Is there one book that you think every environmental educator should read? Is it Silent Spring, perhaps? Or Walden? The Natural History of Selbourne, maybe, or A Sand County Almanac? Then there’s Last Child in the Woods, Small is Beautiful or The Web of Life. The Prelude, perchance, The Deserted Village, or The Mores? And Emile? And what about Bedford 2046, Marx’s…
We were pleased to see that spending time in nature was in the list that the Duke of Edinburgh Award put forward as its definitive list of character hacks for teenagers today – 25 experiences every young person should have the chance to try. This is based on ideas “vital for building character” put forward…
Geographical regularly publishes reviews of significant books. Here are links to some of its recent output: Jared Diamond’s UPHEAVAL: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change Edward O Wilson’s GENESIS: On the Deep Origin of Societies James Lovelock’s Novacene: the coming age of hyperintelligence Lewis Dartnell’s Origins: how the Earth made us Andrew Blum’s Weather Machine: how we see into the…
This is the latest update from Natural England in relation to Nature & Schools; Learning & Development. . Psychological benefits of a biodiversity-focussed outdoor learning program for primary school children DJ Harvey et al – Journal of Environmental Psychology This investigation sought to discover whether engaging school children with nature could produce sustained improvements in mood…
Zamzam Ibrahim, the President of SOS_UK and the NUS has written to the Prime Minister reminding him that, thirty years ago, Margaret Thatcher called for urgent action on the greenhouse effect at the UN General Assembly. The letter asks for his personal help in ensuring that the education system is a central pillar of the Government’s strategy on…
This is the text of the letter sent this week by Zamzam Ibrahim, the President of SOS_UK and the NUS to the Prime Minister reminding him that, thirty years ago, Margaret Thatcher called for urgent action on the greenhouse effect at the UN General Assembly. The letter asks for the Prime Minister’s personal help in ensuring that…
In an article in The Conservation, Bobby Duffy (King’s College London) writes that “people still don’t realise how bad the world’s climate and natural environment have become. Misperceptions about climate change and the ecological crisis are all too clear from a new survey of Americans that tested their understanding of how far the problem has…
The New Zealand Government has announced new resourcing for teaching climate change in schools. Education Minister Chris Hipkins said that students will be taught “the role science plays in understanding climate change, aids understanding of both the response to it and its impacts – globally, nationally and locally – and explores opportunities to contribute to reducing…
Today’s blog is by Morgan Phillips, an NAEE trustee. Its focus is the request from Global Action Plan (GAP) and Reboot the Future for organisations to join them on a project to reframe environmental education. The project is grounded in research into the importance of values to the development of environmental attitudes and behaviours. Morgan Phillips is working on…
Our Chair of Trustees, Bill Scott, here reflects on a 40 year-old publication from HMI. He writes in a personal capacity. The text that follows is a brief extract from a long 1979 HMI publication: Curriculum 11-16 Working papers by HM Inspectorate (second edition, 1979). The section on environmental education is on pages 71 to 74. The whole…