Environmental literacy is essential
An environmentally literate citizenry understands nature in
terms of systems. These citizens actively value and conserve natural
resources so that our state offers abundant outdoor recreation,
urban green spaces, clean air and water. This high quality of life
is vital to Wisconsin’s ability to attract and retain high tech and
global companies providing high paying jobs.
The National Science Foundation Advisory Committee found that "in
the coming decades the public will more frequently be called upon to
understand complex environmental issues, assess risk, evaluate
proposed environmental plans and understand how individual decisions
affect the environment at local and global scales (www.neefusa.org/pdf/ELR2005.pdf,
p. 79)."
Environmental education improves overall student
performance
Hawley Environmental Elementary school in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, is just one example of how an environment-based
curriculum can improve students’ academic performance.
Reading scores at Hawley exceeded all other schools in
Wisconsin that were located in similar income-level areas,
and the following year student achievement at Hawley
exceeded the state average on state tests and on nationally
normed assessments. Because of these and other achievements,
Hawley has since been recognized by the U.S. Department of
Education and other organizations as a high-performing
school that offers “hope for urban education.”
The National Environmental Education and Training
Foundation examined case studies of schools that use
environmental education as the focus for their curriculum
and found ample evidence that environmental education
improves academic performance across the curriculum. The
study found that:
- Reading and math scores improved
- Students performed better in science and social studies
- Students developed the ability to make connections and
transfer their knowledge from familiar to unfamiliar contexts
- Students learned to “do science” rather than just “learn
about science”
- Classroom discipline problems declined
- Every child had the opportunity to learn at a high level
Source:
http://www.epa.gov/enviroed/pdf/reporttocongress2005.pdf
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