Documente Academic
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I
MAJESTY'S T TIONERY OFFICE
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©Crown copyright 1989
First published 1989
ISBN 0 11 270664 9
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Contents
Page
Preface v
Assessment 14
iii
PREFACE
Preface
Since 1984 HM Inspectorate has published a number of
Curriculum Matters papers designed to stimulate discussion about
the curriculum as a whole and its component parts. In some cases
readers' responses to these papers have also been published. The
details of the series are shown at the end of this publication.
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The National Curriculum Council has the task of taking forward
the work ofindividual subject working groups, through consultation
with the education service and others. It has also been asked by
the Secretary of State to consider and advise him by 31 March
1989 on 'those cross-curricular issues which should be included
in the curriculum of maintained schools . . . and the extent to
which those issues can be included in attainment targets and
programmes of study for the core and other foundation subjects'.
Environmental education is one such cross-curricular issue.
v
PREFACE
vi
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: ITS SCOPE AND PURPOSE
Environmental education:
Its scope and purpose
1. From an early age children are curious about the people,
places, animals, plants and materials around them. They learn
about their environment through their own first-hand experience,
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from t ir parents, through-the media and from a variety of other
sources. Schools have a role in helping their pupils make sense
of these experiences and in developing their knowledge and
understanding of the physical and human processes which interact
to shape the environment. Schools can also help to foster a
reasoned and sensitive concern for the quality of the environment
and for the management of the earth's resources. These are, of
course, matters of increasing social concern.
(c) skills;
1
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FROM 5 TO 16
1
Knowledge and understanding
6. As pupils grow older they should come to appreciate how
people and other living things, materials and places are inter
related, and to acquire a sense of responsibility for aspects of the
environment, especially those close to them. The knowledge and
concepts which will help them develop this understanding are
present in part in a number of subjects and cross-curricular
studies. When pupils study the topic of water, for example,
geography can contribute to the understanding of land forms,
drainage basins and the nature of water-courses and can help them
appreciate how the presence of water has affected patterns of
settlement over time. The sciences can deal with water purity
and knowledge of how this is affected by activities such as the
use of chemicals in agriculture and industry; technology and
design can help pupils understand the man-made environment
such as buildings, sluices, weirs, bridges and sewage works,
and consider how design and implementation draw on natural
patterns.
Skills
7. To investigate particular environments and to be able to make
informed judgements about them, pupils need to develop a range
of skills. Mapping and map-reading, along with observation and
description of locations, are needed to interpret the features of
a given area; historical evidence helps to establish the background
and the changes which have occurred over time; quantification
and the interpretation of statistical data are needed as well as skills
associated with economics and science; understanding and
reconciling conflicting points of view draw on political
competence. Linguistic competence is necessary to enable pupils
to reflect, to present coherent arguments and to recognise the
strength or weakness of others' rhetoric. Non-verbal, graphical
and artistic forms of expression offer other means ofanalysis and
communication. fIt is also possible through environmental
education to dev clOp and practise social skills, for example the
ability to work in groups and to participate constructively in the
2
THE OBJECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Informed concern
9. Environmental issues are of genuine personal concern to many
pupils and can act as a useful means of exploring moral, social
and political values. Pupils should be equipped to bring to the
study of controversial issues - environmental and others - a respect
for evidence, an understanding of others' concerns, and a growing
realisation that choices are rarely clear-cut. The siting of roads,
railways or power stations, the closing down of old industry and
the opening of new, the supply and treatment of water, all may
raise intense debate; issues such as these - which may not always
be controversial- require the application of understanding. Pupils
may be encouraged to engage in activities in which the ideas for
change and improvement can be tested. This may take the form
of practical work in the school grounds; conservation work outside
school; writing to the local council about a local issue; raising
money to alleviate the effects of natural disasters in other parts
of the world. Pupils may come to form definite views about such
matters as the use of pesticides and fertilisers or nuclear energy
and may wish to make these known in some way. If they are led
to consider different points of view they are, in the context of
the school community, being introduced to the political process
and are showing social responsibility. To avoid bias and
indoctrination it is necessary for young people to acquire an
informed and critical understanding of all the views held about
such issues and an appreciation of how actions and decisions now
and later affect the environment.
3
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FROM 5 TO 16
11. They should also come to realise that people are not simply
at the mercy of impersonal forces and that, throughout history, they
have often been - and are still - driven and enthused by necessity,
belief or the vision of a better life; have crossed seas, drained
swamps and cleared wildernesses, built cities and developed the
rule of law, irrigated deserts and put man on the moon. While
they should be aware of the less desirable consequences of these
actions they should be excited by human endeavour and skill as
well as have respect for the forces and conditions of the natural
world. They should begin to grasp the complexity of the inter
relationship between mankind and the environment.
Objectives at age 11
12. However the curriculum is organised the programme of
study in the primary school should enable pupils to:
• develop clear views about what they value in the local environ
ment and others they have visited and how, where necessary,
changes might be brought about;
Objectives at age 16
13. Between the ages of 11 and 16 pupils' environmental
experience should widen and lead to an increase in understanding
through the study of a range of core and foundation subjects
supported by cross-curricular activity such as fieldwork. Pupils
should also become more able to visualise past and present
environments and appreciate the ways in which people of different
cultures interact with their surroundings.
