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#20 July 1997 Acknowledgments We would like to thank the Friends of the Environment Foundation for their generous funding of our third trip to Brightwater. We would also like to express our gratitude to the students' parents who embraced this project wholeheartedly. Without their support, it would have been impossible to accomplish. Can We Come Back Again? On a blustery evening in the winter of 1995, I sat with my students around the fire in the main lodge at Brightwater. We laughed and talked about the events of the day, the mystery of the rabbit tracks that disappeared in the snow, Raheil and I finally making it to the top of the hill on the cross country ski trail, the amazing story Mike's dad hod told us about his childhood adventures at Brightwater. The inevitable question was posed: Can we come back again? I had learned, during the preceding three years that I had brought classes of students to Brightwater Camp, to temper the answer "no" with gentleness; it always brought such looks of disappointment to the faces of these 'cool adolescents'. The desire to replicate this experience was palpable in the room as the students voiced their regrets. As a teacher, I also wished for that possibility. I had come to appreciate the Brightwater excursion each year as a defining experience in the lives of the students. The atmosphere in the classroom, the interactions among peers, the response tp the environment changed in a positive way, sometimes subtly, but it was always altered after our visit. On that particular evening, rather than letting my wishes fly up the chimney like wisps of smoke, I decided to pursue the possibility of bringing students to the camp more often to determine if these beneficial effects could be multiplied. In previous years, I hadn't had the 'tools', neither the pedagogical background nor the personal interest, to explore and understand more fully the Brightwater experience. However, during that school year, I was reading resources related to integrated and multi disciplinary studies as a part of a developmental supervision project. One book, in particular, Holistic Learning: A Teacher's Guide to Integrated Studies (1990), had led me to review and redefine my role as teacher and to see the necessity of implementing curricula which were relevant and meaningful for the students. Personally, I was becoming more concerned about students' minimal awareness of environmental issues coupled with their growing pessimism about the future. The next morning, a conversation with Louise Jones, Coordinator of Brightwater, revealed her enthusiastic willingness to be a part of this venture . What follows is what we discovered. What views do Grade Seven students hold about environmental issues before anf after they have been immersed in an environmental program at Brightwater Science and Environmental Center over the vourse of three visits? (one school year, visits in the fall, winter and spring?) Purpose and Objectives of the Study This study was designed to reflect a multi disciplinary approach to encouraging middle years students to develop an awareness of a need for a new global ethic. The recognition that all living and non-living parts of the earth are one, and that humans are an integral part of the wholeness is a necessary prerequisite to overcoming our tendency to see the environment only as a resource to be exploited. The future of the planet depends on our students believing that their habitat is a precious commodity to be protected and preserved. Purpose To provide students with an opportunity to become more aware and appreciative of nature, and to demonstrate ways to reduce our destructive impact. Objectives
Brightwater Science and Environmental Center is a Saskatoon Board of Education residential outdoor school which was developed to augment classroom learning by giving students an opportunity to experience a variety of curricular activities in an outdoor setting. The manual which teachers receive at an in-service prior to their class visit to the camp provides a myriad of pre-visit, site and post-visit lessons focusing mainly on natural science studies and hands-on environmental projects with some language arts and arts activities also included. Although Brightwater's mandate is to instil environmental awareness in middle years students, it has been questioned whether this can be successfully accomplished with one visit to the site. It was conjectured that to allow the students to become familiar with the Brightwater area over seasons and time may foster a deeper and longer lasting appreciation of the environment. Concerns about the environment continue to dominate the media. It is a very real problem that will not disappear without active effort and careful planning. As educators, we assume that teaching isolated units encouraging students to, for example, reduce, recycle and reuse will foster practices which will alleviate this problem in the future. However, as Miller (1990) points out:
These kinds of selective lessons frequently do not give students an holistic understanding of the interrelationship between the environment and the humans who inhabit it. Using a multi disciplinary approach over an extended period of time may be a more appropriate way to allow students to begin to make connections to their real world and to commit to finding solutions. Naturalistic inquiry was used for this study. It was through this mode of inquiry that the researcher was able to hear and gauge the views of the participants concerning their environmental experiences in the natural setting at Brightwater. How an individual comes to know and appreciate the environment is a very personal process and has different meanings for different people. Surveys, interviews with the students, reflective journals kept by the students, and observational field notes recorded by the teacher/research were the methods used to collect data.
In the beginning days of the 1995/96 school year, I learned that my class was to include six Grade 6 students along with the twenty Grade 7 students I had anticipated. This was not viewed as problematic because the Brightwater program is aimed at Grade 6 and Grade 7 students. The composition of the group was divided equally between males and females. The majority of the students came from middle to upper middle class economic backgrounds with supportive families who encouraged their talents and skills. The majority of the Grade 7 students had been together for three years with little change in the composition of the group. On the first day of the new school year, a new boy registered in the class. During that time the original Grade 7 group had been together, they had developed a reputation in the school for being a bright, cooperative and enjoyable group to work with. In addition, I had been told by colleagues that the parents of these children were very supportive of the school. Indeed, I had already experienced a taste of the parents' enthusiasm for the study during the previous school year when, after the project was announced in a school newsletter, two parents visited my classroom to volunteer to accompany the class on our Brightwater excursions. In collaboration with Louise Jones, the dates for our three day, two night trips were set: September 27-29, 1995; January 1, February 1-2, 1996; and May 8 10, 1996. Findings and Analysis of the Study The findings of this study will be explored and discussed under two headings; Emergent Themes and The Multi disciplinary Approach. The first of these themes relates directly to the students' experiences, responses and attitudes toward environmental issues. The second explores my quest to organize multi disciplinary units which were relevant in supporting the development of environmental awareness. During the course of this study, it became evident that to focus only on the views that the students held about environmental issues constituted a too narrow emphasis and understanding of the growth which was occurring in their hearts and minds. Through the students' reflective journals, small group and individual interviews and discussions, and observational field notes, a wide range of learnings, from interpersonal to societal, emerged. These learnings have been categorized under four headings; Understanding of Environmental Issues, Self Knowledge, Peer Interaction, and Impact of the Brightwater Site. Theme 1 - Understanding of Environmental Issues The first task was to discover the baseline or extent of knowledge that the students possessed. An environmental survey (Appendix 1) was designed to probe the students' knowledge and opinions. This was administered to the class on the second day of school. In general, it revealed minimal comprehension about current environmental issues. There were also some jarring inconsistencies between ideas and opinions expressed in different sections. The first question included a checklist developed to determine how pro-active the students currently were. The items on the checklist