Why study this module?
• understand the basic ecological concepts which underpin the
life support systems of planet earth.
• understand how people and communities are challenged in
different ways by diverse environmental issues and risks in
different contexts.
• explores the interlinked nature of social, political, economic
and ecological issues, as well as how the future of all life
forms on the planet is affected by the actions of humans.
• to prepare you to become an environmental education
practitioner - someone who facilitates learning about the
environment in schools.
Core concepts
• Socio-ecological change refers to the
transformations that occur at the intersection of
human societies and their natural environment. It
recognizes that human actions and the
environment are interconnected and influence
each other in complex ways (https://saras-
institute.org/social-ecological-systems/
https://unu.edu/ias/media-coverage/recognizing-
people-and-nature-one-socio-ecological-
system#:~:text=The%20uniqueness%20of%20the%
20socio,across%20different%20types%20of%20soci
o%2D
Examples of socio-ecological
change
• Deforestation
• Climate Change
• Urbanization
• Resource Depletion
• By recognizing the interconnectedness of human
societies and the environment, we can work
towards creating a more sustainable and equitable
future.Sources and related content
Ecological Concepts
• Ecology
• Ecosystem
• Biodiversity and
• Web of life
• Food chain
• Pollution
• Deforestation
• Human rights,etc.
o How are these concepts
interconnected?
• Pollution -> Biodiversity: Pollution can lead to
habitat loss and species extinction, reducing
biodiversity.
• Food Chains -> Ecosystems: Food chains are
essential components of ecosystems,
demonstrating the flow of energy and nutrients.
• Biodiversity -> Web-of-Life: Biodiversity
contributes to the complexity and stability of the
web of life.
….cont…How are these concepts…
• Ecosystems -> Human Rights: Healthy ecosystems
provide essential resources and services that are
fundamental to human well-being and rights.
• Biophysical -> Ecosystems: The biophysical
environment (climate, geology, etc.) shapes the
characteristics of ecosystems.
THEORIES ABOUT THE
ENVIRONMENT
1. Behaviourism
2. Interpretivism
3. Social constructivism
Behaviourism/Positivism
Within this paradigm, educating people about
the environment invloves:
• recognizing values and clarifying concepts in order
to develop skills and attitudes necessary to
understand and appreciate the inter-relatedness
among man, his culture and his biophysical
surroundings.
• entails practice in decision making and self-
formulation of a code of behaviour about issues
concerning environmental quality (IUCN, 1971).
Behaviourism
• According to this view, by observing people’s behaviour we
are able to formulate laws concerning this behaviour.
• This, in turn, enables us to predict and even control human
behaviour.
• Mwamwenda (1995: 184) describes the behavioural view of
learning as
… ‘based on a stimulus and a response (S-R) which advocates
that learningoccurs on the basis of association made between
the stimulus and the response to such a stimulus as well as
the presence of some form of reinforcement’
Behav…cont..
Reinforcement. This uses a reinforcer (a reward) to
increase the likelihood that the behaviour will occur
again.
Conditioning. Conditioning is a simple form of
learning or modification of behaviour.
• For example, if teachers are warm and friendly
when they first meet their learners, and if they
then try to learn their names and continue to be
supportive, these learners are conditioned to look
forward to those teachers’ classes.
Behav…cont..
• This will further improve their relationship
with those teachers.
• Thus, these children will develop positive
attitudes towards the school curriculum,
which may also improve their chances of
doing well at school (Mwamwenda,
1995: 187).
Implications for the teacher
• … to help learners become environmentally
knowledgeable, skilled, dedicated citizens who are
willing to work, individually and collectively,
towards achieving and maintaining a dynamic
equilibrium between the quality of life and the
quality of the environment (Engleson, 1991: 5)
• The ultimate aim of the behaviourism is to change
behaviour.
Objectives of the behaviouristic
approach
the inculcation of an awareness of the total environment
and its problems
gaining a sound knowledge and understanding of how the
environment functions
the establishment of positive attitudes towards the
environment
the acquisition of skills needed to identify, investigate, and
contribute to the resolution of environmental issues and
problems
the participation in positive action regarding the
environment.
