Environmental education as a model for constructive teachingABSTRACT: Current literature related to science instruction often includes a discussion of the philosophy of constructivism. The authors describe four main components of a constructivist science lesson or unit. A review of commonly used environmental education materials was conducted to look for these components. Parallels between teaching strategies used in environmental education and constructivist methods are discussed.The literature on constructivist learning theories suggests similarities between constructivist techniques and teaching strategies used by environmental educators. Constructivism, a philosophy of teaching that challenges the philosophy of objectivism, was described by Ernst vonGlaserfeld (1989), and many educators have worked to apply constructivist theories to classroom instruction, especially in the fields of mathematics and science (Clements & Battista, 1990; Chaille & Britain, 1991; Jonassen, 1991b; Perkins, 1991).Because the environmental education movement has become important to many citizens across the world, a great deal of time and energy has gone into creating fields of research and curriculum development that communicate important ecological principles and skills.In this article, we describe and define the philosophies of environmental education and constructivism. After reviewing the literature, we discuss four major components of constructivism. These components are necessary for lessons that result in meaningful learning for students. The main question that we investigated was, Are components of constructivism present in existing environmental education curricula?Environmental EducationWhat is environmental education? Although many definitions exist, most environmental educators have had similar goals throughout the years. In the 1960s, environmental education programs began appearing throughout the country as a result of an increasing awareness of environmental deterioration. As early as 1974 the Virginia State Department of Education developed a K-12 environmental education curriculum guide. Several definitions of environmental education have also been put forth by different groups. For this article, we chose a definition of goals for environmental education that was suggested in the Project WILD (Western Regional Environmental Education Council, 1983) curriculum guide: "The goal . . . is to assist learners of any age in developing awareness, knowledge, and commitment to result in informed decisions, responsible behavior, and constructive actions concerning wildlife and the environment upon which all life depends" (p.viii).Hungerford, Peyton, and Wilke (1980) developed a set of instructional goals for environmental education that have been validated by numerous environmental educators and used worldwide since 1980. The four major goal levels, as summarized by Hungerford and yolk (1990), are listed below:Goal Level I. The Ecological Foundations Level: This level seeks to provide learners with sufficient ecological knowledge to permit him/her to eventually make ecologically sound decisions with respect to environmental issues.Goal Level II. The Conceptual Awareness Level--Issues and Values: This level seeks to guide the development of a conceptual awareness of how individual and collective actions may influence the relationship between quality of life and the quality of the environment and results in environmental issues that must be resolved through investigation, evaluation, values clarification, decision making, and finally, citizenship action.

Environmental education as a model for constructive teaching