related to daily routines mostly, for example, turning lights off, having showers instead of baths, using reusable containers. About one third of the students checked 10-12 of the twelve items which would suggest that they were very pro-active in their day to-day lives; about two thirds checked 6-9 items. No student checked less than six items. It would seem that the majority of the students were aware of ways in which they could save the environment through their own efforts. However, this information taken in conjunction with responses to question 5 (What do you think are the top five environmental problems?) provided an interesting dichotomy in the students' perceptions and understandings. The majority of students rated garbage in the top two items of their lists of concerns, but over half of the students do not "buy products with the least amount of packaging." A class discussion about the survey results revealed that many of the students felt that this was an activity that was out of their control because "my mom does all the grocery shopping." The second question was designed to reveal the students' willingness to be more pro-active. About half of the respondents indicated a willingness to engage in activities which would benefit the environment. Of the students who answered "no" to this question, three believed that they and their families were already doing their part to be ecologically aware. Four of the six items on the question two checklist were deemed acceptable by the majority of students as ways of caring for or protecting the environment. The remaining two (pay more for environmentally friendly products and volunteer on e Saturday a month for a clean-up project) were checked by about one third of the students. This appeared to indicate that many of the students were not prepared to sacrifice economically or give up what the perceived as their "free time". In fact, during the ensuing class discussion, many were adamant about environmental projects not interfering with their out-of-school time because of sports or arts commitments and what they described as "their right to free time." The notion that the allotment of money and time were important factors in maintaining a healthy environment was in opposition to their beliefs. In addition, we collaborated to rate the six items in terms of easiest to hardest to do. The item which was unanimously agreed to be the easiest or not involving much effort was "no litter" which was, coincidentally, the item checked on the survey by three quarters of the class as being what they would be most willing to do. Although more than half the students indicated on the checklist that they would be willing to separate family garbage for recycling purposes, the reality of this activity, as described in detail by one of their classmates whose family regularly did this, caused many of the students to renege on this decision during the discussion. The thought of sifting through rotting food stuffs, even with plastic gloves on, brought cries of "gross" from a number of the students. Two thirds of the students indicated that they believed that they were not doing enough to protect the environment. However, this realization was offset by their willingness to do more. Many viewed activities such as composting or recycling newspapers as "chores" which parents forced them to do and admitted that they frequently tried to find ways to get out of doing these environmentally friendly activities. The students' responses to question four revealed minimal comprehension about current environmental issues. More than two thirds of the students were unable to comment on issues such as air pollution, water resources, soil destruction, garbage or over-population. Generalized statements were made by the majority of the remaining students: concerning soil destruction, "it's happening everywhere" or on the topic of toxic wastes, "it's bad for anything." The two topics that they seemed to have the most information about were tropical rain forests and wilderness/wildlife. In discussion, it was revealed that the Grade 7 students had completed research projects on these topics during the previous year. Even with this formal study, many admitted that they could not remember details about the topics nine months later. It was interesting to note during the discussion that many of the students acknowledged that they did not read newspapers or news magazines and that their sole source of information about environmental issues, outside of school, came from occasional viewings of news programs on televison. The majority of students indicated that they periodically watched "nature" programs, in particular, shows about animals, but only if these did not interfere with their "favorite" programs. In general, the students seemed to view environmental issues as something on which to do a report, rather than a global situation which they were a part of could have an impact on. A collation of the students' listings of perceived top five environmental issues indicated that air pollution, garbage, toxic wastes, rain forests, and overpopulation were seen as the most problematic. Once again, clarification of their understanding was sought through class discussion. It was apparent that the majority of the students initially viewed these problems as isolated events. Then, one student expressed the belief that the reason there was so much garbage was because of overpopulation which prompted more links to be made by the students about the interconnectedness of these ecological issues. In the next set of questions, students were asked to write their opinions about whether or not the environment would be in better or worse shape in the year 2020. Two thirds expressed a negative prognosis for the future; "I think the environment will be worse because people will brush off the problems and they won't try to make it worse but it will happen." The kind of language used by these students was particularly telling in regard to their thoughts about the future. The words disaster, wreck, wrecked, and ruined were repeatedly used to describe the impact that present practices would have on the future stability of the world ecosystem. A sense of helplessness was evident in many of the responses, "worse because it's already too bad to be fixed", "worse because there are already lots of people who don't care. I think by then there will be more." About a quarter of the students indicated their belief that the environment will improve by the year 2020. All thought that education was an important component in fostering an awareness of what needed to be done. The remaining students were unsure about the state of the environment in the future, many writing that it depended on whether or not people "started doing something about all the mess." In total, over three quarters of the class expressed qualms about the future of the plant. For me, the most powerful thoughts and concerns which emerged from reflecting on the results of the survey and the ensuing class discussions focused on how removed from the topic the students seemed to be. The matter of environmental issues was regarded by the majority of the students as something to be studies in school; in fact, the class' response to the lack of knowledge they possessed about environmental issues was to suggest that they do research reports on the topics. It seemed as if there was little compunction to transfer the learnings they had gleaned throughout their school careers and to live in an ecologically intelligent way. The old dichotomy between what is learned in school and "real life" had reared its ugly head. In addition to this, many of the students seemed to feel that there was little possibility of them influencing the way the future would or could be. This had a great effect on the way I determined to organize the first multi disciplinary unit in conjunction with our September visit to Brightwater. It seem imperative to find a way to help the students connect with the natural environment and also to begin to build a sense of self determination leading to empowerment. After our first visit to Brightwater, I conducted individual interviews with six students to determine if their views as expressed on the survey had changed and to gauge their responses to Brightwater. All of the students interviewed believed that they could add more information to the fourth question on the survey about environmental issues. Pointing to the question, Sheldon said, "I'd like to do this over because I know a lot more now; I could fill in stuff here and here and here.....". He shook his head as he read over what he had written in August. The students were asked then to review what they had determined to be the top five environmental problems and to indicate if they would make any changes to their initial listings. All of the students made references to the activities they had been involved in at Brightwater in their responses. Conrad noted, "I would put garbage right up there because I learned a lot about that at Brightwater." Gabby