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‘Hands-On and Minds-On’ – An Adventurous Approach to Ecological Understanding.
Volume 1 Number 27 - December 2003
Jon Cree
Earth education is a process of helping people live more harmoniously and joyously with the natural world. One of the key components of earth education is helping people understand the major ecological systems and communities of the planet; rather than the individual parts of life. Many educators all over the world have been touched by earth education partly due to the innovative, dynamic ways in which ecological processes are conveyed.
The key processes that maintain all life on earth are energy flow (from sun to plants and on to animals), cycling (air, water and soil nutrients), interrelationships and change. These concepts are quite abstract. For example, when has anyone actually seen sugars being made inside a leaf? The key to developing a basic comprehension of such concepts is to make them concrete through learning by doing.
In earth education this involves: Informing learners with the big concept; assimilating the concept through the use of props and metaphor and; applying new understanding to the real world. This article takes a good look at how this conceptual approach helps aid accelerated learning and contributes to learners making decisions about living more lightly on the planet.
Can you remember being taught about one of the most amazing ecological processes on the planet - photosynthesis? How did you learn? Did you draw pictures, write biochemical equations or carry out experiments? I remember wrapping leaves in strips of tin foil, then after a couple of days finding brown stripes under the foil covered areas. While this left me with the lasting impression that if you wrap leaves in tin foil they die, it didn’t really help me understand that green leaves use sunlight to make sugar from air and water.
Earth education offers an alternative approach to the ‘teacher-centred’ experimentation approach – known as the IAA model. This involves:
- information giving (including where it fits with the ‘big picture’)
- assimilation of information through an activity to make the abstract concrete
- application of the concept to the real world.
Through using this model, earth education encourages learners to live more harmoniously and joyously with the natural world. A key challenge for earth education is to help people understand the major ecological systems and communities found on our planet.
Earth education goes to great lengths to craft programmes that incorporate the principles of ‘good learning’. These include:
- understanding how and why our actions fit into a bigger picture.
- engaging both feelings and understanding
- applying learning to real life situations
- exposing learners to a range of learning styles – audio, visual and kinesthetic.
Focusing on teaching the concept of photosynthesis, learners are taken through the following stages of the IAA model:
Information
Learners are given a key concept statement that summarises the ‘big picture’. In 'Sunship Earth', a programme aimed at 9-11 year olds, the key statement is ‘The sun is the source of energy for all living things’. To reinforce the concept of energy flow, this statement is reiterated on a number of occasions. For example when looking at energy capture (photosynthesis), energy transfer (food chains) and energy use/loss (movement, eating, reproduction, etc.) Learners are given some basic information about the concept of photosynthesis – how green plants capture sunlight energy to combine carbon from air with hydrogen from water to make sugars.
Assimilation (through Active Participation)
Learners are invited to venture inside a giant model leaf or ‘food factory’. Their mission is to ‘spy’ on the chloroplasts to find out how green leaves make sugar using sunlight energy. Learners don green ‘chlorospy’ hats and crawl up the stem of the leaf, only to discover that they have to make the sugars themselves! This action takes the following form:
- Air enters a hole in the side of the leaf (a giant stomata) in the form of two golf balls, attached to represent a carbon dioxide molecule (golf balls are attached using a fabric called ‘velcro’).
- Water rushes up the stem in the form of another two golf balls, again attached.
- Chlorospies have to join the carbon molecule to the hydrogen molecule. However, when they try to do this they learn that it is not possible. Realisation dawns on them that they need the sun's energy - again represented as a golf ball. This particular golf ball, however, has the velcro attached in such a way that allows the carbon molecules to be joined to the hydrogen molecules with the oxygen still attached.
- ‘Hey Presto!’ the chlorospies discover how to make a carbohydrate or sugar. These molecules are popped into a ‘top secret’ chlorophyll box – a large chloroplast.
- The remaining oxygen molecules are sent back out of the leaf through the exit hole.
- On finishing their mission, the chlorospies leave the ‘food factory’ where they are offered slices of orange or apple – a product of the process they’ve just been through.
