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Environmental Programs and Resources for Agricultural Education

Posted on: Thursday, 3 November 2005, 06:00 CST

By Schneider, Erica M

Agriculture teachers have an impact in shaping student attitudes and what they do after they graduate. They, directly and indirectly, educate students on life knowledge and skills they need to be successful. They teach students responsibility, citizenship, and interdependence. Responsibility to help students to understand the impact of their actions and their roles within society. Citizenship to inform students on their relationships with others and how they as individuals can contribute to a better society. Interdependence to give students the skills to solve problems, make decisions, and plans. Likewise, adding environmental education to agriculture curricula would also help to develop these skills.

Collectively, agriculture teachers are major contributors in shaping the nations' attitudes toward the environment and overall environmental literacy. Agriculture classrooms are far too often the only source where students are exposed to environmental related topics. North American Association for Environmental Education defines environmental education as:

"[A] learning process that increases people's knowledge and awareness about the environment and associated challenges, develops the necessary skills and expertise to address the challenges, and fosters attitudes, motivations, and commitments to make informed decisions and taking responsible action."

By helping citizens become more environmentally literate, agriculture teachers would make citizens feel more accountable for their impacts on others and the Earth. "Environmental education gives people a deeper understanding of the environment, inspiring them to take personal responsibility for its preservation and restoration," (http://www.epa.gov/enviroed/ index.html, 2005). Environmental problems are solved when citizens feel more accountable and responsible for their actions. Environmental education a necessary part of youth development, to develop responsible citizens who understand their interdependence with the environment.

Peter Kropotkin put it best when he said, "What kind of world do you want to live in? Demand that your teachers teach you what you need to build it. " Agriculture teachers are students' guides to a more sustainable future. Environmental literacy implies, "[A]n understanding of how people and societies relate to one another and to natural systems, and how they might do so sustainably. It presumes both awareness of the interrelatedness of life and the knowledge of how the world works as a physical system," (Orr, 1990). With environmental literacy the U.S. can begin to create a more sustainable and environmentally friendly nation and global community.

Of course, this type of learning cannot be achieved in one classroom unit or on a single field trip, nor can it be readily accomplished in science classes alone. "Building environmental literacy requires an on-going effort that explicitly addresses knowledge and skills in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, and allows repeated opportunities to apply those skills." (EETAP, 2005).

Teacher Programs

The most important step in infusing environmental education in students' curricula is for agriculture teachers to have adequate environmental knowledge. An educator must be, to a certain degree, sure they know what they are talking about before they relay information to their students.

Buethe and Smallwood (1987) examined the environmental literacy of teachers and students and less than half the teachers knew the meanings of widely used terms such as biosphere, particulates, and ozone. They found that students' levels of environmental literacy were positively correlated to the teacher's level of environmental literacy. Clearly, teachers must be environmentally literate if they are to help their students become environmentally literate.

The good news for teachers is that there are many available resources to teach environmental education. Many teachers shyly admitted to not including environmental education in their curricula simply because they felt deficient in the subject. However, this deficiency should not hinder the knowledge of students when there are so many programs designed specifically to help teachers teach environmental education.

Programs such as Project WILD, Program WET (Water Education for Teachers), EETAP (Environmental Education and Training Partnerships), Project Learning Tree, and many more have been helping educators teach environmental education for years (Table 1). The programs offer online courses for environmental education training, provide free downloads of lesson/program plans and activities, along with helpful hints to infuse environmental education in daily lessons.

Student Programs

The second major step for teachers to create environmental literacy in their students is by having them actively participate in environmental education events. PEYA (President's Environmental Youth Awards) has been presented annually since 1971 to honor students in kindergarten through twelfth grade who develop projects that help protect local environments and promote local environmental awareness in their communities. Last year's 2004 winners visited the White House and met the President of the United States.

Table 1

Teacher Programs

Other environmental education events include Evirothon, an international environmental education program for secondary school students, that agriculture teachers all over are already taking part in, getting students involved during National Environmental Education Week, Earth Day (April 22), Earth Month (May), and World Environment Day (June 5, 2005). The EPA also has Environmental Kid clubs for young and older students. Being active in environmental events makes learning about the environment fun, allows students to get hands-on experience, have social interactions, and be involved in group learning (Table 2).

Table 2

Student Programs

Curriculum Resources

An important step that teachers can take in infusing environmental education in their curricula is knowing where and how to infuse it (Table 3). Most people assume that environmental education is considered as science education. However, as Van Matre (1990) points out, "The primary aim of science education is the process of 'sciencing,' i.e., gaining the skills necessary to apply the scientific method. And its purview does not usually include the task of helping learners analyze and craft more appropriate lifestyles." Yes, though environmental education brings up many concepts, science courses should not be the only place students are exposed to environmental education.

Like agricultural education, environmental education by nature is interdisciplinary. "It places emphasis on the learning process, problem solving skills, and the use of community as a learning resource," (Smith, 1994). Further, environmental education has roots in multiple subjects including social studies, language arts, mathematics, and of course, science. It overlaps several fields because its complexity demands well-rounded subject matter (Smith, 1994).

Consider, for example the topic of carrying capacity and population overgrowth:

"A mathematics teacher could integrate the numerical dynamics of these issues into a unit. A social studies teacher could use them to examine their social aspects and implications. A science teacher could examine their effects on human and animal populations. A language arts teacher could suggest using different aspects of these issues as topics for a planned speech, thereby infusing environmental education into a unit on public speaking skills," (Smith, 1994).

By understanding the complexity surrounding environmental education and acknowledging that it should be infused in a variety of subject matter, educators can help students instill positive attitudes about the environment and develop a sense that they need to alter their lifestyles in order to live in an "environmentally responsible manner," (Smith, 1994).

Getting agriculture teachers to include environmental education in their curricula is a natural fit because the subject matter is so closely related. Agricultural education is the great place to start developing environmental literacy because environmental topics already exist within agriculture curricula. Through increasing agriculture teachers' overall environmental literacy, student involvement in environmental events and activities, and awareness of resources available to agricultural educators can help contribute to creating a more sustainable future.

Table 3

Curriculum Resources

References

Buethe C., & Smallwood J., (1987). Teachers' environmental literacy: Check and recheck, 1975 and 1985. Journal of Environmental Education, 18(3); 39-42.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental Education. Retrieved on May 8, 2005, from: http://www.epa.gov/enviroed/ index.html

Environmental Education and Training Partnership (2005). Retrieved May 10,2005, from: http://eetap.org/

Orr, D. (1990). Environmental education and ecological literacy. The Education Digest, 55, 49-53.

Smith, T. L. (1994). Environmental education in Illinois: A teacher survey. Unpublished thesis study, University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign.

Van Matre, S. (1990). Earth education: A new beginning. Greenville, WV: T\he Institute for Earth Education.

Erica M. Schneider is a senior in Environmental Communications at the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign

Copyright National Council for Agricultural Education Sep/Oct 2005

Source: Agricultural Education Magazine, The

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