referred to the creek dipping activities when suggesting that she would move water pollution from the bottom of her list to closer to the top. Another interview question was designed to probe the possibility of changes in their attitude to their own pro-activity. In reviewing their responses to "do you feel you are doing enough to protect the environment?", four of the six students immediately said "no". Each of them then went on to outline what activities each had begun or had been contemplating. Gabby shared that she and her brother had a plan to start recycling. Sheldon talked about educating his friends, "sometimes when my friend throws stuff in the garbage instead of the composter, I make him throw it in the composter and he says oh, who cares. Well, I care, I think I should do it but he should learn to do it." Moh spoke about the frustration of trying to get his parents to recycle newspapers, "my mom and dad don't recycle, they don't know about it and when I tell them they say they are too busy. I have to find out where to take the papers." The two remaining students felt that they and their families were supporting the environment, but each girl went on to suggest that there might be other ways other than their family activities that each could do. Colleen conjectured that she would try "not to litter ever, even though that'll be hard to do." Finally, the students were asked to reflect on how the visit to Brightwater had affected them personally and in their attitude toward and knowledge of environmental issues. All of the students remarked on the fun they had there and made references to specific activities each had enjoyed. Two students talked about the affect of the sense of peacefulness at the site. Conrad referred to, "how peaceful nature was. I didn't feel hectic to do things and I thought I could learn better." Gabby mentioned how the lack of traffic noises made it quieter and easier to think. Four of the students commented on how the hands-on activities had helped them to gain a different perspective of the environment. Sheldon found the Photography session particularly interesting because, "I got to have a different kind of look at the environment. When I was taking my pictures, I started wondering what it would be like if it wasn't there." Colleen compared the Brightwater activities to ordinary classroom learning, "when people are just reading stuff, sometimes they don't pay attention and they don't really learn anything." One student compared to the other six had seemed reticent during the interview to share her ideas and knowledge about environmental issues, answering the questions frequently with "I'm not sure" until she was given a chance to talk about the affect of the Brightwater visit on her personally. Then Jan talked about the bonding which had occurred during our camp, "you kind of got to know everybody because you're all together all the time....people seemed to act differently, especially when we were at our land plots and in our cabins...I'd never really talked to Sharon before...there seemed to be more time for talking to people." It was obvious from her responses that the interpersonal connections and the sense of group identity which had occurred were the most important aspect of the trip. When I began the school year, I had anticipated finding ways to include environmental activities and "messages" in all or most of the curricula we studied that year. However, when we returned from our first camp at Brightwater and completed our post-visit activities, I realized we had been 'living the environment' for nearly six weeks and interest was waning. When I suggested to the class that they might want to start an Ecology Club in the school and there were no takers for this project, I wondered if my 'control freak' nature was taking over and I was being too directive. I recognized that the students needed a break form the intensity of our environmental studies and also that this break was necessary to give them a chance to reflect on and internalize what they had experienced. And so, we launched into another multi disciplinary unit, The Restaurant. This unit culminates in a restaurant which the students, on their own, operate to serve parents, grandparents, teachers, even soccer coaches. Attendance at this one time only restaurant usually exceeds 90 people. It was during our preparation for Le Cafe des Trois Etoiles that a critical incident related to the class' response to environmental issues occurred. Picture this scene if you will. Students have applied for and been hired for a variety of positions, our menu has been chosen, Restaurant day is fast approaching and we must begin our shopping for non-perishable goods today after school. In past years, because of the insufficient dishes and cutlery in the school, we had used styrofoam dishes and plastic cutlery. When I suggested that we add these items to our shopping list, the majority of the class initially agrees. Colleen, however, disagrees vigorously and eloquently. She reminds us of the intriguing presentation which a group of her peers had made on the issue of garbage in mid September and quotes statistics about the length of time it takes plastic and styrofoam to decompose. She appeals to the class to refrain form contributing to the growing problem of waste. Her pleas do not fall on deaf ears. Megan takes up the cause and recalls for the class the clean-up work they had done at the old Pheasant Farm dump at Brightwater. More students speak in favor of using reusable dinnerware and it is decided that they will bring dishes and cutlery from home if necessary. The next day, two students go to the staff kitchen to count what dishes are available so they could begin organizing who would bring what. They return to the class with perplexed looks on their faces. "Where is the dishwasher?" they query. My response, "at the ends of your arms" brings frowns to their faces. We have another class conference and it is the decision of the majority of the class that styrofoam and plastic will be used at their restaurant, much to the chagrin of Colleen, Megan and a few others. The students justify their decision by saying that there isn't enough room in the kitchen to wash all the dishes that will be used and, besides, some dishes might get broken. There is no mention of just not wanting to wash and dry all those dishes. Once again, I noted the discrepancy between what the students knew was the right thing to do in terms of environmental awareness and what they were willing to do in reality. Coleen voiced her frustration with the decision in a private conversation later in the day, pointing out what many of the students had not yet understood - that being an environmental activist meant having to work hard sometimes to achieve a goal. It seemed as if the class, as a whole, was not ready to embrace this kind of activism at this point in time. Another incident occurred during the fall term which suggested that a few of the students were taking environmental matters into their own hands. Our paper recycling boxes had disappeared about two weeks prior to this incident. I had purposely not replaced them as a mini-experiment to see if anyone would question their absence. Most of the students began using, without comment, the garbage pails in the classroom to dispose of white and colored waste paper. One morning, Scott and Chris asked me what had happened to the boxes and was I going to get more. I suggested that they find some for the class. This task was readily completed and the boxes were placed in their usual spot. What occurred next was interesting to watch. Most of the students continued to dispose of waste paper in the garbage pails, much to Scott and Chris' surprise, and they asked permission to make an announcement to the class about the return of the recycling boxes. After the announcement, more students began using the recycling bins, but some continued to ignore them. Scott's response to this was to place the garbage pail beside his desk and monitor what went into it. Without comment, he would reach in and return paper to whomever threw it in the pail. Within two days, all students were consistently using the recycling boxes. Scott was a well-liked and respected member of the class, and his understated way of encouraging his peers to be environmentally active certainly worked. His explanation for following his method was to the point, "Actions speak louder than words." I was unable to accompany the students on their second visit to Brightwater in the winter of 1996 because I had been felled by a bout of pneumonia. After reading their reflective journals, I was anxious to speak with them about their experiences. Interviews were scheduled for March 6 and again six students were randomly chosen to meet with me for a private discussion. One student, Conrad, had also been chosen for the fall interviews. I began each interview by asking the student to look over her or his survey from the fall and, in every case, the review of the paper was cursory at best. It