Read Chapter 2 of the prescribed book-Objectives of Environmental Education.
Behav..cont..Principles of EE
• consider the environment in its totality – naturally,
socially, economically and politically, and be a
continuous, lifelong process
• be interdisciplinary in its approach – involving all
subjects and examining major environmental issues
from a local to an international perspective
• focus on current and potential situations while
taking into account their historical background
Bahav..Principles…cont..
• promote the value of cooperation in resolving
environmental problems
• consider environmental issues in plans for
development
• enable learners to play a role in planning their
learning experiences and making decisions
• relate environmental sensitivity, knowledge, skills
and values clarification to every age
Behav…Princi…cont..
• Help learners to discover the symptoms and causes
of environmental problems
• Emphasise the complexity of environmental
problems and thus the need for critical thinking
skills
• Utilise a broad array of educational approaches to T
& L and stress each individual’s responsibility
towards the environment
Refer to Loubser, p.71
The role of the learner
• The learner is seen as “an empty vessel” to fill with,
for example, awareness of and knowledge about
the environment (Janse van Rensburg,1995: 67).
CASE STUDY: AN EXAMPLE OF
BEHAVIOURISM IN PRACTICE
The environmental education teacher decides to try to change
learners’ behaviour with regard to littering and the generation
of rubbish. She sets up recycling banks at school for glass,
paper and cans. All the classes compete with one another to
see which class is able to gather most of the material to be
recycled: paper is weighed, and cans and bottles are counted.
At the end of each month, the class that collected the most
material is rewarded by being allowed to leave school one
hour earlier than normal. In contrast, the name of the class
that collected the least material is mentioned in front of the
whole school at the end of the month. The teacher hopes to
reinforce positive behaviour and change negative behaviour in
this way.
2. Interpretivism
• The ideal for this approach is for individuals to
realise themselves
• The teacher is seen as a facilitator assisting each
individual child to develop according to his or her
own needs and vision.
• The child’s experiential learning plays an important
role
Experiential learning
• Throughout life the child learns through
experience.
• Piaget developed four stages of intellectual
development
• According to him, the child’s experiences influence
his or her transition from one stage of development
to the next.
Read Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Implications for the teacher
• The potential of the whole person should be
actualized, i.e. the individual learner should be
helped to become all that he/she can become
• The teacher is a facilitator for individual children to
develop according to their own specific needs to
reach their innate potential
Implications…cont..
• This implies that the educator should place
the children in an interesting environment.
• The child will then learn independently
through diverse experiences.
• In contrast with the behaviourist approach,
in the interpretative approach the child is
powerful and active, the teacher, however, is
not.
Teacher’s Role
• use strategies and methods that include assessing the needs
within a community and working with the community as a
facilitator in an attempt to solve practical problems.
• An example of a practical problem could be the pollution of
the area in which the community is situated. In this way,
environmental education is seen as something that is done
for the people.
• This approach is non-authoritarian and children learn in
groups.
Social-critical Education
• Empowerment of masses
• Social Justice for all
• Focus is on the masses and those who are
disadvantaged by injustice
• Focus-the way the curriculum is constructed (
hence called soio-constructivist curriculum
• EE is defined as better education for all(Janse van
Rensburg, 1995)
Implications for the teacher
• Clarifying the needs of the community
• Encouraging community members to empower
themselves and develop own capacity
• Sharing basic knowledge with community members
• Doing research together(participatory research)
• Cooperative learning with the community members
Implic…cont..
• Agent of change
• Mediator
• Leader
• Facilitator for participants
• Provider of expertise
• Resources:
• Academic Journals: Ecology and Society,
Environmental Conservation, Journal of
Environmental Management
• Books: Search for relevant titles on socio-ecological
systems, conservation, environmental justice, etc.
• Organizations: Websites of organizations like the
IUCN, WWF, Greenpeace, and local environmental
groups.
• https://ugc.berkeley.edu/background-
content/urbanization/#:~:text=Urbanization%20oft
en%20results%20in%20deforestation,can%20decre
ase%20biodiversity%20and%20alter
