Monday, April 18, 2011

Journal 9: NETS I-III & V

Waters, J.K. (2011). Teaching Green. t|h|e Journal, 38(4), 13-14. Retrieved from: http://thejournal.com/research/2011/04/digital-edition_april.aspx
 

Summary:
Waters’ article describes various online resources that aim to help teachers incorporate environmental sciences into the classroom. One of the more interesting sites is called “A Walk in the Woods,” which gives kids in urban setting a place to virtually tour the woods. I think this is a revolutionary idea because it connects kids with an environment that they may never have seen before, giving them the gift of knowledge. Another site that really stood out to me was called “EEK!” (or Environmental Education for Kids), which is an electronic magazine for kids in 4-8th grade. This site is unique in that it features a “Get a Job” section that highlights environmentally related jobs for the kids to look into. This helps students to think critically about their future pursuits and strengthens their knowledge about the type of jobs that exist.

Question 1: How can a teacher show their students the real-life applications of environmental studies?
I think that creating assignments that involve real-life situations is a good place to start. By seeing the direct effects of an environmental issue, students will relate the issue to their lives. As this article shows, Teachers could also have their students looking into environmentally related websites to further their own knowledge. It might also be beneficial for teachers to challenge their students to limit their environmental resource usage for a certain amount of time and journal about the experience.

Question 2: How can a teacher incorporate environmental education into other subjects?
Environmental education can be translated in to every subject with very little effort because it is such a salient issue. It not only involves statistics (math relation), but also politics/laws (history), biological/chemical realities (science), visual beauty/destruction (art), and discussions/debates (language arts). As such, teachers in all fields can use environmental studies to enhance student understanding in all subjects.

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