became apparent quickly that what each student wanted to talk about most was, as Rae put it, "surviving the frigid temperatures." The three days which they had been at Brightwater had been the nadir of a particularly vicious cold snap that winter and it was important for them to detail how they had used their inner resources to overcome the challenges presented by nature. These remarks will be analyzed in the following sections on Self Knowledge and Peer Interactions. All six students noted that they could include more information to their descriptions of environmental issues. Nehali remarked, "I could definitely add more to toxic waste because of a program I saw on TV." When I asked her how she came to watch this program, she told me her brother had pointed it out to her because he knew she would be interested in it. Rae commented that she had notice a lot more information and program on TV about the environment and wondered, "has it always been there or have I just started like seeing it?" Four of the six students expressed uncertainty about listing the top five environmental concerns. In general, these students seemed to hesitate when asked to prioritize the issues. Brian vacillated between air pollution and rain forests for the top of his list, and then concluded, "but overpopulation and garbage have to be up there, too. Do I have to decide right now?" All of the interviewed students wanted to discuss changes in their opinions related to the sixth question on the survey. All believed that protecting the environment was of utmost importance, with Tessa emphasizing this by repeating 'very' nine times before 'important'. All expressed the belief that environmental education needed to occur in an outdoor setting, "so that you can see what nature is really like and not just have some teacher blabbing on and on about something." Two students talked about changing their opinions about the future from 'worse' to 'not sure'. Nehali remarked that, "there are lots of people trying to help the environment and maybe more will start too." James also saw the possibility of a more positive future if individuals became more active in caring for the ecosystem, "I think if people thought more about how they could help, then it could be better." Our third visit to Brightwater occurred during the first full week in May. Once again, the weather presented challenges with snow and rain with us for most of the three days, but the students were undaunted by these conditions. In the second week in June, I asked the students to complete the environmental awareness survey again. I noticed a change in the manner that they approached the activity. In the early fall, they had quickly begun to work on answering questions and completing the checklists and many of the students had finished within ten minutes. Looking over the class on that warm summer day, I saw some students thoughtfully gazing out the window before beginning to write, others had turned immediately to specific sections of the survey, one student motioned me to her desk to comment that there wasn't enough space under question 4 for all she had to write. This time, the students were engrossed in putting down their ideas and opinions and many took over a half hour to complete this survey. In reading and tabulating the results of their responses, I discovered changes in their attitudes and opinions. Over half the students could now be viewed as very proactive in their day to day activities. One student who had checked the same items in question one on both the August and June surveys wrote beside the question in June "now I really do these." On question 2, three students in the class checked 'no' indicating that they would not be willing to do more for save the environment. However, all three of the students came from families who were very pro-active in their approach to the environment. These families were already composting, recycling, using alternative forms of transportation whenever possible before the study began. From the increase in items checked on checklist two, it was apparent that the students were willing to accept more responsibility for protecting the environment. The most dramatic increase centred on the item 'pay more for environmentally safe products.' In August, about one third of the students were willing to do this; in June, three quarters checked this item. In informal conversations with small groups of students the following day, I commented on this particular increase. One of the students talked about investigating packaging during shopping trips and making suggestions to his parents about which products to buy. He was pleased that they had complied with his choices. The only item which was checked by less than half the class - volunteer one Saturday a month for a clean up project - showed that the time element still seemed to be an important factor for these students. However, it is interesting to note that two students who indicated that they would not be willing to commit this time had, in fact, talked their families into building compost bins earlier in the spring and had spent more than one day organizing these family projects. When I suggested to them that this was similar to a volunteer project, they were quick to point out to me that this was a one time project, not like cleaning up the river bank on a regular basis or organizing and running a neighborhood recycling project. There was a marked difference in the way in which the students responded in June to question four concerning knowledge about environmental issues. Rather than generalized statements, specific references were made to incidents and events which had occurred during the year. Many comments referred to issues in the community; a number of students expressed their opinions about where the new landfill site for Saskatoon should be located. Many observations made by the students related to information which had been shared in class or activities we had done at Brightwater, but a number of the comments reflected information gleaned from other sources, "the clear-cutting of forests in British Columbia should have the same attention from the media as the destruction of the rain forests in South America." Four students chose to connect the issues with arrows and to write about how the issues listed were connected and how focusing on one particular problem could impact on the others. That particular notion - that all aspects of the environment are intricately connected - was emphasized in the students' responses to question five, "what do you think are the top five environmental problems?" Two thirds of the class listed a combination of issues - air pollution, garbage and overpopulation - at the top of their lists. Most jotted down brief comments, "can't be separated (sic)," "all go together" - to indicate that they had grouped these together on purpose. In an individual interview the next week, Gabby talked about the significance of being aware of the connections between the human and natural worlds, "if you don't see that the crayfish in the creek at Brightwater depend on no toxic stuff being dumped in the river here, then you're missing the most important part of this." It seemed to me that this understanding of the harm that fragmenting or isolating environmental issues could exact was basic to a true comprehension of the task facing humans in restoring or healing the natural world. I was pleased that so many of the students had internalized this concept. Perhaps because of the information they had amassed during the year, there was little change in the number of students who viewed the future of the planet with optimism. Many of those who did predict that the world would be in better shape in 2020 justified their responses by referring to how much they had learned during the year and how their experiences had affected both their attitudes and those of their families. Those who were not sure or thought the environment would be in worse shape, about two thirds of the respondents, cited similar reasons, but from a different perspective. One student wrote, "if everybody could go to Brightwater and really get to care for the land, then maybe the future could be different but I don't think that's going to happen." It was interesting to note that over half of the students viewed public education rather than a specific environmental problem as the most important issue needing to be addressed. These students were adamant about the necessity for the general population to become more environmentally aware if there was to be a healthy future for our world, "all issues are important but if people don't know or care about them, it won't get better." I had postponed the third set of individual interviews until after the students had responded to the survey for a second time in June because I hoped that this would help them gain some perspective on what they had or had not learned during the course of the year. I changed the focus of the interviews from the survey and their responses to a more open-ended approach with questions designed to give the students a chance to talk about what they deemed important. As with previous interviews, six students were randomly chosen, one of whom had been interviewed in October. This time, however, when the names were announced, a number of the students who had not been chosen for any of the interviews complained because they also wanted to be able to discuss their thoughts and feelings about their experiences. Because of this, I typed up the questions and allotted time for the rest of the class to write down their responses. Three of the interview questions referred specifically to the research question of the study:
