Environmental educators succeed by supporting existing curricula rather than adding new content
Evidence
It’s important to help teachers understand that we’re not trying to introduce new curriculum; we don’t come with a prefab set of activities or an agenda. When teachers complain “Not one more thing to cover!” we try to clarify that the environmental educator is an inhouse staff-support person. In Gilford, Assistant Principal Sandy McGonagle recently reported: … We’ve just started to tmplement FOSS, our new science curriculum, and the teachers were feeling hemmed in and like they had to follow it word for word. Alan (the environmental educator) has helped them see how they can do many of the activities using local resources and they feel freed up because they’ve got someone to work with. — David Sobel, Place-Based Education, 27
Categorization
- XREF: Reverses the common assumption that environmental education is an add-on subject; relevant to the teacher-training aim of the reader’s course. — connects to: Classroom visits are the most effective form of teacher professional development — David Sobel, Place-Based Education: Connecting…, 105; A well-organized critique accuses environmental educators of fear-mongering over facts — David Sobel, Place-Based Education: Connecting…, 63; An environmental educator functions as an in-school resource linking teachers to outdoors curricula. — David Sobel, Place-Based Education: Connecting…, 22 (+2 more)
- recurring: this claim recurs 5 times within its source
Related
- Place-based educators succeed by augmenting existing curricula rather than adding new content. (similarity 0.93)
- Place-based education gains buy-in by helping teachers meet existing mandates, not adding curriculum. (similarity 0.91)
- An environmental educator functions as an in-school resource linking teachers to outdoors curricula. (similarity 0.87)
- Environmental content must be balanced with other subjects to be palatable in place-based education. (similarity 0.85)
- Effective teacher professional development requires repeated varied exposure and piggybacks onto existing structures. (similarity 0.81)
- David Sobel — Place-Based Education Connecting Classrooms and Communities (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Place-based educators succeed by augmenting existing curricula rather than adding new content.
#corroborates(0.98) — David Sobel, Place-Based Education, 27 - Sustainability can mean transforming, not adding to, education
#corroborates(0.90) — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 251