Towards education for a sustainable future in Asia and the Pacific

Conclusion The second phase of education for a sustainable future (the widespread reorientation of educational practices, systems and structures) is not yet widespread in the Asia-Pacific region. This is a very large undertaking and one that the economically wealthy regions of the world have yet to make. Therefore it is not surprising that one of the world's economically poorer regions has yet to enact such reforms. However, there is sufficient leadership in the region (in the form of international and regional agencies and active NGOs) to indicate that if Member States can be convinced that a whole-of-government approach to sustainable development is desirable, the teacher educators, curriculum development officials and teachers of the region will have the requisite support to make the necessary reforms. Original language: English John Fien (Australia) Director of the Centre for Innovation and Research in Environmental Education, Griffith University. Teaching and research interests focus on the reorientation of education towards sustainability in the formal school sector, teacher education and community education. He is the author ofEnvironmental education: a pathway to sustainability and education for the environment andCritical curriculum theorising and environmental education. Editor of several UNESCO project publications, includingTeaching for a sustainable world (1995),Learning for a sustainable environment (1997) andTeaching and learning for a sustainable future (2000). Osamu Abe (Japan) Professor in Education at Saitama University in Japan and the Project Leader of the Environmental Education Project of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies. A leading authority on conservation education and a well-known figure in both the environmental NGO and environmental education movements in Japan. Bishnu Bhandari (Nepal) Senior Research Fellow in the Environmental Education Project of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan. Former Director of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's conservation programme in Nepal. With Osamu Abe, he has convened a series of international conferences on environmental education in the Asia-Pacific region. They have publishedAn overview of environmental education in the Asia and Pacific region (1999) andA regional strategy on environmental education in Asia-Pacific (1999).     

Secondary School Teachers’ Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Renewable Energy Sources

Investigating knowledge, perceptions as well as attitudes of public that concern various aspects of environmental issues is of high importance for Environmental Education. An integrated understanding of these parameters can properly support the planning of Environmental Education curriculum and relevant educational materials. In this survey we investigated knowledge and attitudes of secondary school teachers in Greece towards renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar energy systems. A questionnaire with both open and close questions was used as the main methodological instrument. Findings revealed that although teachers were informed about renewable energy sources and well disposed towards these sources, they hardly expressed clear positions regarding several issues about wind and solar energy technologies and farms. Moreover such themes are limited integrated in teaching either as extra curricular educational programs or through the curriculum. These findings cannot confirm that teachers could influence students’ opinion towards renewable energy systems. Thus, authorities should invest more in Environmental Education and relevant Teachers' Education.     

基于TPACK理论的学科教育技术课程研究及启示——以英属哥伦比亚大学“运用技术教数学与科学”课程为例

学科教育技术课程是培养教师实施信息技术与学科教学深度融合能力的重要载体.为了探讨如何建设深入学科的教育技术课程,采用内容分析和深度访谈等方法研究了英属哥伦比亚大学的一门在线教育硕士项目课程--"运用技术教数学与科学".研究发现:该课程以TPACK理论和有意使用技术的教学思维框架为指导,其课程特色是以融合为导向,以问题为纽带,以探究为核心,以作品为中心,以协作为形式.这充分体现了整合性STEM教育的5个关键特征:STEM多学科融合,基于问题的学习,基于探究的学习,基于设计的学习,基于协作的学习.研究启示:(1)以学科教育技术为依托培养教师的信息化教学能力;(2)以学科交叉融合为导向培养教师的跨学科教学能力;(3)以信息技术支持的跨学科教育为切入点培养社会需要的创新型人才.     

远程合作学习项目对学校教育的影响效果分析

本研究采用调查研究的方法,以东西部79所参与中国和联合国儿童基金会“姊妹学校项目”的学校为对象,就项目对学校教育和教学以及师生的影响开展问卷调查。通过实证分析得知,远程合作学习“姊妹学校项目”在引入学校、融入课程与教学后,它影响着师生,为东西部学校带来了学习内容的变革、教与学形式的变革、学校文化的变革,这项为期三年的干预改变了学生,也改变了教师,改变了学校。     

The Integrated Approach to Teaching Visual Art in After‐School Activity Classes

The present article discusses the possibilities of interdisciplinary integration for teaching art to primary‐school students in after‐school activities. Integrated teaching, as one of the ways for putting into practice the socioconstructivist approach to learning and the theory of the guided construction of knowledge, is used as a basis for conceiving and implementing the two projects described in the empirical part of the article. The research questions, addressed here, aim at finding out how a project‐based approach and the knowledge gained in school and through the students’ individual experiences can be applied pedagogically in after‐school art activities. To achieve the aims of the study a two‐cycle action research was conducted where the integrated teaching was viewed as a developmental spiral, in which the insights, experiences and results gained from the first project fed into the planning and realisation of the second one. The outcomes of the two projects suggest that the integrated presentation of teaching material enhances the students’ learning abilities to make associative connections between the different subjects, to transfer their skills from one project into another, and to apply their knowledge from one subject area to another by processing various sources of visual or verbal information in their creation of artworks. The two projects have proven empirically the validity and educational relevance of the integrated approach to teaching art, and the usefulness of the ideas in the New Finnish Core Curriculum for the holistic development of the child in the complexity of today's world.     

School-Wide Educator Evaluation for Improving School Capacity and Student Achievement in High-Poverty Schools: Year 1 of the School System Improvement Project

The United States is in an era of high-stakes evaluation of educators (i.e., teachers and principals), the results of which are used to inform human capital decision making (i.e., recruitment, hiring, retention, and dismissal), which in turn impacts school capacity and student learning. The present article describes the School System Improvement (SSI) Project, a school-wide educator evaluation initiative that includes 22 high-poverty schools. The primary goal is to present the Year 1 planning for implementation of educator evaluation, highlighting the use of system consultation for planning. The SSI Project team includes researchers in school psychology and special education, school administrators, and teachers. The project aims to implement a multimethod educator evaluation system that generates scores for informing targeted, evidence-based professional development. Project goals are to increase educator competencies that lead to improved student achievement. Finally, directions for training and recommendations for future school reform are presented.     