All of the students interviewed indicated that the visits to Brightwater had altered their understanding of and appreciation for the environment. Sharon said, "I learned that I have to take more, better care of the land. If I had found a piece of garbage on my land plot and I looked, cause I didn't want anything to spoil it, well, if I had, I would have known how Mother Earth must feel with all the garbage that she has on her." Gabby reflected on what she had learned, "it's kind of scary how I didn't really care about the environment until I went to Brightwater, even though I knew lots about it." In the written responses to this question, only three students suggested that the Brightwater visits had not altered their perceptions, two because of their beliefs that they already cared for and supported the environment and one student because of his feeling that he needed to be able to visit the camp in the future to be able to remind himself of the importance of the environment. For Chris, the three visits were not enough. All the students, both those interviewed and those who wrote their responses believed that trips to a residential outdoor school should be a part of the curriculum. Two students wrote that these kinds of outings should not be restricted to only Grade 6 and 7 students; they suggested that younger students would also benefit from these excursions. Both students also commented on their wish that they could have read their Brightwater picture storybooks (created as part of the third visit multi disciplinary unit) to their younger Care Partners in the setting where the books took place. Each believed that seeing the site of the story first hand would enhance the ecological lesson inherent in the story and perhaps have an impact on the younger students' treatment of the environment. As one student pointed out, "maybe then, they wouldn't swing on the branches of the trees and break them." Jeneva commented in her interview about the importance of experiencing nature first hand, "when you're out there, like at your land plot, you get close to nature without even knowing it, it becomes a part of you." The notion of experiencing nature as a prerequisite to being environmentally aware was reiterated repeatedly in the interviews and the written responses. As Shauna suggested, "students should have the experience of going to Brightwater and walking the trails and seeing the galls and water creatures and all that stuff so they realize how important it is to protect the environment." Many students saw direct experience as the most effective way to develop an understanding and appreciation of the natural order. The question about educating 'people' as opposed to students in the classroom brought a variety of responses. More than half the students thought that "people should be educated about nature in nature," that experiencing "the open land of the prairies" would change how people treated the natural landscape. One student suggested a form of networking, "I told my cousins about what we did this year and how important it is to protect he environment and maybe if we all did this, lots of people would start thinking more." This idea of sharing the knowledge they had gained was mentioned by about two thirds of the students. However, most conceded that this would only be helpful to the environment if the people they talked to were willing to do more than just listen, if these people would also become proactive. Theme 2 - Self Knowledge Adolescence is a time of great change, and for some young people, this can be accompanied by confusion as they begin their quest for their 'adult' identities. Not only are their bodies growing and maturing, but their minds are also developing in a myriad of ways and they must search for their place in their world. As Nancie Atwell points out,
The three visits
to Brightwater gave the students the opportunity to explore what
they needed to develop emerging 'adult' personalities and to try
out new roles in a setting different from their home environments.
The notion that external forces control the direction of thoughts and lives can impede the risk taking that frequently accompanies maturational growth. A change in attitude was evident in many of the students' final writings about their Brightwater experiences. More than half wrote specifically about a growing sense of competency. "I can do a lot more stuff than I thought I could" and "you can do anything if you try" were repeatedly expressed. I think that the winter camp was pivotal in the students' quest for personal empowerment. A number of parents expressed concerns about holding the camp, given the forecast for frigid temperatures. However, because of the enthusiasm of the students and because of the need to visit the camp three times, the excursion went ahead as planned. All of the students commented in their journals and in the post visit interviews about the sense of accomplishment they felt as surviving those three record-breaking (temperature) days, "I HATE winter but now I know that I can survive in even the worst if I have to", "no frostbite for me!!!!!", "I didn't think they'd (parents and teachers) would let us stay the hole time, but we knew what we had to do to survive." They felt that they had successfully triumphed over a naturally imposed challenge. "I've learned that I can take care of myself more and if I can take care of me, I can help take care of the land too," remarked Sharon in response to one of the June interview questions. When queried about what ways she had learned to take care of herself, she talked abut the experience of being at Brightwater without parents to rely on, about making decisions related to free time, and about keeping her section of the cabin clean and tidy without reminders from anyone. Other students also made reference to their growing sense of competency in their remarks about their preparations and packing for the camps and their sense of behaving appropriately at camp away from parental influence. Although the majority of the students viewed the prospect of our three trips to Brightwater with zeal, there were a few who initially experienced trepidation at the notion of being away from home. Two students, in particular, expressed grave doubts about being able to stay for the two nights at camp in September. When questioned, it was evident that they were fearful about missing their parents and about the possible homesickness that they anticipated they would feel. Neither wanted to be viewed as a "wimp" by their peers but each viewed that first camp excursion as a hurdle to be overcome. With the encouragement of parents and myself, they agreed to try it. One of these students who felt he had been 'forced' to go on the first trip wrote, at the end of the year, "now I'm glad I went because it's beautiful and peaceful there and it didn't bother me being away from home. I kind of like camping." The other student talked about feeling "really independent and confident" when he was there. For these two young men, the personal risk-taking necessary for them to be able to participate in the camps resulted in a deeper understanding of what they were capable of doing. At the beginning of the year, many students indicated a lack of desire regarding involvement in environmental projects. Many seemed to view environmentally friendly activities as 'chores' and admitted that they tried to find ways of getting out of doing them. Some students wrote about how they and their families did not have the time to be recycling or taking busses. In addition, a number of students expressed concerns in September about being able to do without he convenience of home - mom, tv, clean sheets. However, during the course of the year, these attitudes seemed to change and that change was directly related, in the minds of many of the students, to their trips to Brightwater. This sense of empowerment or capability, "I can do anything if I try", seemed to give many of the students a basis for becoming proactive. "After going to Brightwater, I think about how much we are harming the environment a lot more and I tell my brothers not to litter all the time and sometimes they listen to me. If they don't, I pick up their garbage and it doesn't bug me because someday soon they'll learn." With empowerment comes a sense of responsibility. The following story, relating an incident which happened toward the end of