held in Brisbane 19-22 July 2011
Explore, Experience, Educate
by Suzanne Pritchard
Thoughts about what to CPPA could do
- Have a local youth event – collaborate with school
- Investigate features in the reserves that are children friendly- seek funding to implement them
- have walks/exploratory sessions that showcase the beauty of the environment in which we live
◦ Toddler Trails being developed in the reserves-Knox City Council
◦ Frog identification workshop- frog noises on blog
- Powerful communities- connected, collective
- Relationship + interest= commitment
- connections to actions and emotions
- We’re in a predicament-“Remove the doom and gloom and restore the fascination with nature”
- How to encourage creativity in the system.
- Facebook as a social tool and requesting donations through it
Community Focussed energy monitoring
- Auzion brochure
- connected household monitoring
- potential to determine energy usage across the community
The Earth Charter
- promoting change for a sustainable future
- a declaration of fundamental principles
- Could promote it within the Chronicle- personal choice on how to live
Educating to ecological virtues
- ecological education has to promote ethical responsibility to reorient the way of being in relationship to the natural world.
- Ethical education as education to virtues- Socratic approach
◦ Virtues include sobriety/temperance, courage, respect, justice, benevolence
Smart Living Campaign
Public Art in place making
- CPPA grant for public art in the parks
- -different age groups focus with the parks
- Research- work with schools to develop walking track and distance markers
Public Spaces
- Public spaces can nurture enquiring minds
- Public Space-community access and usage
- Pocket gardens, sensory gardens
- food gardens adjacent to restaurants
- roof top gardens
- Enquiring minds- adults to children- visitors in transition
- Invitation to something special in the space
◦ welcome gates
◦ Promise of adventure- Everett Adventure garden
- Transformative experience
Eco literacy is the keystone for sustainability education- Eric Bauer
Eco-literacy has to have a context for people in a place
- ‘don’t know what they don’t’ know’
- Ecoliteracy includes attitudes-skill-knowledge
◦ Dichotomy: complexity/simplicity- reductionist thinking runs contrary to practice
- Leadership and trust are required to educate
- Learner influence dictates how the message is transferred
- Action Inquiry- requires empathy and critical thinking
- Engagement-draw people in
- Dialogue-communicate
- Praxis-act and reflect
Ecological praxis-learning by doing-Luke Edwards
Catholic Schools – Earthcare mandate
Organisations as living systems
- call to participatory leadership
- The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.- need to understand internal motivator
- What to change: Thinking from Reductionist to systems approach
U Journey
- co-initiating: build common intent
- co-sensing :observe
- presencing:connect to the source of inspiration
- coevolve:embody the new
- cocreate:prototype the new
Accessing one’s inner knowing in the basis for all innovation
- Observe, observe,observe
- retreat and reflect-
- act with understanding
- participation not perfection
Empowering the next generation- various
Ahri Tallon- Australain Youth Climate Coalition-Young people and environmentalism
- We live in an educated affluent society and have the power to make change
- Projected 95% extinction –Permian age by end of century
- How do we build a generation of sustainable leaders
◦ Operate on short term political change for long term environmental gain
◦ Educate-inspire-mobilise-empower
◦ Social-action-celebrate
◦ Create a culture of hope and opportunity
◦ Positivity – the heaven to create not the hell
- Override a culture of individualization and careerism,
- Affluence runs contrary to a social movement
- Sustainability needs to be connected to community and not compartmentalized by short term govt.
- Skill gap towards empowerment to create a movement
- Get active beyond the job,
- Get involved in a deeper way
- Encourage and create pathways
- Need support to empower
Connect-create-collaborate
Liz Clarke-Aboriginal traditional ecological knowledge (ATEK)
- Concern about loss of traditional knowledge
- Increase awareness and knowledge
- Incorporate traditional knowledge
- Ref: Deborah Bird Rose-Nourishing terrain
Julie Davis- Early childhood
- Active participation and action taking
◦ Power taking
◦ Collective action
◦ Effective, rapid communication
◦ Optimistic
◦ Work from a strengths perspective-incl indigenous perspectives and participation
◦ EfS should not add to marginalization
◦ Actively engage in inclusion and reconciliation- a filter through which to view the decision making process
- Need to recognise children as agents in their community
Creating Hope
Emeretta Cross- Pacific hope and vision
- We’re in a predicament-“Remove the doom and gloom and restore the fascination with nature”
- The message-children need the option of choices, inspiring, creative and passionate choices
- Relationship with people and networks vip
- Instead of reinventing wheels lets connect the cogs.
- Gaps in the chairs, everyone has something to share
- Displacement Solutions- endorsed by UN habitat- Victim or refugee
Justin Dillon-Science Education
Kings College London-editor Science Education
- How to make hope realistic?
- We understand the science, how do we move people forward
- Deniers ‘pernicious evil’ push for complete ignorance.
- Doom and gloom doesn’t work must move beyond it
- Why are educators important- based on trust, responsibility comes with it.
- Good practice-Odyssey school, Denver- challenging people to think and go on a a learning expedition
- Strong and weak Climate models- understand risks
- Continuum of credibility Blog->scientific journal
- Problem in getting people to think-Everyone underachieves in education it’s a matter of reaching you full potential.
Dr Hum Gurung-CEO Bird Conservation Nepal
Identifying impacts and planning adaptive management responses to climate change in Asia.
