Environmental education (About the EoE)
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Environmental education
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The term environmental education (EE) has been used synonymously with environmental science, conservation education, nature study or outdoor education. Though it has evolved from these fields, EE is considered to be conceptually distinct. Many definitions of EE have been offered in the past 40 years. No single definition has been universally accepted. The National Environmental Education Advisory Council defines EE as a learning process that increases people’s knowledge and awareness about the environment and environmental issues or problems, develops the necessary skills and expertise to address them, and fosters attitudes, motivations, and commitments to make informed decisions and take responsible action.
The end goal of EE is the sustained adoption of environmentally responsible behaviors. This is not a particular type of environmental action, instead it is behavior based on critical evaluation of the situation. For example, using cloth diapers might be an environmentally responsible option for some parents of young children; however, in more arid areas, it may be more appropriate to use disposable diapers, because water is a scarce resource there. In such cases, EE would not instruct the individual about the type of diapers that should be used, instead it would help them analyze the problem and determine the appropriate solution given the situation. Simply teaching individuals more about the environment is not sufficient to create this type of a behavioral response. As a result, EE seeks to build critical thinking skills. It also provided information that will lead to the development of skills in issue investigation and evaluation strategies to empower and motivate individuals to effect change.
History
Initially, some environmental educators believed that simply teaching about the environment and environmental issues or problems would instigate individuals to take action. Researchers soon found, however, that building cognitive knowledge and raising awareness about the environment was not sufficient to elicit action. As a result, definitions of EE began to include other factors that would influence an individual’s decision to act. In 1969, William Stapp and his colleagues and students defined EE as being “aimed at producing a citizenry that is knowledgeable concerning the biophysical environment and its associated problems, aware of how to help solve these problems, and motivated to work toward their solution”. This is one of the earliest accepted definitions of EE. Later, conferences such as the International Workshop on Environmental Education held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1975 used it to guide the creation of a global framework for environmental education – the Workshop on Environmental Education Belgrade Charter. According to this document, the goal of EE is “to develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about the environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations, and to work individually and collectively towards solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones”.
In 1977, the first intergovernmental conference on environmental education was held at Tbilisi, Georgia. The outcome of this conference was the Tbilisi Declaration. The goals and objectives of EE that were identified in this document have been widely accepted as the foundation for most EE efforts
In recent years, the focus has begun to shift toward Education for Sustainability. This new vision for education has its roots in EE and the principles identified in the Tbilisi Declaration. This proposed reorientation of education focuses not just on sustainability in terms of the environment but also includes poverty, population, health, food, security and other factors. Authors of the Thessaloniki Declaration (1998) stated that the field of environmental education has evolved to include global issues such as these and could therefore be referred to as education for environment and sustainability.
Research
Figure 1. Traditional K-A-B model. (Source: Author) 
Figure 2. Hines model of responsible environmental behavior. (Source: Author) Some EE research has focused on developing models of EE. According to the traditional model of EE (see Figure 1), increasing knowledge about the environment, would change people’s attitudes and result in environmental action. Later research showed that this model was not valid. Due to limited research in the field, in 1986/87 Hines, Hungerford and Tomera used research from related fields such as education, psychology and political science to develop a model for environmentally responsible behavior (see Figure 2). According to this model, intent to act was a more accurate predictor of behavior than actual environmental action. This is because a number of factors might affect people’s ability to act in a situation, and some of these are outside their control. If any of these factors were changed, those individuals would be more likely to act in an environmentally responsible manner if they had expressed an intention to act.
In 1990, Hungerford and Volk built on Hines’ model to develop a more elaborate model of environmentally responsible behavior (see Figure 3). In this model the factors that influence behavior are divided into three categories – entry-level variables, ownership variables and empowerment variables. Some of these variables are teachable and are the focus of various EE curricula.
EE Curricula
A number of different curricular resources for EE are available. Some of the most commonly used ones include resources from Project Learning Tree, Project WILD and Project WET. These guides include activities that are correlated to most national and state subject standards for K-12 education. Another well-known EE resources is Windows on the Wild, which was developed by the World Wildlife Fund.
A noteworthy EE resource is the Investigating and Evaluating Environmental Issues and Action (IEEIA) modules. They were developed based on the models of environmentally responsible behavior. The IEEIA moduels are among a very limited number EE resources that have research finidngs which document the educational efficacy of using them to instigate environmentally responsible behavior among participants.
