Environmental Education and Play

Given the urgency of environmental problems, how we communicate about our ecological relations is crucial. Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice is concerned with ways to help learners effectively navigate and consciously contribute to the communication shaping our environmental present and future. The book brings together international educators working from a variety of perspectives to engage both theory and application. Contributors address how pedagogy can stimulate ecological wakefulness, support diverse and praxis-based ways of learning, and nurture environmental change agents. Additionally, the volume responds to a practical need to increase teaching effectiveness of environmental communication across disciplines by offering a repertoire of useful learning activities and assignments. Altogether, it provides an impetus for reflection upon and enhancement of our own practice as environmental educators, practitioners, and students. Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice is an essential resource for those working in environmental communication, environmental and sustainability studies, environmental journalism, environmental planning and management, environmental sciences, media studies and cultural studies, as well as communication subfields such as rhetoric, conflict and mediation, and intercultural. The volume is also a valuable resource for environmental communication professionals working with communities and governmental and non-governmental environmental organisations.

Table of Contents

Introducing Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice Tema Milstein, Mairi Pileggi, & Eric Morgan

Section One: (Re)conceptualizing the Environmental Communication Classroom

Chapter 1. From Negotiation to Advocacy: Linking Two Approaches to Teaching Environmental Rhetoric. Garret Stack and Linda Flower

Chapter 2. Pedagogy as Environmental Communication: The Rhetorical Situations of the Classroom. Jessica Prody

Chapter 3. Environmental Communication Pedagogy: A Survey of the Field. Joy Hamilton and Mark Pedelty

Chapter 4. Breathing Life into Learning: Ecocultural Pedagogy and the Inside-Out Classroom. Tema Milstein, Maryam Alhinai, José Castro, Stephen Griego, Jeff Hoffmann, Melissa M. Parks, Maggie Siebert, and Mariko Thomas.

Section Two: Diverse Practices in Teaching Environmental Communication

Chapter 5. The Role of Social Constructionism as a Reflexive Tool in Environmental Communication Education. Lars Hallgren

Chapter 6. "Deep Impressions": The Promise and Possibilities of Intercultural Experiential Learning for Environmental Literacy and Language Attitudes. Aaron Philips

Chapter 7. Further Afield: Performance Pedagogy, Fieldwork, and Distance Learning in Environmental Communication Courses. Mark Pedelty and Joy Hamilton

Chapter 8. Arts-Based Research in the Pedagogy of Environmental Communication. Geo Takach

Chapter 9. Developing Visual Literacy Skills for Environmental Communication. Antonio Lopez

Chapter 10. Teaching Environmental Journalism Though Distance Education. Gabi Mocatta

Section Three: Transformative Practice: Nurturing Change Agents

Chapter 11. Changing Our Environmental Future: Student Praxis Through Community Inquiry. Eli Typhina

Chapter 12. Storytelling as Action. Mairi Pileggi and Eric Morgan

Chapter 13. Insider Windows in Nepal: A Critical Pedagogy for Empowering Environmental Change Agents. Grady Walker

Chapter 14. Repair Cafés - Reflecting on Materiality and Consumption in Environmental Communication. Sigrid Kannengießer

Chapter 15. Cultivating Pride: Transformative Leadership and Capacity Building in the Rare-UTEP Partnership. Carlos A. Tarin, Sarah D. Upton, Stacey K. Sowards, Kenneth C. C. Yang

Section Four: Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice Toolbox

Chapter 16. "Moral Vision Statement" Writing Assignment Instructions for Students. Carrie P. Freeman

Chapter 17. Environmental Privilege Walk: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Tema Milstein and Stephen Griego

Chapter 18. An Experiential Approach to Environmental Communication. Emily Plec.

