Environmental Education: Teaching Sustainability in the Classroom

With the current issues of climate change, deforestation, pollution, and loss of biological diversity, the time has come to ensure that future generations know the concept of sustainability. Education for the environment mostly starts in schools and from educators as they are the ones who have a direct influence on the students. This is where Environmental Education (EE) comes in: an interdisciplinary teaching method that seeks to enhance environmental literature and bring changes toward sustainable practices.

What Is Environmental Education?

Environmental Education (EE) is an educational process through which students develop an understanding of the environment in/relation to human activities. It focuses on analyzing a particular case, solving problems, and making responsible decisions concerning environmental problems. The goal of EE, therefore, is not simply explaining but also empowering learners to start initiating activities toward protecting and preserving the environment for successive generations.

That is why Environmental Education has to be done.

Global Challenges:
From the increasing scarcity of natural resources and levels of pollution, current day students will definitely be faced with stiffer environmental challenges tomorrow. EE makes them reason and comprehend these problems, and equip them with the tools that can enable them solve these problems.

Fostering Responsibility:
Environmental Education brings an amount of conscience towards environment. If children are taught or made to understand that certain actions they take affect the environment in one way or the other, they are bound to change their habits towards being sustainable.

Promoting Critical Thinking:
Environmental issues tend to have rather composite and multi-faceted responses that may call on the involvement of various fields of study. EE promotes critical thinking and evaluation of problems and developing with effective ways of solving the problems.

Encouraging Active Citizenship:
EE imparts to the students willingness to participate environmental protection activities. Be it through a whole school’s initiatives, or from global concerns, students are taught how to address social concerns.

Sustainability and its Application into the Classroom

Integrating sustainability in the classroom must be tackled with an element of a systemic approach. 

Here are some ways teachers can integrate environmental education into their curriculum:

Hands-on Learning:
In my experience, students are better able to learn mostly through the use of experience. Activities to be carried out include tree planting, developing school gardens, or even organizing clean-up campaigns, mostly inspiring the students to be part of the biggest environmental conservation initiatives.

Interdisciplinary Lessons:
Environmental education is not restricted to science class rooms only. It can also be taught in subjects like; geography, history, literature and even in mathematics. For instance, students in a math class can go online to calculate their house hold’s carbon footprint.

Sustainable Practices:
There are ways that schools can integrate in their daily activities some practices that would be friendly to the environment such as reduction of waste, power conservation and recycling. These actions can be used by teachers as learning teasers through which school kids will learn about sustainability.

Project-Based Learning:
As much as possible, it is advisable to give your student projects that are environmental related like water conservation, renewables, and waste management to make the learning process meaningful.

Digital Tools:
The use of technology provides a rich opportunity in creating sustainable learning processes. Using videos such as ecosystem replicas, documentaries, and eco-related applications, students are able to learn more information about the environment.

Teaching Environmental Ethics:

It is essential to teach children some form of environmental ethics, which is the set of moral rules regulating human relations with the environment. One of their needs is to assist a student to think about personal values and behaviour in the context of the earth. The issues of ethical nature should aid the students in evaluating the overall impact of decisions on the environment as well as take into consideration all aspects of environmental pollution.

The Role of Teachers:

It is mandatory to note that they hold a central position in the creation of sustainable culture among communities. In this regard, they can be able to set good examples for the students to emulate and follow even outside the classroom. Teachers should enhance their knowledge on environmental issues and to come up with out of stock methods on how to teach the students.

In conclusion, It is a must that students of today be made aware of Environmental Education since this is a crucial aspect in today’s world. In this way, the best way of preparing students for the future is by making them learn about sustainability and being responsible to the environment. It is only befitting that young people be empowered with the understanding, instruments and moral compass needed to help the earth to be a better place.