Teachers’ Choices of Teaching Methods for Environmental Education: A case study of Life Skills teachers at a primary school in South Africa

Abstract

The success of environmental education has been attributed to several factors including teachers’ competencies and attitudes, teaching methodologies, availability of resources, and curriculum design. Many researchers in environmental education suggest that innovative and resourceful teaching approaches may translate into meaningful environmental education. This study provides an insight into the influence of this on environmental education in a South African classroom through a qualitative approach. Interviews were conducted to understand the teaching approaches used in the subject of Life Skills. The findings of the study suggest that the pedagogical content knowledge and identity of the teacher are determining factors for teachers’ pedagogical choices. This paper suggests that it is not the resources that are crucial to learning, rather the presence of a resourceful teacher. A resourceful teacher is able to introduce innovation regardless of the availability of teaching resources. This information could inform pre-service teacher training programmesin focusing on the development of a resourceful environmental education teacher. Keywords: environmental education, Life Skills, teaching approaches, Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), educational resources

Challenges Impeding Technology Education Teachers in Delivering Lessons to Raise Students’ Awareness About Littering

“…Such scholars include Malhotra and Upadhyay (2021), whose research looked at how sustainability is taught both theoretically and practically in TE in Ireland. Similarly, South African scholars Ruthanam et al (2021) investigated the choices of teaching strategies for EE that South African teachers made within the primary school context, whilst Tsotetsi (2021) examined how South African teachers in selected primary schools implemented EE. However, these studies did not specifically examine the challenges that eighth-grade TE teachers encountered in schools, hence, the current study aims to address this gap in the literature.…”

“…Related to the issue of littering, the TE teachers that were interviewed believed that administering the PAT equated to teaching students about littering, and that since environmental issues such as littering were not incorporated within TE topics, there was inadequate assessment of environmental issues in classwork, homework, and in tests. In their respective studies, both Fru and Ndaba (2023) and Ruthanam et al (2021) reported that a number of teachers just concentrated on getting their students to pass examinations, which would influence TE teachers to ignore or only partially focus on environmental content, seeing curriculum coverage as their most vital task, and thereby not considering the development of environmental awareness in students.…”

“…Teaching students about, in, and for the environment needs to include learning both indoors and outdoors. Field trips can enable students and teachers to explore theoretical learning in the real world through practice; however, due to a lack of finances, TE teachers are rarely able to plan any sort of environmental field trips (Ho et al 2022;Moeletsi, 2022;Ruthanam et al, 2021). Lack of support from schools as well as the South African Government's Department of Basic Education also contributes to the reality of the lack of field trips and resources.…”

Diversificación de capacidades de Enseñanza Aprendizaje de la Educación Ambiental en la Costa del Perú

“…P á g i n a 5061 b. Aporte de perspectivas teóricas: Constructivista y sistémica, en los procesos de aprendizaje y aplicación de la educación ambiental, de forma gradual y progresiva, que genere la reconstrucción de un punto de referencia didáctico e integre la reflexión psicológica, epistemológica y sociopolítica, en un marco teórico y en un ángulo de causa-consecuencia, su impacto socio-ambiental y posibles alternativas metodológicas de analizar y de plantear soluciones ( Ruthanam et al, 2022) c. Investigación de situaciones problemáticas: La metodología permite abordar el estudio de problemas socio-ambientales con potencialidad integradora para trabajar contenidos científicos y cotidianos, en el proceso de aprendizaje ( Kinslow et al, 2016). Ejemplo: Investigar sobre la contaminación del aire y sus efectos en la salud a partir de la imagen que vamos a representar a continuación d. Aprendizaje significativo: Se caracteriza por implicar que el alumno comprenda conceptos, procedimientos, actitudes y valores y no sólo los memorice.…”

“…Ejemplo: Investigar sobre la contaminación del aire y sus efectos en la salud a partir de la imagen que vamos a representar a continuación d. Aprendizaje significativo: Se caracteriza por implicar que el alumno comprenda conceptos, procedimientos, actitudes y valores y no sólo los memorice. Con el aprendizaje significativo, los nuevos conocimientos se incorporan en la estructura cognitiva de modo no memorístico ni mecánico (Ruthanam et al, 2022). Se supone que quien aprende dispone necesariamente, de ciertos conocimientos, conceptos, ideas y esquemas.…”