Earth Education
Environmental programs to help people enjoy, understand and live in harmony with the earth.
Earth Education Programs provide a sequence of learning activities which integrate the following components:
Understanding
Developing a basic comprehension of the major ecological processes (Energy Flow, Cycling of Materials, Interrelationships and the Changing of Forms).
Feeling
Instilling positive feelings of enjoyment of, and concern for the natural world.
Processing
Processing these feelings and understandings into practical actions so that our everyday lifestyles have less impact on our environment.
I-A-A Learning Model
Earth Education Programs are based upon:
I - Informing
Imparting knowledge about a natural principle or process.
A - Assimilating
Making the abstract concept concrete, through participation in a physical learning activity.
A - Applying
Reinforcing the intended outcome by transferring the understanding to the natural setting.
Characteristics of an Earth Education Program:
1. Hooks and pulls the learners in with magical experiences that promise discovery and adventure
2. Proceeds in an organised way to define outcomes that the learners can identify beforehand and rewards the when they reach it.
3. Focuses on building good feeling for the earth and its life through lots of rich, first hand contact
4. Emphasises major ecological understandings (at least four; energy flow, cycling, interrelationships, change).
5. Gets the descriptions of natural processes and places into concrete through tasks that are both 'hands on' and 'minds on'.
6. Uses good learning techniques in building focused, sequential, cumulative experiences that start where the learners are mentally challenged and end up with lots of reinforcement for their understandings.
7. Avoids the labelling and quizzing approach in favor of the full participation that comes with more sharing and doing.
8. Provides immediate application of its messages in the natural world and later in the human community.
9. Pays attention to the details in every aspect of the learning situation.
10. Transfers the learning by completing the action back at school and home in specific lifestyle tasks designed for personal behavioral change.
Earth Education Programs provide a sequence of learning activities which integrate the following components:
Understanding
Developing a basic comprehension of the major ecological processes (Energy Flow, Cycling of Materials, Interrelationships and the Changing of Forms).
Feeling
Instilling positive feelings of enjoyment of, and concern for the natural world.
Processing
Processing these feelings and understandings into practical actions so that our everyday lifestyles have less impact on our environment.
I-A-A Learning Model
Earth Education Programs are based upon:
I - Informing
Imparting knowledge about a natural principle or process.
A - Assimilating
Making the abstract concept concrete, through participation in a physical learning activity.
A - Applying
Reinforcing the intended outcome by transferring the understanding to the natural setting.
Characteristics of an Earth Education Program:
1. Hooks and pulls the learners in with magical experiences that promise discovery and adventure
2. Proceeds in an organised way to define outcomes that the learners can identify beforehand and rewards the when they reach it.
3. Focuses on building good feeling for the earth and its life through lots of rich, first hand contact
4. Emphasises major ecological understandings (at least four; energy flow, cycling, interrelationships, change).
5. Gets the descriptions of natural processes and places into concrete through tasks that are both 'hands on' and 'minds on'.
6. Uses good learning techniques in building focused, sequential, cumulative experiences that start where the learners are mentally challenged and end up with lots of reinforcement for their understandings.
7. Avoids the labelling and quizzing approach in favor of the full participation that comes with more sharing and doing.
8. Provides immediate application of its messages in the natural world and later in the human community.
9. Pays attention to the details in every aspect of the learning situation.