the school year, exemplifies this. One of the projects which the class had initiated was the growing of prairie wildflower seedlings to plant in the Brightwater garden. These had been tended with great care in the classroom until early June when we believed that they could be successfully transplanted without the danger of frost damage. Three students and a parent went to the camp for the morning to do the planting, accompanied by my garden tools. A few days later, the garden tools still sat behind my desk and one of the students in the class asked if he could borrow them at recess. He had noticed that the caretaker was getting ready to transplant bedding plants around the school gardens and the though that the ground needed to be dug up in preparation for this. He and a friend proceeded to prepare all the school gardens for the caretaker's imminent planing. What was noteworthy about this incident was that these were students who usually did not volunteer for any extra work, but they saw this as a worthwhile and necessary action which they conscientiously completed before and after school hours. Although this might not be viewed as an innovative environmental project, what was impressive was their willingness to take on responsibility for an activity which they deemed important for the environment of the school. They viewed themselves as part of this habitat and responded proactively, having a positive impact on their environment. Another incident in March also demonstrated a growing sense of empowerment in the class. Some students had indicated on their evaluations of the winter camp that they would like to have some input into the planning of the final camp. When we discussed this in class, it became apparent that nearly half the class wanted to take on the responsibility of planning the whole camp, not just parts of it. They justified their request by contending they had already been to camp twice and knew all the procedures, and that it was important for them to make decisions about what they would learn during their last trip there. I readily complied with their wishes with the proviso that I could have some input into the contents of the journal pages. They permitted me full control over these pages. Elections were held to choose a planning committee of which I was allowed to be the figurehead Chair. The class chose the five person committee carefully; each elected student brought particular strengths to the committee. I was pleased to see that it had not been a 'popularity' contest. The committee (without their Chair) met with Louise Jones to determine the options for activities, polled the class to decide what activities would be done, contacted all resource personnel, set up activity and work schedules, sent letters home to parents requesting volunteers for cabin supervision at night, and smiled a lot. They were productive and efficient, and justifiably proud of the camp they had together organized. All five students commented on their roles as camp planners in their journals, "it was a lot of work, but worth it", "(organizing the camp) made me wonder wheat else I could do", "it's fund to be involved and doing something important." Finally, it is important to note that some of the students recognized the connection between empowerment and activism, "I really care about the environment and I know what I can do to help protect it and I've already started, I didn't even know I could help." The conscious knowledge that she is capable of effecting change will aid this student in whatever endeavor she chooses to pursue. Theme 3 - Peer Interaction As a teacher of middle years students, I have witnessed, over the years, the importance and the effects - both positive and negative - of peer relationships. It is generally acknowledged that adolescence is the time when young people begin to turn more to their friends for support, validity and a sense of belonging. When the students and I began our year together, I noted the bonds of friendship which existed between and among various groups in the class. As with most groups of adolescents, there were clusters that merged and drew apart from week to week; some antagonism occasionally erupted between the groups. There were also strong, constant relationships which had withstood the hurdles of time and experience. In addition, I noted that there were 'loners' in the group, students who did not seem to be a part of any group. Although it was not one of my initially stated goals for this project, it became evident as the year progressed that the manner and extent to which this group of individuals interacted had been affected by the visits to Brightwater. The journal pages I devised for the first visit to Brightwater included a page of open-ended sentences which, I hoped, would help the students focus on important aspects of the camp, e.g. 'At Brightwater, I felt close to the land when...' I also included on this page two sentence fragments ('Three people who helped me at Brightwater' and 'Four people I helped at Brightwater') which encouraged the students to think about the propitious interactions they had with other camp participants. I asked the students to jot down in their journals a few phrases about the context and nature of the 'helping.' In their September journals, over three quarters of the students named parents, teachers and/or instructional leaders as the people who had assisted them, usually citing educational outcomes of the encounter, "Mr. Taylor taught me photography", "Mrs. Brady - how the food chain works". The people whom the students identified as being the recipients of their assistance were, for the most part, from their primary friendship groups. The help proffered in these situations frequently related to work duties at the camp, "Cam - I helped him load the dishwasher", "I helped Tessa clean the bathroom." These two sentence prompts were included in the winter journal as well. The winter responses revealed that the students saw their classmates as their primary helpmates with many students referring to the 'buddy' system which was set up to prevent frostbite when venturing outside for activities, "Nathan reminded me to keep my scarf up on my nose", "James loaned me an extra pair of mitts". The partnerships were randomly chosen and did not necessarily unite students who considered themselves friends. However, the students' responses on these journal prompts indicated that they understood and appreciated the support and care they had received from their classmates. Many of the responses to the second prompt also referred to the buddy system. The notion that the students needed to watch over each other during the winter visit was reiterated in four of the six post visit interviews. These students talked about the importance of being responsible for each other given the hazardous weather conditions. "I didn't want anything bad to happen to anybody" stated Cam. It seemed as though surviving the natural challenge of the frigid temperatures caused many of the students to begin to see the class as a community of which they were an integral part. This developing communal spirit was also evident in other journal writings. The students had been asked to think about their experiences and write the first draft of a short story using one of the following quotations as a prompt, "the best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm", "people are like tea bags - they don't know how strong they are until they are in hot water". Those who chose to use the second quotation focused on the positive qualities in their classmates, especially those they hadn't known well before the school year began. One student wrote about the difficulties her group encountered as they tried to create a meaningful survival skit which was to be performed for the parents' visit. She expressed her relief when one member of her group who was a quiet loner in the class began to take charge and to organized the skit and the actors, "I didn't know he was so good in drama, we were lucky that he was with us because it turned out really good." Validating the talents of others, even if they are not considered friends, can help foster a feeling of fellowship in a group. Many of the students also recognized the felicitous effect the visits to Brightwater had on their knowledge and understanding of their classmates. Jeneva wrote, "not only do you learn things about the environment, but also come closer to class peers. People you would never usually talk to become your friends." Other students commented on his aspect of the camp experience too, "to me it seems that when you're out there you become closer to people and you get to know them better", "..it is fun there and people seem different and you become closer to them." Finally, the notion that each individual was an important member of the class was clearly demonstrated by the five person planning committee during their deliberations. Through classroom meetings and individual chats, this group made every effort to ensure that the choices they made for