Chapter 19. Greening Epideictic Speech. Jake Dionne

Chapter 20. Praxis-based environmental communication training: Innovative activities for building core capacities. Bridie McGreavy, Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Leah Sprain, Jessica L. Thompson, Laura Lindenfeld

Chapter 21. Image(ination) and Motivation: Challenging Definitions and Inspiring Environmental Stakeholders. Mary Stroud

Chapter 22. Using Infographics. Antonio Lopez

Chapter 23. News Media Analysis. Carrie P. Freeman

Chapter 24. Newschart Assignment. Karey Harrison

Chapter 25. Speaking for/to/as Nature. Maggie Siebert

Chapter 26. Creating Emotional Proximity with Environment. Maria Clara Valencia

Chapter 27. Growing up with Animals (on screens). Gabi Hadl

Chapter 28. The Student-Run Environmental Communication Blog. Katherine Cruger

This research seeks to increase the knowledge of the fourth graders in primary school and their attitudes towards the environment positively through immediate vicinity education. The research was carried out with the experimental design of the pre-test-post-test control group with the participation of 44 fourth graders in a private school located in the centre of Ankara. The data were obtained by applying "Ankara Environmental Booklet Achievement Test (AEBAT) and Environmental Attitude Scale (EAS)” as a pre-test and post-test to the experimental and control groups. "A Two-Factor ANOVA for Mixed Measurements" was used to compare pre-test and post-test scores. After the completion of the education process, a significant increase was found both in the AEBAT and in the EAS scores in the experimental group who were trained with Ankara Environmental Booklet and continued their official curriculum in the post-tests. However, no significant change was observed between the AEBAT and the EAS scores of the control group, who were only attending to the official curriculum, which did not receive any immediate vicinity education. It was concluded that there was no significant change in the knowledge level of the students regarding the immediate vicinity and their positive attitudes towards their environment in the control group while experimental group has developed both their academic success regarding their immediate vicinity and positive attitude towards the environment.

Primary school
Environmental knowledge
Environmental attitude

Η παρούσα έρευνα παρουσιάζει την καταγραφή και ανάλυση ενεργειών εκπαιδευτικών προσχολικής αγωγής με το ψηφιακό παιχνίδι σοβαρού σκοπού (Serious Game) “SimCityEDU”, το οποίο διαπραγματεύεται περιβαλλοντικά και κοινωνικοοικονομικά ζητήματα. Πιο συγκεκριμένα βασίζεται στην αναγνώριση σημαντικών επεισοδίων και ζητημάτων κατά τη διάρκεια της εμπειρίας του παιχνιδιού με το ψηφιακό παιχνίδι, μέσω των οποίων γίνεται προσπάθεια να εντοπιστούν οι δυσκολίες που αντιμετώπισαν οι παίκτριες και αν αυτές ξεπεράστηκαν. Επιπλέον, αναλύεται το σύστημα σκέψης που παρουσιάζουν στα πλαίσιά του και εντοπίζονται οι περιβαλλοντικές και κοινωνικοοικονομικές τους επιλογές, προκειμένου να επιλύσουν τα προβλήματα που θέτουν οι «Αποστολές» του παιχνιδιού. Απώτερος σκοπός είναι να διαπιστωθεί εάν το εν λόγω ψηφιακό παιχνίδι, είναι κατάλληλο για την εκπαίδευση εκπαιδευτικών πάνω σε περιβαλλοντικά και κοινωνικοοικονομικά ζητήματα.
Στην έρευνα συμμετείχαν εννέα εκπαιδευτικοί προσχολικής αγωγής, απόφοιτες του Τ.Ε.Ε.A.Π.Η. του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών οι οποίες παρακολουθούν το μεταπτυχιακό πρόγραμμα σπουδών του τμήματος με κατεύθυνση τη Διδακτική των Θετικών Επιστημών. Η συγκέντρωση των δεδομένων έγινε μέσω της τεχνικής της καταγραφής των αποστολών και της τεχνικής του think-aloud protocol κατά τη διάρκεια των ατομικών συναντήσεων που έγιναν με την ερευνήτρια.
Από τα αποτελέσματα προκύπτει πως το “SimCityEDU” μπορεί να συμβάλλει στην εκπαίδευση εκπαιδευτικών Προσχολικής Αγωγής γύρω από περιβαλλοντικά και κοινωνικοοικονομικά ζητήματα, καθώς οι παίκτριες φάνηκε να παρουσιάζουν βελτίωση όσον αφορά την τεχνολογική του διάσταση από τη μια αποστολή στην άλλη. Επιπλέον, καλύπτει ένα ευρύ φάσμα μεταβλητών που αφορούν περιβαλλοντικά και κοινωνικοοικονομικά ζητήματα, δίνοντας τη δυνατότητα πολλών επιλογών στις παίκτριες. Αναφορικά με τις περιβαλλοντικές επιλογές, φάνηκε να παρουσιάζουν περιβαλλοντική συνείδηση και δεν παρατηρήθηκε ιδιαίτερη διαφορά ανάμεσα στις δυο αποστολές. Σχετικά με τις κοινωνικοοικονομικές επιλογές οι οποίες σχετίζονται με την ενέργεια, την οικονομία, την πολεοδομία και τις θέσεις εργασίας, φάνηκε να μη δίνουν ιδιαίτερη σημασία σε κάποιους από αυτούς τους παράγοντες, καθώς και στη μεταξύ τους αλληλεξάρτηση. Ωστόσο, στη δεύτερη αποστολή, φάνηκε να δίνουν μεγαλύτερη σημασία στον κοινωνικοοικονομικό παράγοντα συγκριτικά με τη πρώτη.