Application
- Learners are asked to apply what they have just learnt to the world around them. They are asked to find something that converts sunlight energy into sugars and to identify the various stages involved in the process. It is essential to complete this stage of the learning process outside where photosynthesis is happening all around.
In earth education, the ecological story of life has been boiled down to four key concepts: Food Factory, Energy Flow and Cycling, Interrelationships and Change. At every stage we look at how humans are tied into these systems and the effects we have on them. Supporting each concept is a collection of activities designed to help learners build up an emotional bond with the earth and its life. These activities involve first-hand contact with nature and encourage learners to share their thoughts and feelings about the natural world. The essential ingredients of all activities, often referred to as ‘the glue’, are magic and adventure. In all programmes there is a final and all-important element that encourages the learners to examine their own lifestyles and how they can change to help maintain the ecological processes and share their experiences with others. This final stage is based on the understandings and feelings gained throughout the programmes. If you are interested in any of the programmes, activities, materials, training opportunities or the organisation, then please get in touch. We look forward to hearing from more practitioners.
Résumé
L’éducation à la planète est un processus qui aide les gens à vivre plus harmonieusement et plus joyeusement avec le monde naturel. Un des composants clé de l’éducation à la planète est d’aider les gens à comprendre les principaux écosystèmes et communautés du monde, plutôt que des petites parcelles de vie. De nombreux éducateurs dans le monde ont été touchés par l’éducation à la planète, en partie grâce aux façons innovantes et dynamiques de présenter les processus écologiques.
Les processus clé qui permettent la vie sur terre sont l’apport d’énergie (du soleil vers les plantes puis vers les animaux), les cycles (de l’air, de l’eau et des matières organiques du sol), les inter-relations et les échanges. Ces concepts sont plutôt abstraits. Par exemple, qui a pu observer la fabrication de sucres à l’intérieur d’ une feuille ? La solution pour permettre une compréhension minimum de tels concepts est de les rendre concrets au moyen d’un apprentissage par l’action.
L’éducation à la planète, cela implique : d’informer l’apprenant sur un concept important, d’assimiler ce concept en utilisant des accessoires et des métaphores et d’appliquer cette nouvelle notion au monde réel. Cet article donne une bonne vision sur la façon dont cette approche conceptuelle aide à un apprentissage rapide et permet aux apprenants de prendre des décisions pour agir avec plus de légèreté sur la planète.
Resumen
Earth education - la educación Tierra - es un proceso para ayudar a la gente a vivir con alegría y en armonía con el mundo natural. Uno de los componentes claves del earth education es el ayudar a la gente a entender los principales sistemas ecológicos y a las comunidades ecológicas del planeta, mas que los componentes individuales de la vida. Muchos educadores en todo el mundo han sido tocados por el earth education, en parte porque presenta los procesos ecológicos de una manera innovativa y dinámica.
Los procesos claves que mantienen a toda la vida en la tierra son el flujo de la energía (del Sol a las plantas y luego a los animales), los ciclos (de aire, agua y nutrientes del suelo), las interrelaciones, y el cambio. Estos conceptos son bastantes abstractos. Por ejemplo, ¿quien ha visto el desarrollo de los azucares dentro de una hoja? La clave para llegar a una comprensión de estos conceptos es la de convertirlos en realidad con las actividades de la enseñanza.
En earth education se informa sobre los grandes conceptos; se asimila el concepto con el uso de los objetos y las metáforas y se aplica lo que se ha aprendido al mundo real. Este artículo estudia con detalle como este método conceptual ayuda a acelerar el proceso de aprendizaje y contribuye a que los que aprendan puedan tomar decisiones que impacten menos sobre el planeta en el que vivimos.
About the Author
Jon Cree is Co-International Training Co-ordinator for The Institute for Earth Education and Education and Training Officer for Bishops Wood Centre, Worcestershire Education Authority, UK. Jon can be contacted via his email address: training@earthed.org.uk
For further information about the Institute contact www.eartheducation.com. Each major branch also has its own website. The UK branch website is http://www.eartheducation.org.uk/
