The 2018 OISE Annual Eco-Fair is coming up this Saturday, January 27th! The OISE Library contains a wealth of resources about sustainability and environmental education. A selection of these resources will be on display at the Eco-Fair – here is just a sample of what will be available:
Nature Education with Young Children: Integrating Inquiry and Practice, edited by Daniel R. Meier and Stephanie Sisk-Hilton
Children have a fascination with nature. The authors of this book put forth nature study as a means of integrating science education across all areas of early childhood education and promoting the development of skills such as observation, problem solving, and reflection in young children. Designed for teachers of young children, this book discusses aspects of curriculum design and approaches to nature education that are appropriate for early childhood education. The book includes stories, ideas, experiences, and strategies for integrating nature education, science, and inquiry into the early childhood education context, with chapters addressing topics such as “Babies and Nature,” “Promoting Nature Study for Toddlers,” and “The Power of Wild Spaces.”
How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers, by Arden Bucklin-Sporer and Rachel Kathleen Pringle
Once a common feature in Ontario schools, school gardens are undergoing a revival. School gardens are one way of engaging children with the environment that can pay off in big ways – as this book points out, studies have shown that school gardens not only instill a sense of environmental stewardship, but they also enhance academic achievement and promote healthy lifestyles. This book provides educators with a practical resource to creating a school garden, covering everything from building a garden space, fostering community support, raising funds, and suggestions for lessons and other programming using the school garden – there is even a section containing recipes designed around a school garden harvest!
The Failure of Environmental Education (And How We Can Fix It), by Charles Saylan and Daniel T. Blumstein
This book opens on a very blunt note: “Environmental education has failed to bring about the changes in attitude and behaviour necessary to stave off the detrimental effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation that our planet is experiencing at an alarmingly accelerating rate” (p. 1). The authors spend substantial time exploring how the current state of environmental education has reached this point, with each chapter addressing a different facet of this failure. The authors conclude on a positive note, with recommendations for how we might turn things around – acknowledging that while this will by no means be an easy task, it is not outside the realm of possibility.
Not Your Typical Book About the Environment, by Elin Kelsey
Written for school-aged children, this brightly-illustrated book contains a wealth of information about the environment. As the author points out on the first page, this book isn’t filled with “doom-and-gloom” messages about “huge, gnarly” problems – instead, it pairs straightforward information about environmental issues with the various ways in which people are responding to these problems. Also included are practical suggestions for ways that even children can live more sustainably!
Teaching Green: The High School Years, edited by Tim Grant and Gail Littlejohn
Drawing on almost two decades of contributions to the Green Teacher magazine published by the authors, this book contains a compilation of more than 40 of the magazine’s best contributions and teaching ideas. Chock-full of detailed lesson plans and activities for high school classrooms across all subject areas, this book encourages students’ critical thinking about the environment. The lesson plans in this book address a wide range of topics, covering everything from local ecosystems to human impacts on the environment to methods of reducing one’s environmental footprint and living more sustainably.
These and other books will be on display at the OISE Annual Eco-Fair on January 27th from 11:45-2:00. Stop by to check them out!
