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I've been asked to think about what an environmental education looks like, what things we need, what do we want?
For most of these things it was really hard for me to answer. Mainly because I think it's a lot like EdTech, sure we need things, but more than that we need a shift in how teachers think and interact with students.
More than anything, I think we need time for teachers and students to be outside, slightly unstructured but thinking and looking, this probably isn't the biggest seller in a standards, university focused world.
But students with time develop great systems thinking habits, they are passionately curious and are able to think creatively because their imagination has been developed. They are used to being bored so they understand more about what it means to create things. I feel they just understand more, and appreciate more.
We need people to stop thinking about specific skills students will gain, especially in a world where climate change is happening. What the individual gains for themselves isn't so important, we need to focus on what we will gain for our planet, how we can all make a difference for our shared survival, not my immediate gain.
But still, I need to think about these things. So any help would be great, what do we need to start something focused on environmental education, what skills will students develop, where do we go from here?
