Fort Meyers, Florida
What is natural? Is a building natural? Most people's initial reaction is no. But isn't a bird's nest natural? When we say nature is "out there" but not in here, we are saying that we are not natural; this separates us from nature and creates a dichotomy. Most people don't know where their milk comes from; they have no concept of "cowness." In general, people have no concept of, or experience base with, wildness; the average person [in U. S.] spends only 5% of his or her time outdoors. So how do we raise the consciousness of people about biodiversity and invading species? The key is getting people of all ages engaged in the environment - immersed in learning. Don't try to teach anything at first; after people experience the environment, they'll collect data, they'll give it to those who need it, they'll write about it, etc. All we have to do is provide a link and incidental learning happens.
Engage school children in real planning decisions; help them to have a stake in such decisions. They need to understand not only the biology, but also the economics; so, for example, have them run a business. They can find out how to create a sustainable butterfly garden, for example. Students have demonstrated the ability to collect real data - they do it every day. Teach responsibility. Do service projects (give them a chance to be altruistic; this is unusual in our current society). Time for reflection is important too: "don't just do something - sit there". And when people do something themselves, they have ownership of it and responsibility for it.
These are the fundamentals: Energy flows and matter cycles. Basic systems are interacting components forming a web. History is patterns of the past. Environment education is patterns of the environment and how they interact.
There is a distinction between a problem and an issue: problems are data based; they become issues when there are values involved. An issue always starts as a problem and then values make it an issue. How are people moved from awareness to action.? Awareness, understanding, and action are a progression.
Different values create different outcomes. For example, in the past, we altered rivers to make them do what we wanted; now we are changing rivers back to their original form.
What can school children do? In Florida, school children managed to get the government to purchase and protect a swamp. They did everything from the biological inventory to getting the ordinance passed (through 23 drafts and 19 public hearings). Children also take part in "melalueca pulls"; they can pull up an acre of these invading trees in a lunch break if the soil is very wet or very dry. They're not "bad" trees, they're just in the wrong place. You've got to do things in order to learn. The students doing the melaleuca pulls learned from their mistakes and are now quite effective.
Miscellaneous thoughts: Get students to act things out. Try teaching the krebs cycle with students acting out the steps as a ballet. People come to understand the patterns of things by experiencing them . We should learn with technology, not from it - it's just a set of tools. When creating an educational program, we need to appeal to different learning styles. Mentorship is the most powerful role you can play. Pick out one kid and follow up, make contact. A mentor is one who moves into your life and opens doors for you. Ambiguity is usually left out - specificity is the key in our conventional education system, but the other half of the assignment is the ambiguity - like "tree-ness." If you want to succeed, you'd better work with others .
Start with data and move up the list to information, knowledge, understanding, and finally, wisdom. Wisdom comes from deep knowledge and has transferred understanding.
Theories toward action:
Information will empower you to act.
Learning how to do things will empower you to act.
Engaging in action empowers people.
When people feel bonded to nature, they will act to protect it.
Start by building the contextual connection - the "why."
Then give the content in films, lectures, slide shows - the "what."
Then get to the "how" - the action component - try it out.
Then "if" - how can you use this in another way?
On dealing with invasive species, we can engage the public by publishing "hit lists" and popular magazine articles, as well as technical papers. And we need science that will stand up to the scrutiny of special interests in court.