Earth Day has come and gone, but the resources presented in this month’s book display support integrating environmental education in the curriculum throughout the year . OISE Library has recently acquired new resources to help you develop environmental understanding in your classes.
A few of these books were blogged about previously including: Nature Sparks: Connecting Children’s Learning to the Natural World and Early Childhood Activities for a Greener Earth.
Other new additions include the following:
Outdoor Play for 1-3 year Olds: How to set up and run your own outdoor toddler group provides a guide on selecting an outdoor site, practical considerations, as well as developing age appropriate activities for children ages 1-3. Focusing on the unique developmental milestones of pre-school age children, this book is also a good resource if you’re looking for activity ideas- nearly half of the book is an ‘activity bank’ with suggestions for crafts and games.
Let’s Take it Outside: Teacher-Created Activities for Outdoor Learning was the result of a nation-wide contest among teachers. The best activities were selected to be included in the book which offers more than 100 teacher-created and tested outdoor activities for children ages 3-6. This easy-to-use resource is organized by theme (counting, art, etc.) with activities specially marked for different ages. The author also provides suggestions for children’s books that can be tied in with the activities.
Discovering Nature with Young Learners is a trainer’s guide with accompanying video that was created to strengthen the scientific understanding of teachers and their confidence in facilitating inquiry learning for their students. This handbook is intended for trainers and administrators to introduce staff to curriculum and is broken into different ‘workshops’ that provide practical content along with chapters on guided discussion and mentorship.
Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation asks the question, “what should drive the design of outdoor learning environments at our schools?” The author answers this query with examples from around the world, detailing small and large-scale projects that focus on sustainability. Filled with pictures and points of consideration, this book is an inspiring example of the social and learning opportunities possible in outdoor environments.
Understanding different theories of learning and philosophies of education are important to consider when facilitating learning opportunities. The following books explore environmental learning theory from different perspectives.
The Outdoor Classroom: Integrating Education and Adventure, is intended to be an inspirational guide for educators working with students grades 4 and on. The book aims to link pedagogy with learning to motivate learners. Each chapter is authored by someone in the outdoor and experiential education field focusing on their experiences and stories.
David Sobel’s Book, Place Based-Education: Connecting Classrooms & Communities , focuses on the ‘pedagogy of the community’ and the belief that one’s love of nature and community is a central factor in personal and cultural transformation. Sobel offers practical examples and evidence of the effectiveness of a broader framework for environmental education that is place-based education.
John Dewey and Education Outdoors: Making Sense of the ‘Educational Situation’ through more than a Century of Progressive Reforms looks at the field of outdoor education and how it has been interpreted by different educators, primarily Dewey. The goal of this book is to provide the reader with a better understanding of the field, how it has changed, and what may be possible in the future.
If you’re interested in how environmental education is taught in initial teacher education, Deepening environmental education in pre-service education resource : [a guide for initial teacher educators, staff and students] was published by OISE and explores this issue from multiple perspectives.
Stemming from the conference, “Teaching the Environment”, the essays in this volume, Teaching Environments: Ecocritical Encounters, brings together scholars in different academic fields with varying approaches to the question of what should be done with regards to ‘ecocritical’ education. The aim of the book is to provide an exchange of ideas, critiques, and suggestions for the teaching of environmental pedagogy at different academic levels. As such, the book progresses from considering elementary to higher education in order to speak to the contextual complexities within these levels of education.
The following resources focus on how to integrate environmental education throughout learning strands. Linking Language and the Environment: Greening the ESL Classroom presents a way to combine environmental education and language instruction. The aim of the book is to provide students with an appropriate context of environmental issues and what they can do to help be part of the sustainable solution. Divided in two sections,the first part “Environmental Education and Language Instruction” focuses on background information for educators. The second section, “Environmental Lessons”, offers ways in which teachers can help students learn about and take action with environmental concerns. The lessons are intended for ‘high beginner’ students ages 12-19 who are comfortable with relevant vocabulary.
Resources designated CR (curriculum resources) like the following books and kits are exclusively for OISE students are useful for developing lessons and hands-on activities for students.
The authors of Exploring the environment through children’s literature : an integrated approach view literature as a way to present ideas to students in an accessible manner. Each chapter of the book focuses on a different theme such as agricultural and urban land use, and offers a related book that can be used to teach these concepts. A summary of the book is given along with numerous activities to do with the class that are connected to different learning strands. Black-line masters as well as an answer key are also provided.
The Children’s Atlas of the environment is divided into 3 different sections, each with a different thematic focus. The first section of the atlas entitled “The Earth As A Balanced System”, provides information about how the Earth supports living things. The next section details global environmental issues that have been caused by human action and the ways in which individuals can help reduce these problems. The last part of the atlas focuses on “Restoring Balance in the Earth’s Regions” and looks at different geographic regions of the world and their special environments.
The ABCs of Endangered Animals follows an alphabetic structure to present information about environmental topics as well as endangered species to a primary-aged audience. Filled with pictures, a glossary and index, this book is excellent to teach features of non-fiction resources that are useful for research.
In addition to these resources, take a look at OISE’s K-12 Manipulative Database for additional hands-on activities. One nature-based kit t
hat can be used for experiential learning is What Leaf is It? It comes with a picture manual for identifying trees by leaves, sample of real leaves (both identified and non-identified), and a teacher’s guide with ideas for classroom activities.
The resources listed above are featured in the display cabinet on the ground floor of the OISE Library. Drop by to take a look at these books in person or to sign them out for your use.
word that starts with the letter and fits the category of their Subject Card – all while keeping their card a secret. The first player sets their Subject Card on the board and blurts out their word. They press the random timer and all players must quickly think of and say words that fit the subject and start with the letter. There are no turns! The last player to say a valid word before the timer runs out, wins the round and advances on the board. The next round begins with the next person playing their Subject Card.