In Accord with Nature: Helping Students Form an Environmental Ethic Using Outdoor Experience and Reflection.

ERIC/CRESS, Appalachia Educational Laboratory, P.O. Box 1348, Charleston, WV 25325-1348; Web site: http://www.ael.org/eric/ ($19).

N

189

Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC.

Practitioners; Teachers

Consciousness Raising; Conservation (Environment); Educational Strategies; Elementary Secondary Education; Environmental Education; Ethics; Experiential Learning; Learning Activities; Outdoor Education; Values Clarification; Values Education; World Views

978-1-880785-20-1

This book demonstrates how educators and youth leaders can help middle-school and older students understand and define their relationship with nature and learn the importance of protecting the environment. Chapter 1 defines environmental ethics and discusses biocentric and anthropocentric ways of seeing the world. Chapter 2 examines how ecology, nature, technology, and human communities relate to environmental ethics. Chapter 3 classifies types of environmental ethics, discusses misconceptions and excuses that act as barriers to following an environmental ethic, and provides details on specific ethics: Wise Use movement, social ecology, ecofeminism, land stewardship or management, Leopold's ecological conscience or land as community, Schweitzer's reverence for life, deep ecology or bioregionalism, indigenous or traditional ethics, animal liberation and rights, and radical ecoactivism. Chapter 4 discusses strategies for teaching environmental ethics and values, criticisms of such education in public schools, instructional challenges, and authentic assessment of student progress. Chapter 5 describes 40 outdoor and classroom activities to help students develop an environmental ethic. The activities fall into 11 categories: thinking and discussion, solo reflection, writing, nature study, questioning, codes of ethics, role models, action projects, aesthetics, literature, and games. Chapter 6 lists environmental ethics curricular resources and periodicals. A bibliography contains approximately 180 references. An index and chapter notes are included. (SV)

1999

ED425897