the third trip reflected the ideas and wishes of all of their class peers. Their active listening and their affirmation of individual and group choices led to a plan that was endorsed by the whole class. It was apparent that the class felt a sense of community as the planning committee willingly worked toward consensus. Theme 4 - The Impact of the Brightwater Site The importance of being able to connect emotionally and physically with a natural environment over the seasons seemed to have a positive effect on the students' developing awareness of themselves and their place in the environment. During the first visit in September, the students were given the opportunity to 'adopt' a small plot of land at Brightwater. Louise and I hoped that this would help them connect with the prairie landscape. They were given only a few specific duties to perform on their portion of the site; mostly, they were encouraged to enjoy it and protect it. For all of the students, this was the first piece of land that they had 'owned' and for which they were responsible. They spent most of one afternoon at their plots, drawing the plants, looking for insect inhabitants, viewing the sky and the environs from the perspective of their land. Many of the students took time to visit others' plots and listen to the owner's commentary about the uniqueness of the chosen terrain. They revisited their plots during both the winter (a very short visit!) And spring camps. In their meditations at the end of the year, many students commented on the experience of tending their land plot. A number of students wrote about how 'cool' it was to have their very own piece of Brightwater. Many expressed pride in caring for their property zealously, "I made sure that there wasn't any garbage there because if there was even a little piece on my land plot I would know how mother Earth felt." Other students commented on what they had learned from the land plot experience. Nehali reflected on her new understandings:
Another student wrote:
Both the ownership of the land and the opportunity to visit the site three times seemed to nurture a sense of belonging, of being a part of the natural order. Many students recognized and commented on their growing understanding of their place in the environment, "you get close to nature without even knowing it, it just becomes a part of you", "...the whole environment in connected and we're a part of it." Nathan echoed these ideas when he wrote about Brightwater feeling "like home." A number of students indicated in their writings that they felt that they were in tune with nature, "I never realized how wonderful nature could be in different seasons, even winter till I went there. I got to see all the changes and felt like I was changing too." In some cases, deep connections were made with the natural world, "....when we were out there sometimes I would stop and listen to the wind blowing across the land like it was telling me something." As the year progressed, more and more students began making comparisons between life in the city and life at Brightwater, "going to Brightwater changed my perception of life, seeing how peaceful it is there and then coming back to the city and seeing how hectic our lives are", "I have a different perception about Saskatoon because of its pollution. I like the clean air at Brightwater." For a number of students, Brightwater offered a respite from their urban lives, "whenever I went there, I didn't worry about things that were bothering me, everything was peaceful and calm." These sentiments about the tranquility found in the natural landscape were echoed in other students' writings in their repeated use of 'calm', 'peaceful' and 'quiet' to describe their experiences at Brightwater. The natural setting also seemed to engender feelings of freedom, "I remember having the birds come and perch on my shoulders when I was filling the bird feeder. It felt like I was free." Finally, because of the connections they had made to the land and nature at the Brightwater camp, many students expressed concern for its future, "I feel it (Brightwater) should be protected as much as possible. Letting the wildlife and the plants have their place is important for them and us." The importance of this kind of facility being supported financially was also addressed, "I think Brightwater is a great place for kids to learn about the environment...Brightwater deserves a rich person to fund it so it will be there forever." Summary This section examined the findings of the study within the framework of the four themes that emerged; understanding of environmental issues, self-knowledge, peer interactions and impact of the Brightwater site. Within the context of our visits to Brightwater and the pre-visit and post-visit activities, the students began to understand in greater depth global and local environmental issues. They also began to recognize the importance of taking a proactive approach to the environment both at the Brightwater site and at school. Indeed, for some students, this learning transferred to the home environment. It became apparent, as the year progressed, that the students were recognizing the importance of personal empowerment. They understood that gaining or accessing that empowerment, or a sense of the self as capable, can affect an individual's commitment to be proactive. Experiencing Brightwater together gave the students a shared vision and an opportunity to discover and acknowledge the abilities and strengths of their peers. The importance of being able to connect physically and emotionally with a natural environment over the seasons seemed to have a positive effect on the students' developing awareness of themselves and their place in the environment. The Multi disciplinary Approach I believe that our world, the way in which we experience it and the knowledge we gain from those experiences are interconnected. The cognitive, affective and interpersonal skills that we develop as a result of one encounter with our world reality impact on each other and become the underpinnings for our responses in subsequent experiences. I think it is important and necessary to try to replicate the interconnected quality of our real world experiences when creating curricula for the classroom. It seems to me that this is particularly important when developing outdoor education or environmental education programs. If outdoor education excursions are developed and experienced within the context of other disciplines, there is a greater opportunity for the students to perceive the excursion and the knowledge they gain from it as part of a whole learning experience, rather than an isolated respite form what is often perceived by middle years students as the 'drudgery' of the classroom. When I began to plan for this project prior to the beginning of the school year, I considered the various factors which would influence the way in which I would structure the multi disciplinary units, the frameworks for our visits to Brightwater. I was determined to put into practice some of the ideas I had read regarding multi disciplinary and holistic education. However, I realized that I would also need to examine and take into consideration the academic and personal needs of the students. Added to this mix was the desire to give the students the opportunity to become environmentally aware in and through a relevant context. My understanding of holistic/multi disciplinary pedagogical approaches based on Miller's theories made me feel optimistic about the possibility of uniting these three factors.
He cites the example of voting:
He advocates holistic and multi disciplinary approaches because these educational strategies tend to foster an understanding of "a pattern or context that .....connect and give meaning to information" (p.1) and may aid in the transfer of knowledge and skills across disciplines. Miller (1990) outlines three basic positions - transmission, transaction, transformation - which he sees as the foundations for schooling and teaching approaches. In developing the multi disciplinary units, I attempted to utilize the concepts inherent in the latter two.
I saw problem solving activities and cooperative group work as necessary and integral in the creation of the units. The third position seemed to speak to what I hoped would be accomplished during the project:'
Equipped with these theoretical constructs, I set out to design curricula. As mentioned above, the results of the environmental survey completed by the students on the second day of classes led me to believe that the framework for our first visit needed to include activities and strategies which would afford the students the opportunity to view themselves as agents of change. However, I realized that before they could embrace themselves as empowered beings, they needed to reflect on their own life histories and how they had mastered that journey thus far. Once again, I turned to Miller (1990). One of his suggestions for a holistic theme involved connecting universal and personal mythology.
