chemistry, and physics courses. (Other states are jumping on the environmental bandwagon, i.e., Virginia also mandates a meaningful watershed experience for all students before they graduate).

I never had encountered an environmental science class until my freshman year at Dickinson College. This class sparked my interest and influenced my decision to become an environmental science major. I spent a semester student teaching to receive a Certificate of Education in Environmental Education. I was placed at Cumberland Valley High School (CV) on the Carlisle Pike in Mechanicsburg, in a senior level environmental concerns class, an elective course. CV is very large with over 2,500 students in high school alone. The environmental education class was in the social studies department and used more of the social and political aspects. However, from my hands-on experiences at Dickinson College, I incorporated lab activities into my lessons. I had four classes of seniors with about 25 students per class. These students were all very dynamic individuals and it was interesting how certain subjects would grab students attention more than others, or how certain classes were more engaged with certain topics. The biodiversity unit was a popular unit. During this unit we discussed national parks and reserves. The students became very engaged in discussion when we listed the different parks that the students visited, and discussed the animals they had seen. The other units that were taught during the semester were on air, water, waste, and energy. I think the waste and energy unit was an eye-opening experience for the students because of the amount of waste that people create and how it is managed. The students got to see first hand a landfill and an incinerator, and the amount of garbage that is hauled to these facilities daily. They also got to observe how these sites turn this garbage into energy. They debated whether landfills or incineration was a better method of waste disposal.

That has been the trouble with environmental issues and answering the question of who is right. There always seems to be two sides to the story and finding the right choice, where either choice allocates a certain amount of repercussions on the environment. My one student summed it up nicely how the magic is in the middle. My students sometimes seemed annoyed at all the comparing and contrasting. However, I wanted to remain neutral when discussing controversial issues and present both sides so they could make develop their own justifications and decisions on the right remedy.

Teaching has been very rewarding and challenging for me. There are such interesting dynamics that exist in the classrooms that you find yourself juggling ideas during class time to try to fit the needs of the students. This leads into a personal roller coaster sometimes of trying to make everybody happy, but this usually does not happen. However, I never had a day when I left school and felt like I had not accomplished something. When you encounter one hundred plus personalities daily something interesting usually arises. I would like to thank my students and my cooperative teacher for giving me such a great experience in their school.

During the fall of 2003, environmental education has become a required course at CV. The entire senior class is taking the environmental concerns class, which is broken up into two semester blocks. I am excited to be a part of this up and coming field in education. It was during my student teaching experience that I realized that I could handle becoming an educator and pursuing environmental education as a career.

Jessica is currently teaching at Cumberland Valley High School and shares the environmental concerns classes with her past mentor, Sam Robertson. Matching the course curriculum at Cumberland Valley to the Pennsylvania state standards in environmental education has been something that they have been working on during the year. This is to ensure that they are meeting Pennsylvania's areas of focus in environmental education. She has started her second semester with a new group of students, which allows her to improve upon areas from the fall. Although the material is the same, she still is constantly looking for interactive and dynamic activities to keep her students involved during class time.

If you would like to contact Jessica, please email Jessica Spencer with the subject: Environmental Education Flooding our Schools.