Educating for Environment: A School-As-A-Community Project

Abstract

In this E4E (Educating for Environment) pilot project we explored the delivery of inquiry-based environmental education within a small, rural elementary school in Ontario, Canada, using a school-as-a-community model, rather than the more common single grade model. At the outset of the project we wondered if environmental education could be significant in building social capital, that is, building a stronger school community, and also, if the strong school community would respond to their experience with enhanced pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. Since this paper is based on a small pilot project, not all of our wonderings were realized, yet we are encouraged by our findings and see environmental education as much more than a discrete set of lessons in a science curriculum within a school building. Qualitative data comprising of interviews and a focus group was collected at the completion of the two-week project. Analysis points to benefits in the form of increased understanding of and for the environment, and strengthening of social capital within the school, both of which support the development of environmentally and socially conscientious citizenship amongst participants.

Keywords

• environmental education
• social capital
• environmental citizenship
• inquiry-based learning