5th Global Conference
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Conference Programme, Abstracts and Papers
Monday 3rd July - Thursday 6th
July 2006
Mansfield College, Oxford
Session 8: Environmental Education and Forward Thinking
Chair: Doriana Dariot
'Environment' and 'Sustainable Development': Investigating the Content
and Social Dimension of Two Central Environmental Education Concepts
among University Students
Athanasia
Chatzifotiou, Z. Liarakou and M. Daskolia
National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens, Greece
In the last 10 years a growing bulk of research
focuses on how teachers and prospective teachers view environmental education
and its practices. Significantly
fewer are those studies which examine how certain concepts, which are central
in the environmental education discourse such as ‘nature’, ‘environment’, ‘sustainability’, ‘environmental
issues’ to name but few, are perceived and discussed by teachers. However,
there is a particular theoretical and practical interest in this line of research,
as these concepts reflect inherent ideologies and values which are then echoed
in teachers’ practices of environmental education.
Within this
rationale, we have conducted a qualitative study with prospective secondary school
teachers to explore two fundamental environmental education concepts, namely ‘environment’ and ‘sustainability’.
Four focus group discussions were run with students from the Philosophy, Pedagogy
and Psychology Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Our basic aims were to identify: a) how ‘environment’ is viewed in
relation to other social issues and within different disciplines, b) how the
students prioritise significant issues that concern contemporary societies and
c) how they perceive ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ and
their relation to ‘environment’.
The
findings showed that students conceived the environment as one of many important
issues that concern contemporary societies. The issues that were primarily and
readily mentioned were unemployment, drugs use, criminality, terrorism and war.
The reasoning they gave for considering these issues as most important to them
had to do with their personal circumstances at that point in life. When it came
to discuss how they perceive the term ‘environment’ the majority
discussed both its physical and social aspects. Finally ‘sustainability’ as
a term was hardly known to them, although they were able to discuss the relationships
developed amongst economy, environment and society when prompted by the facilitator
of the focus group.
Environmental Education in a Course on Ethics and
International Development
Judith
Andre
Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences,
Michigan State University, USA
Students from American suburbs have grown up in
a culture antithetical to genuine appreciation for the environment. Lacking
mass transportation, they have gone from house to school or shopping
malls by car,“outside” only
for a minute or two a day. Suburban culture is also consumerist: shopping
has become, notoriously, a major component of life, an end in itself.
Students
from this background nevertheless have kind hearts. They respond with
passion to certain sorts of issues – the mistreatment of animals,
corporate polluters, famines overseas. But their passion is unsophisticated.
They do not recognize the interconnections among these issues, and between
them and their own lifestyles. The students need a deeper awareness of
their own rootedness in the earth, and of the complexities in the relationship
between human life and the non-human environment.
Our course “Ethics
and [International] Development” can
help students move toward this deeper understanding. The central concept
in the course is the “capabilities approach:” the position
that real development consists not in an increase in markets or technology,
but in the ability of individuals to develop their central human capabilities.
One of these, argues Martha Nussbaum, is being able to live with concern
for and in relation to animals, plants and the earth. This not uncontroversial
suggestion provides much food for thought. The other centrally relevant
concept is the power of global economic systems, in producing or alleviating
poverty, and in protecting or destroying the environment. These concepts
relate directly to the students’ own lifestyles, separated from
nature and unthinkingly consumerist as they are. The ideas also complicate
the naive enthusiasms with which students arrive. Other more particular
issues are also usefully complex; examples include the fundamental need
for clean drinking water, with the tradeoffs required to supply it; and
the ambiguous realities of “ecotourism.”
Forward Thinking: A Teaching Project
David
Hunter
Department of Bioethics,
University of Ulster, Ireland
The aim of this paper is to explain a project that we are undertaking at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland as part of our on going commitment to Science and Society. We are building a program of community engagement by offering after school “Forward Thinking” sessions for 14-17 year olds. The sessions focus on topics in bioethics, and aim to engage the students in consideration of both the ethical and scientific issues at stake for example in cloning, genetic modification, human enhancement, humanities interaction with their environment etc. This project is based around a slightly modified version of the community of inquiry (Also known as Philosophy for Children) teaching methodology developed by Professor Matthew Lipman. This methodology aims to engage the participants, both teacher and students in collaborating with each other to grow in understanding of the world around them, forming a community of inquiry. The community of inquiry model has been shown to be very effective at engaging students in learning and exploring ideas, improving critical thinking skills, affective skills and collaborative skills. In the paper I will discuss both the project and the methodology we are using and why we have adopted this methodology.