Introduction
Teachers play a vital role in developing the personality of a child. They seek not only to inculcate knowledge but also skill, commitment and a healthy attitude in order to make him or her, a productive member of society. Among other areas that need to be targeted by teachers, it is essential that ' Environment ' also be given due consideration.
This entails not only the physical environment that surrounds the child but also the biotic environment (living components), the socio-cultural environment and socio-economic environment. It is important that from the very beginning we are taught the interconnectedness of everything around us and that whatever we do always has an impact on our environment. A disturbance in the balance of the physical environment affects the biotic environment, which in turn effects the socio -cultural and socio-economic environment.
Environmental Education (EE) aims to do exactly that. According to UNESCO:
Environmental education fosters clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas; provides every person with the opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitments and skills needed to protect the environment; creates new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the environment.
This definition clearly explains the underlying objectives that EE seeks to address. Teachers can play a vital role in developing awareness about environmental issues as well as attitudes, values and commitment needed to address them. One important aspect to note however is that EE should not be thrust upon the students as a separate subject. This would diminish its effectiveness. The idea is to ensure that it is incorporated into subjects as a cross cutting theme. This process requires that teachers understand these issues and to be able to incorporate them into various subject areas. This integration on the one hand would enrich the content of the subject and on the other hand provide insight for environmental concerns without burdening the students.
For this purpose we have tried to develop some lesson plans which could be a useful tool to incorporate environmental concerns into the curriculum. |
