The Results: Frank produces a vegetable garden relatively easily and in a short amount of time, although he will have to start the process over again if he wants to grow vegetables again next year.


The Results: Through her longer-term commitment, and continuing care, Fiona produces trees that provide both shade and fruit, and survive for many years, although it takes several seasons before she sees the results of her hard work.


As you can see from these two gardening stories, different situations require different approaches. The same is true for teaching and for encouraging behavior change in students. Depending on what you want the end result to be, the way you set about achieving your goal may also differ.


Which gardener do you relate to as an environmental educator?


You can relate to Frank if you… • Have a limited time period in which to teach students • Seek to produce results in the short-term • Are less concerned about long-term results • Work with many different groups of students over a limited timeframe


• Start from the beginning with each new group • Target student characteristics that are most amenable to change


You can relate to Fiona if you… • Have a relatively long time period in which to teach students


• Seek to produce results that will last/be durable • Are less concerned about results in the short-term • Work with the same group of students over an extended timeframe


• Can build on previous environmental education programs • Target student characteristics that are deeply embedded and likely to be difficult to change


While some of us may work with twenty students every day for a year in a classroom setting, others engage thousands of students once a year at zoos or botanical gardens. Whatever your educational setting, there are specific strategies you can use to foster environmental behavior change.


The Franks:


If you are a “Frank”, you are likely providing short-term, unique, and memorable experiences for students. Perhaps you work at a museum, coordinate exciting annual events or conduct workshops. Like Frank’s vegetable garden, your experiences with students may be significantly limited by time. There are certain behavior change strategies that are likely to be particularly appropriate in these situations. Specifically, creating supportive environments for behavior change and fostering different types of knowledge, described below, can be important first steps.


Supportive Environments: The six strategies below help to cultivate a supportive environment for behavior change: • Resources – Be sure to provide the range of materials or access that participants may lack and that prevent them from engaging in the target behaviors.2


These may


include material needs, access to funding for teachers and other leaders you work with, educational resources for future lessons, opportunities for collaboration with other institutions, or even simply the time to learn and practice a behavior in a supportive setting.


• Attention restoration – Individuals have a limited ability to concentrate, which is easily used up in this age of elec- tronic equipment and multi-tasking, leaving us feeling burned-out and mentally fatigued. This strategy suggests that it is important to provide opportunities for individuals to restore their capacity to direct attention (i.e. helping participants focus). This occurs through pathways such as spending time in nature, in quiet individual thought, or meditation. When properly restored, individuals are more focused, relaxed and personable.3


• Exploration – Draw on people’s innate desire to be always discovering, testing, and improving their knowledge, skills, and competencies at their own pace.4


All students learn


differently, and this allows individuals to tailor their learn- ing to their own particular style and needs, which leads to greater retention of knowledge. Challenging students to design their own solar energy ovens is one example of a program that allows students to explore at their own pace.


GREEN TEACHER 89 Page 9


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52