Why Environmental Education?

" For in the end we will conserve only what we love.  We will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."

- Baba Dioum, Senegalese Conservationist

"Across the country and around the world, growing numbers of educators are using the environment as a focal point for teaching...Across disciplines, teachers find that students are engaged in learning, feel challenged, and often perform better in school when they are studying their local environment."

-Gene E. Carter, Executive Director
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

For decades, educators have been aware of the positive results of engaging students with hands-on, discovery learning through the study of their environment.  The New York State Education Department is currently encouraging student investigation and exploration in learning. The benefits of environment-based learning programs, to teachers as well as to their students, including increased enthusiasm and motivation, have now been well documented.

Recent studies have taken a rigorous look at the effectiveness of environmental education in America's schools.  The results have been remarkable.  The Pew Charitable Trust supported study Closing the Achievement Gap looked closely at 40 schools across the country that used the environment as an integrated context for learning.  The results included:

• better performance on standardized measures of academic achievement in reading, writing, social studies, math and science
• reduced discipline and classroom management problems
• development of problem-solving, critical thinking and decision-making skills
• increased engagement and enthusiasm for learning
• greater pride and ownership in their school work

The study can be ordered at http://www.seer.org

The 2004 study requested by the Washington State Legislature found that "Students in schools using environmental education consistently score higher on standardized tests than students in schools without environmental education."  The study can be found at http://wa.audubon.org/new/audubon/userdocuments/EEReportCard.pdf

A 2000 study by the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation entitled Environment-based education: Creating high performance schools and students had similar findings.  According to that report, "The results in all of the schools studied are impressive and heartening, as the nation searches for effective ways to improve the quality of education of our children."

The results showed:

• Reading and math scores improved.
• Students performed better in science and social studies.
• Students developed the ability to transfer their knowledge from familiar to unfamiliar contexts.
• Students learned to "do science" rather than just "learn about science".
• Classroom discipline problems declined.
• All students have the opportunity to learn at a higher level.

The study can be found at http://www.neetf.org/pubs/NEETF8400.pdf

In addition to meeting the needs of schools for quality educational programs, environmental education contributes to a future informed citizenry.  The need for an environmentally literate population is increasingly important.  We depend on the resources of the natural world to sustain us, and so their wise and sustainable use is essential for our own self-interest.  From the fossil fuels that generate our electricity and warm our homes, to healthy soils that produce our food, the environment sustains us and meets all of our requirements for life.

As the human population grows, we are having an increasing impact upon our planet.  Future generations will have to work with the earth's systems and utilize its resources using the "three S's"- sound science, sustainability and stewardship. The ability to understand the functioning of the earth systems that we depend upon begins with education.