This Master Thesis presents the recording and analysis of actions of pre-school teachers within the digital Serious Game “SimCityEDU”, which deals with environmental and socio-economic issues. More specifically, the Master Thesis is based on the recognition of important episodes and issues during the gameplay of the digital game, through which is attempted to identify the difficulties encountered by the players and if they managed to overcome them. Furthermore, it is analyzed the players’ systems thinking during gameplay and are identified their environmental and socio-economic choices, which they make in order to resolve the problems of the game’s “Missions”. The ulterior aim is to be concluded, whether this digital game is suitable for the education of teachers on environmental and socio-economic issues.
Nine preschool teachers participated in this research, who had graduated from D.E.S.E.C.E.. of the University of Patras and currently participate in the postgraduate program of the department towards “Natural Sciences, Mathematics and ICT Didacticts”. The data collection was made by the technique of missions’ recordings and the technique of think-aloud protocol during the individual meetings with the researcher.
The results show that “SimCityEDU” can contribute to preschool teachers’ education on environmental and socio-economic issues, as the players seemed to show improvement from one mission to another, regarding the technological dimension of the game. Moreover, it covers a wide range of variables, related to environmental and socio-economic issues, giving the players the opportunity of having a wide range of choices. Regarding the environmental choices of the players, they seemed to show environmental consciousness and it was not observed any particular difference between the two missions. Concerning the socio-economic choices, which relate to economy, urban planning, energy and jobs, players did not seem to pay attention to some of these factors, as well as their interdependence. However, at the second mission, they seemed to give more importance to the socio-economic factor in comparison to the first one.

Resumen: Esta investigación cualitativa se basó en la enseñanza de la Educación Ambiental (EA) a través de la experimentación principalmente con el tema de la lluvia ácida, la cual se basó en las prácticas de laboratorio, posteriormente se aplicó una cartografía social (CS) para reconocer la problemática en los contextos locales de los estudiantes de básica secundaria y finalmente se concluyó con la elaboración de Resúmenes Analíticos Educativos (RAE) para identificar la argumentación científica y ambiental. En este sentido, se contribuyó al desarrollo de consciencia ecológica y el pensamiento crítico entorno a las diferentes problemáticas ambientales que viven los estudiantes, en especial la relación con la lluvia ácida, además las prácticas lograron generar discusiones reflexivas acerca las prácticas humanas en la afectación del territorio, además permitió reflexionar de las acciones colectivas para su conservación y recuperación.

Se presenta el escrito bajo la Modalidad: Artículo de investigación científica y tecnológica. Bogotá, Colombia.

There is an urgent need of connection between diverse areas of knowledge under an interdisciplinary approach in higher education, especially, in regard to environmental issues. The learning process in higher education should promote humanist, social and political formation. Environmental education should be integrated to social practices in order to achieve sustainable development, common good and quality of life. The study here reported is aimed at both checking if the environmental themes and related actions are inserted in political-pedagogical projects (PPP) and curricular activities of universities in Vitória da Conquista, State of Bahia, Brazil; and at evaluating if the educators are cognizant of and trained in environmental education. Results show deficiencies in PPP and in curricular activities regarding the environmental theme, what confirms the need to insert an effective environmental education awareness among students and teachers.