• appreciate the nature of the world's resource base and its limits;
5
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ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FROM 5 TO 16
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CRITERIA FOR THE SELECTION OF CONTENT
(a) By the time they leave school all pupils should have studied,
in different ways, environments on local, national and world
scales.
(d) The contexts and ideas chosen for study should enable a range
of skills to be developed, particularly those of investigation,
application and synthesis.
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ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FROM 5 TO 16
8
THE PLANNING OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
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ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FROM 5 TO 16
10
TEACHING AND LEARNING APPROACHES
23. Teachers should take into account, and seek to build on,
children's perceptions and questions. Before starting particular
enquiries pupils should be given opportunities to explore aspects
of the environment with a view to framing questions which will
focus their work. They should be encouraged to make their own
observations and to comment on those of others but they will
also need their attention drawn to important features which they
might otherwise ignore. There may be occasions when individual
pupils are able to take a leading role for part of the work because
of their particular knowledge or experience. Through discussion
pupils should be encouraged not only to develop their intellectual
curiosity and the types of work which they might undertake but
also to express their feelings as a result of their personal
experiences, for example following their first night walk or 'watch'
at a field study centre.
24. Above all, teachers should help pupils plan and carry out
investigations by providing a structure which avoids over
prescription or insufficient guidance. As part of the structure
pupils should:
11
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FROM 5 TO 16
27. Whatever the age group, tasks and teaching approaches have
to be differentiated to meet the learning needs of different pupils.
At primary level, for example, able children may quickly learn
to extract information from books, archives and other sources,
while others may need much more help as well as partly-processed
12
TEACHING AND LEARNING APPROACHES
data which they can handle. At the secondary stage, able pupils
may be motivated by complex issues such as the economics of
farming or the ecology of urban and rural sites, while others
may respond better to work involving practical tasks such as
conservation projects. In both primary and secondary schools low
achieving pupils can produce work of quality when helped to
follow up their own questions related to a local or more distant
environment.
13
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FROM 5 TO 16
Assessment
31. Assessment is an integral part of the teaching required to
achieve the objectives of environmental education. It involves
far more than the grading of pupils' written work. Monitoring
children's performance as work proceeds can provide the pupils
with valuable comments on their progress and can help teachers
appraise the effectiveness of their teaching. For example, the
learning approaches described earlier require the assessment of
the quality of pupils' questions, of the design and conduct of
their investigations and of the conclusions they reach. Such
assessment can help the teacher plan more effectively the next
stages of the teaching of that particular group and can help him
or her reappraise the value of the approach with subsequent
groups of pupils.
32. Primary teachers need to identify the ideas and skills children
are developing and to reappraise from time to time how they
are responding to experience. This can be achieved through
conversation with pupils as they work, through observation of
them in classroom and field and through evaluation of the end
products of their activities. Assessing children's performance
while work is in progress is important as groups can happily work
in a way which does not publicly reveal the lack of progress of
particular individuals.
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33. Secondary teachers need to know what pupils' experience
of environmental education has been and to assess what awareness,
14
ASSESSMENT
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ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FROM 5 TO 16
Appendix I
Some links between environmental education
� and other areas of the curriculum
English
1. Skills of communication, e.g. the ability to discuss
2. Research skills: the ability to find and select information
3. Response to literature: in particular an appreciation of material
about the environment
Geography
1. Mapping skills
2. Field study skills
3. Use of aerial and ground photographs and of satellite imaging
4. Investigation of physical and human conditions
5. A grasp of local, national and global scales of activity
History
1. A sense of time and chronology
2. A sense of continuity and change
3. Use and respect for evidence
4. Understanding the historical development of the environment
Religious education
1. The attitudes of different religions to environmental issues
2. Moral considerations- e.g. on the use and sharing of resources
Mathematics
1. Statistical techniques: recording, displaying and interpreting
data
2. Understanding patterns and shape
3. Operational research
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APPENDIX
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Science
1. Skills of scientific investigation
2. An understanding of materials, energy, ecology, living things,
scientific laws
3. Scientific aspects of the provision and use of energy, the water
supply, waste disposal, biotechnology in food production and
other industries
4. Conservation and pollution
Foreign languages
1. The exploration of other cultures and environments
Physical education
1. First-hand experience of the environment through outdoor
activities in various settings
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Curriculum Matters:
an HMI series
Titles already published are:
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Curriculum Matte : an HMI series ..
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Thi eries of HMI discu ion documents is intended as a �
contribution to the process of devclllpi n" general agreement about (")
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curricular aims and objectives. :::
Comments from readers on papers in the Curriculum Matters series ,i"
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would be w�komc and should be sent to: "
HM Inspeclorate "
Department of Education and Science !s:
Elizabel h House �
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York Road •
ISBN 0 11 270fl64 9