Birds, Glaciers
- Birds as indicators of a changing world-Birdlife International Project
◦ distribution models show a grim diminishing of habitat
- Impacts on ecosystems-Himalayas
◦ Vegetation shifting 1.5 to 3.4m /year in altitude
▪ Rhododendrons blooming earlier 1 month earlier
▪ Fungus harvesting-affected, snow melt quicker less fungus growth
▪ Invasive weeds spreading, Mikania
- Mt Everest turning to a rocky mountain
◦ Drying of water sources-climate change refuges of Dhe village
◦ Glacier lakes, landslides when they burst
◦ Landslide blocks the rivers
◦ Electricity supply interrupted due to hydro supply
- Understand at the local level
◦ Livelihood needs to be addressed
- Integrated adaptation approach
◦ Climate science
◦ Policy
◦ Communication and Env Ed
◦ Capacity building
Research and Policy in action-Bob Stevenson
Implications for practice
- Research is about reducing ignorance not searching for truth
- Assumption that increased awareness will change attitudes and behaviors- THIS IS NOT SUPPORTED BY RESEARCH
- Complex web of attitudes, beliefs, expectations
What was learnt
- Peoples worldviews and belief systems, philosophical and political positions shape the interpretations and understandings
- The context in which people live and work shape their behaviors-large systems affect options
- Worldviews are linked to identity- biographical, geographical, cultural, spiritual affects interpretation of environment
- People respond emotionally to educational/learning
- Language and discourse influences individual and collective thinking and action
- People learn and act as social beings- social collaborative learning and community actions
Key Points
- Who decides on the goals
- Goals should be framed democratically-empowering learners as individuals and collectives
- Central role of engagement and what contributes to that
- Treat all people in inquiry as responsible agents capable of participating in , changing
Lessons and questions for practice
- Try to understand what meaning people are constructing of environmental issues and what is shaping or influencing their understandings
- Think from the students’ or learner’ perspectives
- Engage learners intellectually and emotionally in environmental issues
- Think and act locally & globally
- Where can we situate hope?
- How can we construct ourselves as environmentally orientated educators?
Evaluation capacity- Michaela Zint
- EE programs that foster changes in behaviour
- Have behavioural outcome objectives
- Are designed based on behaviours theories and models
- Consider participants needs
- Are participatory
- Have long term learning
Schools Information
TIN/L4Y- Facebook page that can generate donations of items
Habitat Heroes- free virtual world game with environmental messages embedded in the games.Saving the planet one game at a time.
Green Lane Diary
- Identify problems, solve and love environment
- Scientists are optimistic-one person can make a difference
- Enable students to engage with achieveing outcomes-crowded curriculum, searching for great ideas and resources.
- Emphasis on what are you going to do about it?
Knox City Council- Little Green leaves- Early Years sustainability framework
L4Y preschool support
Knox City Council
- EYLF embedded sustainability
- Knowledge gap between staff and skill level
- Sustainability messages targeted to young families
- Values and dispositions
- Audit and baseline data collection
- Partnerships and overall embedding in councils sustainability plans
Promotion-Intro to program, info on policy and procedure
Commitment- all services offered- MOU
Environmental Action Plan-baseline data audits, training for educators and families- Water, Waste,Energy, biodiversity
- Resource kits, online resources, learning opportunities, newsletters
- Action-implementation-Evauation-findings, presentations, case studies, data tracking
Kindergardens for Wildlife- MOU
- Natural play spaces- making places that children can be immersed
- All working together, children participatory
- Honour board- leaf, bird etc
- Policy and procedures, resource development, evaluation
- Utilised including councilors for promotion opportunities
- Knox 155,000 population
Evaluation- AuSSi
Certificate- ‘this is to certify that ___________is an Landcare School
- Partnerships important to develop.
- Involvement –development of SEMPS commitment of school, leadership teams, empowerment of students
- Project Officer- support professional learning – related to Australian Curriculum, inquiry learning in science.
- Inquiry model and how to evaluate learning
◦ Ref. Lorna Earle-
▪ assessment of learning
▪ assessment as learning
▪ assessment for learning
Evaluation tools
- Student interviews
- Team meetings
- School newsletters
- Expert feedback
Informal evaluation
- Conversations with teachers, students community
- Conversations with sustainability experts
- Professional learning
- School visits
- Study tours
Formal evaluations by project officers of and as learning
- SEMP
- School reporting processes
- Kids4kids workshop
- School case studies
- Survey twice a year
- Case study booklet
Independent formal evaluations
- Hierarchy of outcomes
- School, project and individual outcomes
- Developing networks and partnerships
- Improvement in teacher understanding
- Effectiveness of officers
Characteristics of evaluation
Student survey- wiki workshop- guidelines on how to establish a wiki, place to put together all the information to share.- Hutchins School
Approach to evaluation- AuSSi-Tas wikki for ideas
- Used social media set up questions and framework and empower people by participating in the process
- Commitment to inspiring learning
- Teachers and student learning
- Empowering and developmental learning
Participatory evaluation-
- Using social software- survey monkey
- Negotiation- flexible guidelines
- Survey monkeys, 50% responses
Behavioral change-
- more connected, purposeful and that they could make a difference,
- acceptance and sharing of ideas,
- self esteem, curiosity, professional learning all valued
School Online Resources-
◦ presentations, sites- websites
- Glogster- online poster
- Wiki
- Facebook as a people mobiliser
