Integrating Sustainability into School Practices

Education for sustainability remains fragmented because human knowledge of green schools and sustainability is not enough. This chapter develops a model to help school leaders and the general public to understand the importance of building green schools and implementing sustainable practices. This model provides a general overview of how to integrate sustainability into school practices. Student awareness is the key of the model, which indicates that sustainability can be realized at school if students have stronger environmental awareness. School leaders' attitudes are very decisive at the beginning of a new program. Meanwhile, school leaders have to face social pressure, which would ease the program or make it difficult to be implemented. Last but not least, some potential impacts, such as funding issues, could impact the implementation of green school practices. The chapter ends in presenting recommendations for implementing green school practices based on the proposed model.

School Safety and Green Schools

Leaders in global communities face many issues and challenges in planning, securing funding, designing, and constructing safe, sustainable green schools. This chapter provides an overview of various safety challenges that have an impact on the safety of air quality in schools and reasons why green schools are safer and healthier schools. Suggestions are provided in each section to help administrators and districts move conventionally constructed schools closer to green safe spaces for students, staff, and teachers.

PPBES

The chapter is intended to examine the effort of a progressive school district toward advocating for the green school initiative. The school district's employment of the Planning, Programing, Budgeting, and Evaluation System to implementing green school concepts is reviewed for its effectiveness. The school district's green school effort is observed in the areas of new school construction, existing school renovations, school operational practices, and curriculum integration. While the school district continues its commitment to environmental greenness, suggestions are made to improve the implementation process. The chapter ends in highlighting the long-term benefits of green school initiative.

“Green” Teaching and Learning in Schools

This chapter addresses the importance of shaping the school's teaching and learning culture to exert a powerful influence on students in regard to environmental conservation. The chapter presents 19 successful and practical examples of “teaching green” in action contributed by practicing elementary and secondary school teachers. How to contact the contributors is also provided in the chapter.

Green Schools as Teaching Tools

This chapter is meant to serve as both a resource and as an aid for K-12 teachers who are interested in incorporating the philosophy and various aspects of the green school into their day-to-day teaching activities. A working definition of green schools and a summary of their benefits are presented as background information for teachers unfamiliar with the movement. Suggested steps for greening schools and classrooms are provided for those who may be interested in advancing the concept in their particular situations. Throughout the chapter, the school is highlighted as a laboratory for practicing conservation. To that end, discrete elements of green design are presented as suggested subject areas. Successful green school programs are identified as an additional resource. Finally, suggested green activities for the classroom are provided for interested instructors.

Green Technology for Green Schools

Technology systems typically are high-energy consumers especially when considering the distinct number of systems encountered in education. Efforts at curbing this consumption to create an efficient technology environment require well-developed tactical and strategic plans. Organizations can begin this journey by developing a road map for a sustainability program. Three technologies, cloud computing, server virtualization, and desktop virtualization, offer great promise and should be a part of the green roadmap for schools. Cloud computing capitalizes on the power of broadband networking to engage needed resources regardless of location and thus creates synergies to reduce energy consumption. Server virtualization allows the school to reduce the number of servers needed while increasing server optimization within the organization. Desktop virtualization meets multiple goals and objectives; it reduces energy and lowers related costs, while at the same time providing more control and flexibility in meeting the technology needs of the organization. This chapter discusses these technologies, their impact, and encourages school administrators to develop strategic as well as tactical plans for creating an energy efficient technology approach.

The School Walls Teach

This chapter draws on the extant literature and interviews with experts in the field as it relates to how students become involved and learn from the features of the school facility itself. In this chapter, three tiers of learning are suggested as overlapping and complementary means of learning in and from the built and natural environment. These include a reflective and visible one in which students have the opportunity to learn from features of the building through labeling, signage, and design features that foreground the design itself. Active learning opportunities are the foundation of the second approach. Involvement in green initiatives at the school and in the community is the basis for the third approach. Planning undergirds all three approaches.

Green School Principals

Green schools are places for children to learn and environments for leaders and teachers to flourish. In this chapter, the authors examine why green schools are more inviting, more receptive to creativity, and more open to learning for everyone. Further, the authors postulate that creating a positive environment for learning is tasked to today's green school leaders who are using authentic instruction to academically challenge students and engage them in issues that have personal or social significance. Finally, the authors conclude that green school leaders are environmental advocates influenced by the need to take action, to inculcate problem-based learning strategies, and to increase knowledge about the environment; yet, maintaining the balance of creativity and cooperation is critical to the effective operation of green schools.

An Ecological Originated Design in Education Structures

Diminishing natural resources have increased the prominence and implementation of approaches to sustainable planning, design, and application. Green schools minimize environmental impact by promoting environmentally friendly attitudes, reducing the need for infrastructure facilities, and using recycling as a strategy both during and after their construction. As with other green buildings, green schools reduce dependency on fossil fuels and thus limit the emission of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Concerning global warming, green schools have the capacity to “turn back time,” creating learning circles that elicit solutions from their student bodies. In this chapter, the authors explore the economic, ecological, and social dimensions of green schools by means of a case study of an education campus in Adana, Turkey. The authors aim to elucidate how green schools may be effective in the conservation of future resources in architectural sustainability.

Green School Characteristics, Sustainability, and Student Learning

An exploration of learning environments within and around green schools provides the basis for this chapter. One of its most important goals is to encourage research on where students learn and the quantity of information that students learn, with parallel emphasis on sustainability, school design, and green schools. A general theme is to encourage the study of green schools within the broader context of the total physical environment, while viewing learning experiences and achievement of students through social, economic, efficacy, and sustainability perspectives. Several sustainable design perspectives are included in this chapter, and findings in five areas of school design research are associated with selected green school concepts. As a rather unique component akin to the affective dimension of explaining research findings, acknowledgement of the biophilia hypothesis is suggested as an alternative pathway to view context and enhance depth in research methods, procedures, and interpretation.