Nonformal Educational Settings

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe E. Heimlich ◽  
Jennifer D. Adams ◽  
Marc J. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Education ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Field Trips ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Educational Opportunities ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Community Institution ◽  
Urban Environmental Education ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Sports Leagues

This chapter examines the pedagogy of nonformal environmental education for urban audiences, focusing on different types of urban nonformal educational opportunities and situating them in the lives of urbanites using the concept of “learningscapes.” Urban nonformal environmental education involves relating environmental content to the everyday lives of urban learners, ensuring learner autonomy, and integrating the institutions of environmental education providers within the broader array of social institutions in the urban environment. Nonformal urban environmental education programs according to participant choice and goals and provider goals include school field trips or related programs, casual visit to a community institution (for example, nature center), and recreational programs. The chapter suggests that urban environmental education providers have unique opportunities for connecting beyond traditional audiences due to the dense and diverse networks of programs within urban environments, from youth sports leagues to literacy clubs and neighborhood watches.

Adventure Education

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Mitten ◽  
Lewis Ting On Cheung ◽  
Wanglin Yan ◽  
Robert Withrow-Clark
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Education ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Adventure Education ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Urban Environmental Education ◽  
Group Experiences

This chapter examines the benefits of adventure education and of pairing adventure and environmental education in urban environments. By participating in outdoor activities, people learn about their surroundings and places they might not otherwise visit. These group experiences enhance social ties and may promote pro-environmental behaviors, which contribute to ecosystem health and human well-being as well as urban sustainability. Benefits of adventure education include positive relationships with self, other people, places, and the natural world. After explaining what adventure education is, the chapter considers adventure education in urban areas such as metropolitan Hong Kong, Minneapolis (Minnesota), and Japan. It shows that adventure education can be used by educators as a catalyst for urban environmental education.

Four Asian Tigers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geok Chin Ivy Tan ◽  
John Chi-Kin Lee ◽  
Tzuchau Chang ◽  
Chankook Kim
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Field Trips ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Urban Environmental Education ◽  
Environmentally Responsible ◽  
Technology Partnerships ◽  
Asian Tigers ◽  
Environmentally Responsible Behaviors

This chapter describes innovative approaches, both within schools and across multiple sectors, to urban environmental education in the highly urbanized environments of Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Seoul. Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea—the so-called “Four Asian Tigers”—pursued aggressive industrialization to boost economic growth, resulting in rapid urbanization. Today their cities are faced with acute urban problems. As each of these highly urbanized cities faces the complex challenges that come with development, they turned to urban environmental education to foster environmental awareness and environmentally responsible behaviors. The chapter examines the strategies adopted by Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Seoul, such as integrating environmental education into the school curriculum, inquiry-based field trips, technology, partnerships, and urban environmental centers.

Educator Professional Development

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Franzen ◽  
Cynthia Thomashow ◽  
Mary Leou ◽  
Nonyameko Zintle Songqwaru
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Field Experiences ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Urban Environmental Education ◽  
Professional Development Model ◽  
Environmental Educators

This chapter describes a conceptual framework for professional development in urban environmental education. Urban environmental education includes the use of urban environments as a learning context that leads to collective action—that is, working with stakeholders within a community to establish a common agenda, learn about the forces that impact environmental conditions, and find venues to influence change from within the community. Learning about local resources through active participation and immersion in field experiences may help educators, as well as youths, see connections within their communities. The chapter outlines professional development strategies for environmental educators working with urban audiences and in urban settings, in both schools and nonformal programs. Six elements of a professional development model for urban environmental education are discussed: interdisciplinary and integrated content, context, pedagogy, resources, field experiences, and professional learning communities.

Reconfiguring urban environmental education with ‘shitgull’ and a ‘shop’

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1379-1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauliina Rautio ◽  
Riikka Hohti ◽  
Riitta-Marja Leinonen ◽  
Tuure Tammi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Education ◽  
Urban Environmental Education

Participatory Urban Planning

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Rudd ◽  
Karen Malone ◽  
M’Lis Bartlett
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
La Paz ◽  
Underrepresented Groups ◽  
Urban Environmental Education ◽  
Child Friendly

This chapter examines how integrated, participatory design and urban environmental education can enhance learning, ownership, agency, and long-term sustainability of place. Drawing on recent efforts to articulate a global urban sustainability agenda, it considers the ways that urban environmental education can help integrate the participation of underrepresented groups—such as children, youth, and low-income and minority residents—in urban planning while also improving urban planning outcomes. The chapter presents a case study that illustrates outcomes of engaging young people in urban planning: the Child Friendly Bolivia project in La Paz, Bolivia. It shows that engaging youth and underrepresented groups in urban planning offers a unique opportunity to address concerns about equity and to engage multiple innovative perspectives. It suggests that the tools of participatory urban planning and environmental education may help create more sustainable cities for all.

Urban Agriculture

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Illène Pevec ◽  
Soul Shava ◽  
John Nzira ◽  
Michael Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Education ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Job Skills ◽  
Vacant Lots ◽  
Urban Environmental Education ◽  
Hydroponic Systems ◽  
Small Livestock

This chapter considers school gardens in North America and urban agriculture in South Africa as sites for urban environmental education. Urban agriculture encompasses rooftop and community gardens, greenhouses, hydroponic systems, plant nurseries, small livestock husbandry, and vertical farms, located indoors, on vacant lots, on roofs, and on postindustrial landscapes, among other sites. Urban environmental education taking place in urban agriculture sites can integrate intergenerational and multicultural learning and contribute to environmental and science knowledge, positive youth development, job skills, and improved diets. It can also enhance social capital, environmental quality, and economic development. The chapter looks at examples of recent policies and practices strengthening urban agriculture and environmental education.

Sustainable Campuses

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Ashmann ◽  
Felix Pohl ◽  
Dave Barbier
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Environmental Stewardship ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Urban Environmental Education

This chapter examines sustainable urban campuses and their impact on their students and local communities. It also considers elements of green infrastructure, learning, and community through the lens of urban environmental education trends, namely: City as Classroom, Problem Solving, and Environmental Stewardship. After providing an overview of aspects of sustainable university campuses, the chapter discusses the ways that such campuses address urban sustainability related to infrastructure, teaching and learning, as well as connections to the community. It shows that the built environment and lifestyles are important for urban campuses, given their location in areas of highly concentrated buildings and dense human population. It argues that environmental education in cities can benefit from harnessing the power that lies within a university campus's academic, infrastructural, and community-related resources.

Sense of Place

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer D. Adams ◽  
David A. Greenwood ◽  
Mitchell Thomashow ◽  
Alex Russ
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Education ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Sense Of Place ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Experiential Knowledge ◽  
Ecological Identity ◽  
Urban Environmental Education ◽  
Construction Of Place ◽  
Urban Places

This chapter considers the concept of sense of place, focusing on how urban environmental education can help residents to strengthen their attachment to urban communities or entire cities and to view urban places as ecologically valuable. Sense of place—the way we perceive places such as streets, communities, cities, or ecoregions—influences our well-being, how we describe and interact with a place, what we value in a place, our respect for ecosystems and other species, how we perceive the affordances of a place, our desire to build more sustainable and just urban communities, and how we choose to improve cities. Our sense of place also reflects our historical and experiential knowledge of a place and helps us imagine its more sustainable future. The chapter offers examples of activities to help readers construct field explorations that evoke, leverage, or influence sense of place, including social construction of place meanings and developing an ecological identity.

Cities as Opportunities

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Fonseca de Andrade ◽  
Soul Shava ◽  
Sanskriti Menon
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Global South ◽  
Environmental Narratives ◽  
Urban Environmental Education ◽  
Colonial Legacies ◽  
Colonial Histories

This chapter discusses the notion of “cities as opportunities,” drawing on urban experiences lived in the broader geopolitical context of the Global South. It shows that different countries and cities present different conditions and opportunities to address multidimensional social and environmental problems. In the Global South, cities integrate into environmental narratives aspects of their colonial histories and decolonizing viewpoints, which are reflected in educational practices. Environmental education in these cities reflects the ways that people construct perspectives and narratives to frame and address social and environmental issues, while also providing models for other countries seeking to simultaneously address environmental and social justice. The chapter looks at examples of urban environmental education from three countries: South Africa, Brazil, and India. It demonstrates how the intensity of colonial legacies and environmental problems in cities in the Global South makes them “cities as opportunities” for environmental education and urban sustainability.

Reconfiguring urban environmental education with ‘shitgull’ and a ‘shop’

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
Pauliina Rautio ◽  
Riikka Hohti ◽  
Riitta-Marja Leinonen ◽  
Tuure Tammi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Education ◽  
Urban Environmental Education
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