Inspiring Stewardship towards Plants through Social Marketing The scenario: While paused at a trail-head, students are listening to an instructor roll-out the next team activity and a student plucks a leaf off of a nearby plant, almost absentmindedly. As the instructor continues with the team instructions, that student briefly looks at the leaf in their…
Great critical thinking can happen anytime and at any scale, yesterday was an example of such. A small group meeting of environmental education graduate students brought together individuals from 3 teams which were each working on separate branches under a common goal of putting on a conference. Deciding on a title for the conference was…
The concept of stewardship can be difficult to explain to adults let alone 5th grade students. Additionally, reflecting upon one’s personal stance can feel intimidating and scary. To help students grasp the concept as well as acknowledge multiple viewpoints, I have recently begun using butcher paper to have a silent conversation on the topic of…
Sprezzatura, what a wonderful word! It signifies a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make what one does or says appear without effort or thought. Embodying this word is easier said than done, yet with practice can be developed. In teaching environmental education, I attempt to exude sprezzatura when introducing students to…
The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model is a challenging concept to successfully enact. It consists of 4 stages and all four can be present within a single lesson. The first is demonstration, which is basically the instructor doing while the students watch. The second stage is guided practice, here the instructor does and the students…