Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2019 - EDUC 452 D200

Environmental Education (8)

Class Number: 4184

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Location: TBA

  • Prerequisites:

    EDUC 401W/402W or corequisite EDUC 403. Students may be required to successfully complete a Criminal Record Check.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines the educational problems entailed in developing human awareness and understanding of the environment. Explores environmental issues through a multi-disciplinary approach and relates historical and contemporary problems in human-environment interactions to school curricula from the elementary to the secondary level. Includes a laboratory component. Grading will be on a pass/fail basis. A field activity fee will be levied in this course. Normally offered in summer session only. Students with credit for EDUC 454 may not take this course for further credit. Quantitative/Breadth-Science.

COURSE DETAILS:

Please note that there is a mandatory info session for students who have successfully registered for this section (D200) of EDUC 452 on April 10, 2019 from 4:30pm to 5:30pm at the Surrey Campus (Galleria 5, room 5060).

NOTE: Registration for the Haida Gwaii section of EDUC 452 is limited to students enrolled in the EE related module (SEEDs) or enrolled in the EE Minor (departmental consent required).


COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

This course will examine the educational problems entailed in developing human awareness and understanding of the environment. The course will explore environmental issues through a multidisciplinary approach and will relate historical and contemporary issues in human-environment interactions to school curricula from the elementary to the secondary level.

Summer Session 2019 Haida Gwaii (August 05-19); Various locations.

In this course students will:

  • develop appropriate models and methods for the learning and teaching of Environmental Education (EE) in both formal and informal educational settings.
  • critically evaluate available Environmental Education (EE) instructional materials and resources from a variety of sources including web, video and print based materials.
  • compare and contrast the Integrated Resource Packages (IRPs) and Resource guidelines published by the Ministry of Education with other published EE guidelines.
  • consider a variety of perspectives in the interpretation of Environmental Education (EE) including regulatory, socio-economic, legalistic, aesthetic and scientific frameworks.

Grading

  • Grading will be on a pass/fail basis.

NOTES:

A Field Activity fee of $150.82 will be levied in this course.

An important item for students to process before our first class is the 'Environmental Learning and Experience" document published by the BC Ministry of Education.  This guide will serve as the conceptual framework for our course (and for Environmental Education in general). 

Please download and read this document before you arrive  (you may also want to bring along a printout as well) 

Environmental Learning and Experience

Additional Orientation: I am also planning to organize a morning or afternoon pre-departure workshop including David Zandvliet where we can talk about gear, clothing and other specifics before our field experience.  I will also be bringing a resource to this workshop called Project Wet.  I hope to schedule this session at the Burnaby campus sometime in late June (possibly on a Friday)

REQUIREMENTS:

Please note that there is a mandatory info session for students who have successfully registered for this section (D200) of EDUC 452 on April 10, 2019 from 4:30pm to 5:30pm at the Surrey Campus (Galleria 5, room 5060).

Students will complete the following course assignments on a pass/fail basis:

  • Attend an information session prior to the course start date (4:30pm, April 10th, 2019 (Wed) Surrey Campus (Galleria 5, room 5060)
  • Develop and present lesson plans for the educational use of EE resources
  • Prepare a written evaluation of an EE educational resource available in print or on the web
  • Develop a strategy for Environmental Education at the classroom, school or district level
  • Participate in a volunteer experience project with a local or community-based group
  • Prepare a portfolio of their own design that may include aspects of all of the above plus demonstrates a mastery of concepts and experiences component to the course

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

Activity Fee: There is a mandatory activity fee of $150.82 dollars to cover Fieldtrip and retreat expenses and will be charged at the time of enrollment. Students should also budget a small amount for copying.

Readings: Readings will be provided from a variety government, on-line sources and current education journals. There will be no textbook. As this is a an experiential Field Experience on Haida Gwaii with little or no internet connection throughout the program students should consider bringing hard-copies or eCopies of readings

Journaling materials: As this is a an experiential Field Experience on Haida Gwaii students should consider bringing equipment to assist their daily journaling and reflections.

Environmental Artifact: Please bring what we like to call your "environmental artifact."  This will be a poem, story, photo, object, book, or whatever that speaks to your interest in place, nature, environment (broadly defined) or to environmental education/learning.  We will be using these for an important ice-breaking activity early on in the course.  So, bring the item, but also be prepared to share it around the circle and to tell a short story about it.

REQUIRED READING:

Readings: in pairs or trios one reading will be chosen/assigned to each pair/trio for sharing out in seminar format. The objective of this share-out is to reflect on relevance of the article to Place and Nature-based Environmental Learning in the context of the Haida Gwaii field experience.

Ho, YCJ., Block, S. & Blenkinsop, S. (2017). Multifaceted Jewel: Outdoor education in Canada. In MT, Huang & YCJ. Ho (Eds.) The Budding and Blooming of Outdoor Education in Diverse Global Contexts.Taiwan: National Academy for Educational Research. [Reading 10]

Gruenewald, D. (2003). The Best of Both Worlds: A Critical Pedagogy of Place. Educational Researcher, 32(4), 3-12. [Reading 03]

Hart, Paul, Jickling, Bob, & Kool, Richard. (1999). Starting Points: Questions of Quality in Environmental Education. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 4, 104-124. [Reading 06]

Jickling, B., Blenkinsop, S., Morse, M., & Jensen, A. (2018). Wild Pedagogies: Six Initial Touchstones for Early Childhood Environmental Educators. Australian Journal of Environmental Education,34 (2), 159-171. doi:10.1017/aee.2018.19 [Reading 07]

McKeon, Margaret. (2012). Two-Eyed Seeing into Environmental Education: Revealing Its "Natural" Readiness to Indigenize. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 17, 131-147. [Reading 04]

Root, Emily. (2010). This Land Is Our Land? This Land Is Your Land: The Decolonizing Journeys of White Outdoor Environmental Educators. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 15, 103-119. [Reading 02]

Sauve, Lucie. (2005). Currents in Environmental Education: Mapping a Complex and Evolving Pedagogical Field. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 10(1), 11-37. [Reading 01

Smith, G. (2002). Place-Based Education: Learning to Be Where We are. Phi Delta Kappan Magazine, 83(8), 584-594. [Reading 05]

Spooner, M. (2018). A Life History of Place: A Future Place for Life Histories? 

Qualitative Inquiry,25 (5), 513-522. doi:10.1177/1077800418817840 [Reading 09]

Wilson, J., & Nelson-Moody, A. (2019). Looking Back to the Potlatch as a Guide to Truth, Reconciliation, and Transformative Learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning,2019 (157), 43-57. doi:10.1002/tl.20329 [Reading 08]

RECOMMENDED READING:

Readings in Place Suggestions: choose one or two readings or excerpts from these anthology references or something you have found on your own to use as a reflective writing prompt in your journals, and as inspirational share-out with the group. 

Matre, S. V., & Weiler, B. (1992). The Earth speaks: An acclimatization journal. Cedar Cove, Greenville, WV: Institute for Earth Education.

Plant, C., & Plant, J. (1990). Turtle talk: Voices for a sustainable future. Philadelphia, PA: New Society.

Sauer, P. H. (1992). Finding home: Writing on nature and culture from Orion magazine. Boston: Beacon Press.

Seed, J. (2007). Thinking like a mountain: Towards a council of all beings. Gabriola Island, BC: New Catalyst Books.

Weiss, J. (2018). Shaping the future on Haida Gwaii : Life beyond settler colonialism / Joseph Weiss.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS