Environmental Education Activities
What environmental education skills do I teach?
To teach environmental education activities in BC Canada where I live, teachers are encouraged to use the acronym CARE.
CARE stands for "Complexity, Aesthetics, Responsibility & Ethics".
Complexity - There are natural and human system that are all connected. As teachers and students, how do we interact with and affect those systems?
Aesthetics - Help your students develop an appreciation for the natural world that will encourage them to learn about and protect the environment.
Responsibility - Provide opportunities for your students to take responsible actions and explore the environmental impact of what they do.
Ethics - As your students' understanding of environmental issues develop from participating in environmental education activities, they form an environmental ethic of their own.
Ten Things I Can Do to Help My World
Skills Lists
Environmental education activities can be integrated into all subject areas. Listed below are suggested learning outcomes for young students.
Science
Students are working towards...
- sharing ways to rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, and recycle
- describing features of local plants and animals
- comparing local plants & animals
- describing attributes of their immediate environment (playground)
Social Studies
Students are working towards...
showing an awareness of the concept of change - identifying groups and places that are part of their lives
- identifying characteristics of different local environments
- showing responsible behavior in caring for their immediate environment
Wolf Island
Language Arts & Math
- integrate the above into any language arts or math lesson
Health & Career Planning
Students are working towards...
- identifying opportunities to make choices
- identify practices that contribute to health, including healthy eating, regular physical activity, emotional health practices, and disease prevention practices
Physical Education
Students are working towards...
- Using the outdoors as not only as a place to get physical exercise, but to learn about how to care for the environment
- participating daily (e.g., five times a week) in moderate to vigorous physical activities
- identifying physical activities they enjoy doing
Drama & Music & Visual Arts
Students are working towards...
- expressing ideas or concerns about an environmental issue with drama, and songs
- showing their knowledge of and responding to environmental issues with 2-D and 3-D images
Environmental education pages:
Environmental education activities skills list
Environmental science
Free science worksheets
Green kids and Earth Day
Leaf rubbing planet Earth - art activity
Outdoor ed. degree
Recycling for kids - Part 1
Recyling for kids - Part 2
Science books for children
Tree Seedling Experiments
Year long environmental activity ideas
Shopping