Mini-Grants

Implementing Active Learning Principles in Environmental Education

Genviève Aboud and Kory Goldberg (Champlain Regional College)

2016 Mini-grant Project

Implementing active learning principles in Environmental Education, through the active participation of students in conceptualizing, planning and implementing environmental projects on campus or in their communities.

Project Proposal

This application is to request funding to support a project already going forward, implementing active learning principles in Environmental Education.

The project is headed by Gina Lavine from Collège LaFlèche and has consultation support from Chris Adam of Dawson College and the Earth Values Institute. Project participation is funded through an Entente Canada Quebec (ECQ) grant, but lacks financial support for specific course materials.

Based on the Action Research (AR) model developed for educational settings by Carr and Kemmis (2003) and later integrated into Environmental Education by Strapp, Wals and Stankorb (1996) and Wals (2002; 2008) this project involves the active participation of students in conceptualizing, planning and implementing environmental projects on campus or in their communities. Since 2001 numerous Quebec educational institutions have engaged with AR under the direction of Claude Poudrier, as seen in Hope Builders (2010), a National Film Board of Canada production about the application of AR in a McMasterville, QC primary school. Dawson College Environmental leadership professor and founder of Sustainable Dawson Chris Adam has adapted AR to suit the particular requirements of courses in Dawson’s Environmental Sciences, Environmental Social Sciences, and Leadership programs, demonstrating the model’s flexibility to adapt to various courses and programs of study. Our project at Champlain is part of an initiative to take these ideas and have them applied more broadly, in concert with students from Collège LaFlèche in Trois- Rivières, QC and Collège Merici in Québec, QC.

Diverse examples of projects initiated by students may include: biodiversity garden design and implementation, composting, construction of mason bee “hotels,” implanting waste-reduction campus policies and practices, creating writing-pads from recycled paper, office plant propagation and distribution, awareness campaigns and fund-raisers for climate refugees, etc.

Learning Objectives

Having been given a basic foundation of environmental knowledge, students will choose projects that benefit the environment on campus or in the surrounding community.
Students will research the associated impacts of the projects chosen.
Students will come up with a time frame and budget for project implementation.
Students will attempt to apply the proposed projects on campus or in their communities.

Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of environmental issues and good judgement in choosing workable / solvable problems.
Demonstrate the capacity to find and use academic / reliable literature to support ideas.
Demonstrate the ability to think critically about the roles played by project group members and other stakeholders in the class, on campus, and in the community. Doing so will reveal a realistic understanding of the costs and time of implementation.
Demonstrate the practical ability to apply the ideas that had previously only existed on paper. Also, to think critically about any stumbling blocks faced, and how to overcome them.

Throughout the project conceptualization, development and implementation the students will be using an online forum to share ideas between themselves and the partner college’s students from Collège LaFlèche and Collège Merici. The final projects will be presented online, and made accessible to students from the participating colleges.

Relationship to Planetary Challenge (Environmental Geography):

This assignment requires students to take concepts and knowledge of environmental issues learned through the course and apply them in the creation of concrete projects to benefit their environment.

Relationship to Green Living (Humanities–Worldviews):

This assignment necessitates students to use principles and practices of environmental sustainability learned through the course, apply them to the design and implementation of a concrete project, and then reflect upon how their engagement with this project did or did not influence their own evolving perceptions of and experiences with the environment.

Since the project ideas will be student driven, and the application is for funding for materials to support the implementation of their projects, the actual costs can only be determined mid-semester of Winter 2016.

However, the example below shows that approximately $100 would be required for that potential project. Students will be working in teams of five, with seven teams per class (each class has approximately 35 students); thus $100 allocated per team. Aboud will be teaching one section of Planetary Challenge and Goldberg two section of Green Living. Thus, based on the projection below Aboud and Goldberg would require a total of $2100 ($100 per team x 21 teams).

Evaluation

Student learning
Student enthusiasm and rate of participation
Project implementation
Acknowledgement of challenges and achievements

Measurement

Coherence and depth of knowledge evident in final project presentation
Peer & self evaluation / attendance
Successful implementation of project
Group critique of methods, stumbling blocks, and successes

Knowledge and Skills Brought to the Project

Genevieve Aboud (Geography / Social Sciences), gaboud@crcmail.net
Kory Goldberg (Humanities), kgoldberg@crcmail.net
Institution: Champlain College St. Lambert

Both Aboud and Goldberg have been teaching courses on environmental issues for over 7 years.

Aboud holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degrees in geography. Goldberg holds a Bachelor’s degree in anthropology and international development, a Master’s degree in Buddhist Studies, and a PhD in Religious Studies (environmental and educational themes and issues are strong undercurrents in his multiple disciplines).

As two of the founding members of, and active participants in, Champlain College’s Go Green committee, Goldberg and Aboud have volunteered their time in working with faculty, administration, support staff and students to implement concrete projects on campus to diminish its ecological footprint and generate awareness about local and global environmental issues.

These projects have included the conceptualization and implementation of the community garden and compost program, the first phases of the biodiversity garden, waste reduction programs, as well as various on-campus educational campaigns, guest-lectures, film screenings, etc. For a detailed list of past and current activities, visit: (http://www2.champlaincollege.qc.ca/wordpress2/the-go-green-champlain-committee/)

References

Carr, Wilfred, and Stephen Kemmis (2003). Becoming Critical: Education Knowledge and Action Research. London: Routledge.

Dansereau, Fernand. Dir. (2010). Hope Builders. National Film Board of Canada.

Stapp, W. Arjen. Wals, and SL Stankorb (1996) Environmental Education and Empowerment: Action Research and Community Problem Solving. Dubuque: Kendall and Hunt Publishing.

Wals, A. (2002). “Sustainability in Higher Education: From Doublethink and Newspeak to Critical Thinking and Meaningful Learning.” International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. 3 (3), 221-232.

Wals, A. (2008). “Globalization and Environmental Education: Looking Beyond Sustainable Development.” Journal of Curriculum Studies. 40 (1), 1-21.