The overwhelming majority of American adults support environmental education being taught in schools but teachers wanting to include environmental education within their classrooms face several formidable challenges. Instructional materials are widely scattered and are often of questionable quality. Though not an exhaustive list of what is…

An action of an individual or a societal action that has an impact on other societies constitutes a "global issue." Global climate change, airborne toxins, ozone depletion, and solid waste management are a few of the global issues concerning the environment. This digest discusses methods by which students learn about global issues and…

In the information age of instant access to libraries, databases, information centers, organizations, government agencies, and self-appointed experts worldwide, it is hard to decide where to turn for accurate, reliable, and up-to-date information about science education. This digest provides an annotated listing of World Wide Web resources and…

The ability to think critically is essential if individuals are to live, work, and function effectively in a current and changing society. As adults, students will be living in a complex world and in a democracy where both individual and collective actions will require effective selection, processing, and use of information. National, state…

Many school staff and their client communities are concerned about pupil achievement, skills, and attitudes related to the environment. To respond to these concerns, staff need to determine how they can improve their environmental education programs by modifying the content and skills emphasized in the curriculum, and supplementing instructional…

Goals and objectives of many state and local environmental education programs have included developing students with knowledge, skills, positive attitudes and motivation to take action, to prevent and to resolve environmental problems. This digest describes variables involved in developing responsible environmental behavior and some teaching…

An informal study found that zoo visitors want to know not just the name, weight, and age of animals in a collection, but also about diet, reproduction, life span, and behavioral characteristics. What kinds of learning opportunities, beyond enhanced signage, can be offered to the sophisticated new breed of visitors in zoos, aquariums, and nature…

This digest focuses on field instruction in school settings. Major areas considered include: (1) factors contributing to the paucity of field activities; (2) whether teacher commitment to the concept of field instruction exists; (3) research on affective-realm educational values of field instruction; (4) research on cognitive-realm educational…

Research related to environmental education has consistently indicated that many students and young adults attribute a large amount of their knowledge of environmental concepts, problems, and issues to out-of-school (non-formal) educational settings and experiences. Data also indicate that students and young adults attribute much of their…

This digest addresses cognitive learning with respect to outside-the-classroom instruction at the elementary school level. It notes that affective, not cognitive, learning has traditionally been the primary objective of field instruction at all K-12 levels. Therefore, most educational research in field instruction has been mainly non-cognitive in…

Environmental Education (EE) is described as a process of moving individuals toward stewardship and ultimately a union view of the relationship of people with nature. This document presents a general tenet of EE and explores some prevalent precepts that can be a guide to fully incorporating EE into all teaching settings. The percepts are explored…

Cognitive learning related to the environment has typically been subsumed as a part of instruction in the more traditional areas of the secondary school curriculum, in particular in science and/or social studies classes. This digest contains a review of a number of studies dealing with cognitive learning in the environment, investigating the…