It seemed to me that I could address both the natural world and the students' self-knowledge through this topic. The unit which incorporated Language Arts (reading, writing, oracy, educational drama), Science and Art was structured in three stages. During the first stage, the students explored and discussed Creation and Quest myths from various cultures in Literature Circles. The Creation myths was used to encourage the students to think about the natural environment they would soon be experiencing and to connect scientific and literary explanations of natural phenomena. The Quest myths were used to give the students a basis for acquiring "an understanding of mythology as a metaphor for the inner journey of personal growth" (Miller 1990, p. 46). The students were introduced to the concept of the monomyth, the universal pattern contained in the structure and symbolism of myths across different cultures (Campbell, 1973). The second stage involved the students relating the monomyth concept to the predictable transitions usually encountered during adolescence to develop a narrative. I felt that narrative writing was an essential component of the unit. One of the reasons for this study was to listen to the voices of my students. It was important to equip them with the skills and tools necessary to do this through a narrative format. The students were also asked to use the monomyth format to examine ways in which that pattern is evident in nature. To this point in the unit, the activities which the students were engaged in encouraged them to connect personally with the content and meaning of the myths, but did not ask them to explore their own personalities or life journeys. That was the focus of the third stage of the unit. The activities in this stage required that each student connect the monomyth pattern to his/her own life journey with the accent on celebrating successful passages or transitions. For some students, this was a very difficult task because it meant thinking metacognitively about patterns of behavior and perhaps because it involved self disclosure. Other students, however, were able to identify transitions in their lives and recognize and examine what their current personal mythology was. One aspect of the personal mythology exploration which the students were asked to consider involved an environmental autobiography, if and how they saw themselves as part of the natural environment. The Science activities which were used form the Brightwater manual focused on the interconnectedness of the natural habitat. It also supported the concept of subject integration well. The seed for the second multi disciplinary unit was the new Middle Years Language Arts curriculum which I was piloting that year. One of the units, Pushing the Limits, dealt with the theme of survival. It seemed to me that this theme could be a logical second step in the process of the students developing an understanding of themselves and their capabilities in relation to the environment. I developed a unit which combined Language Arts, Science, Health/Lifestyles, and Social Studies concepts. Again, the multi disciplinary unit was divided into three parts, winter wilderness survival, urban survival and war survival. The objectives for all three sections were similar. In terms of cognitive growth, I wanted the students to develop an awareness of their ability to solve problems and to make choices based on an understanding of alternatives and consequences. In the affective domain, I hoped that the activities would enhance their self-esteem and their ability to empathize with others. Regarding interpersonal skills, I wanted the students to gain first hand knowledge of the importance of cooperation. Although only the first section of this unit dealt specifically with environmental issues with the emphasis on winter wilderness survival skills and knowledge, it was interesting to note that, during class discussions, many of the students made connections to the information they gained from the readings and activities in the other two parts. Their perception of the interconnections that exist between humans and the urban and natural environments, and between the environment and societal conflict were enhanced. The focus for the third multi disciplinary unit was decided in conjunction with the students. They had taken responsibility for planning the camp and many also wanted to have input into determining the context of the visit. A growing concern among the students was how to educate others about the importance of being environmentally aware. Many of the students believed that educating young children was the key to developing a life long dedication to protecting the planet. They also recognized that lectures would not be an effective mode for disseminating their understandings. I suggested that the students use their knowledge of the Brightwater site and its inhabitants - both animal and plant life - to develop picture storybooks. This unit which combined Language Arts, Art, and Science culminated in the sharing of the students' storybooks with the younger children at the school. The students took pride in creating stories and illustrations which would appeal to the youngsters and also foster an awareness of some environmental issues. Summary In this section, I have discussed the pedagogical rationale, provided an overview of the three multi disciplinary units, and reflected on the response of the students. The employment of a multi disciplinary approach seemed to enable the students to reshape their attitudes toward the environment and their awareness of environmental issues. The results of this project have been discussed in relation to the experiences of the students during their participation in this project and to the development of the multi disciplinary units. The conclusions that can be gleaned from this investigation will be outlined in reference to the stated purpose and objectives of the study. As a result of their visits to the Brightwater camp, the students enhanced their appreciation of the natural environment. During the course of the year, they anticipated each visit with increasing enthusiasm, partly because I think Brightwater had become a known entity where each student had favorite places to commune with the natural world. The enjoyment of the prairie that the students experienced deepened as they witnessed the natural changes which occur during the seasons. It is possible that connecting to a specific natural environment more than once may have been fundamental to the development of a proactive response to environmental concerns. It was apparent from the surveys completed at the end of the year and from class discussions and assignments that the students had assimilated much relevant information about the environmental issues had broadened substantially. Perhaps more importantly, they had become more cognizant of the interconnections that exist in their world. The multi disciplinary units developed as frameworks for each visit enlarged the scope of the basic Brightwater program. I believe that this type of curricular approach, especially when used as a basis for environmental education programs, connects and gives credence to the knowledge and skills which are necessary for maintaining a balance between quality of life and quality of the environment. Participation in both the visits to Brightwater and the activities developed for the multi disciplinary units seemed to enhance the students' feelings of empowerment and attitudes toward responsibility. As they gradually became more aware of their strengths and abilities, their interest and willingness to be proactive grew more pronounced. Their enthusiastic involvement in the development of the third camping trip and multi disciplinary unit demonstrated their increased interest in being active participants in their own education. It became clear to both myself and the students that they could not make a difference. Perhaps the fruits of this venture have yet to mature. Hopefully, this study planted many seeds in the minds and hearts of twenty-six young people about their ability to affect change in themselves and others. Time will tell. When considering the kinds of recommendations concerning environmental education to suggest as an outcome of this project, I found myself comparing the results of this tri-visit format with the single visit policy that I had experienced in the past. The positive effects of participation at a science and environmental camp that I had witnessed previously were indeed multiplied. It is obvious to me that the advantages of visiting the Brightwater site more than once during a school year are productive in terms of developing a sense of proactivity and responsibility in students. However, time and space restrictions at Brightwater limit the possibility of this occurring with all the classes that might want to engage in a more protracted environmental education program similar to what we did. I would strongly recommend that enlarging the present scope of the Brightwater program via increased funding and personnel be investigated. Environmental problems are not going to disappear; the least we, as educators, can do is to give the students who will have to deal with those problems a solid basis for their proactivity. I would also recommend that teachers be encouraged to seek out other residential camp situations that would lend themselves to environmental education programs. The results of this project indicate that the benefits of outdoor education programs reach across disciplines and enhance cognitive, affective and interpersonal skill development of adolescents. Because the multi disciplinary units seemed to enhance the development of the students' understanding of the interconnections between themselves and the environment, I would also recommend that this kind of educational approach be used when planning for outdoor education/environmental education program. Time to meet with other teachers and share ideas for units could be helpful in the developing programs that are appropriate for middle years students. Finally, I would like to stress the importance of providing opportunities for middle years students to be involved in the planning level of school activities. This kind of inclusion in the educational process gives middle years students an opportunity to develop decision-making and problem solving skills in addition to addressing their increasing need for autonomy and responsibility. Appendix 1 Environmental Survey ENVIRONMENTAL
SURVEY This is a survey to find out what you know and think about ecology and environmental issues. THIS IS NOT A TEST!!! You will not receive a mark for this; rather, we will use the knowledge and ideas you have about the environment as a base to build on. Please think carefully about your answers. 1. Check what you currently do on a regular basis
2. Check what you would be willing to do
3. Briefly answer these questions
4. Write in point form what you know about each of these environmental issues
5. What do you think are the top five (5) environmental problems? 6. These questions ask for your opinion and ideas:
7. Predict what will be the most important thing you will learn from going to the Brightwater Centre three times this year? 8. Other comments?
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