Visual Culture in the Elementary-School Classroom: Moving from Box-Store Commodities to Out-of-the-Box Thinking

The goal of the action research project on visual culture is to contribute to the dialogue on the exploratory ecology vs commodity culture of the elementary school classroom. Exploratory culture, unlike commodity culture, applauds open-ended thinking, inchoate imaginings, and critical thinking with its attachment to divergent paths to resolving problems. This educational action research project moves to effect change, so as to a) understand visual culture as an educational component of teaching and learning, and b) awaken the need for the inclusion of research on visual culture in student teacher preparation. Visual culture can best be understood when preservice teachers are immersed in the classroom. The visual landscape of the walls, light, air, hallways, seating arrangements, posters, rugs, room dividers, windows, entrances and exits of the classroom and school building can all be seen as a third teacher. The action research focuses on core classroom experiences revealed through six student teachers weekly reflections, post observation discussions, and interdisciplinary arts-infused lesson planning and facilitation. Engaging in lesson planning and implementation has shown to broaden student teachers’ understanding of meaning-making through the visual, the essence of visual culture. The student teachers described the dynamic synergy between language and visual arts teaching and learning, personalization of technology that can extend learning, and the role of imagination in the movable landscape of the classroom.     

农村初中开展数学“课题学习”的困境及对策

初中（7～9年级）数学课题学习是学生在教师的引导下,在已有知识基础上,从所熟悉的现实生活中发现、选择和确定数学或跨学科领域的问题,主动应用知识解决问题的学习活动。当前农村初中数学课题学习面临传统教学评价观、班额大、师生经验有限、资源缺乏等因素的困扰,并没有充分实现数学课题学习的教育价值。笔者提出了相应的对策,以促进数学课题学习的有效开展。     

Teacher empowerment and developing a curricular management system in municipal schools using cooperation between university and municipality in Thailand

This participatory action research project responded to the needs for educational reform and involved cooperation between Mahasarakham Municipality, which provided primary school education, and the Faculty of Education at Mahasarakham University, which played a role as academic mentor. The project aimed to improve the quality of education management by empowering teachers. In order to do so the school had to admit restricted opportunity students rather than well qualified ones. The project, which was divided into four phases, took place between 2000 and 2005. It studied collaboration between the teaching staff of the Faculty of Education who worked as academic mentors and a group of 160 teachers at seven municipal schools. In Phase 1 the emphasis was on the development of 40 model teachers from these seven schools, giving them the skills to design curricula, promote learner-centred instruction, and undertake classroom action research for problem solving. In Phase 2 this developmental activity was extended to all 160 teachers. In Phase 3 the emphasis was on the extension of teacher networks to exchange learning among these schools and to develop best practices. In Phase 4 the emphasis was on developing the curricular management system in each school to ensure and enhance quality and in order that teachers could meet national teaching standards. This would promote a positive attitude and enhance the confidence of the parents and the community in the schools because the teachers would be as qualified as those from successful government schools. The interventions used in the four phases were: workshop training, coaching, learning exchanges, clinical supervisory visits, and reflection. The results of the research and development had a positive impact on raising the quality of teaching and the curriculum in the schools and promoted educational opportunities for disadvantaged students.     

在化学教学中渗透环保意识教育

环境保护问题是我国当前面临的重大问题之一。学生在校学习期间应对其进行环境保护教育。从＂紧扣教学内容进行环境教育＂、＂科学地进行化学实验,重视环境教育＂、＂与当地实际相结合,切实开展环境教育＂、＂变被动学习为主动行动,落实环境教育＂四个方面强化环保意识教育。     

Winter Art Education Project

The purpose of this article is to describe how the Department of Art Education at the University of Lapland in Finland has developed winter art as a method of environmental and community‐based art education. I will focus on the Snow Show Winter Art Education Project, a training project funded by the European Union and the State Provincial Office of Lapland. The general aim of the project was to increase the know‐how of winter art in Northern Finland. This goal was put into practice through workshops on snow construction, documentation of winter art, winter‐oriented media production, and snow and ice sculpting; through continuing education seminars, workshops, and school projects for teachers; and through public lectures and seminars on winter and winter art. In this article, I describe the challenges that winter offers to community and environment‐based art education in the North. Further, I introduce the methods of implementation and the outcomes of winter art exercises carried out by several schools in Lapland in cooperation with and inspired by the Snow Show Winter Art Education Project.     

我国高校与高中英语教师自主学习观比较探析简

随着素质教育以及终身学习教育理念的提出,自主学习越来越成为人们关注的焦点。在教育国际化的今天,加强对英语的自主学习具有重要意义。在通过对高校和高中英语自主学习了解的基础上,从教学观念、非智力因素、学习目标、学习策略、教学环境以及教学评价等维度对大学和高中英语教师自主学习观进行比较并分析其异同,从而为大学和高中英语教师进行教学提供一些启示,利于促进两个阶段教师的交流,也利于学生从高中到大学英语学习的过渡。     

探索有利于高校环境教育能力提升的有效课程体系——以集宁师范学院科研课题“岱海电厂及岱海地区旅游资源的可持续发展与环境保护”为例

将环境教育与可持续发展教育纳入课程目标,旨在帮助学生在今后的决策中成为环境友好的伙伴,从容面对环境挑战。开展科研课题＂岱海电厂及岱海地区旅游资源的可持续发展与环境保护＂目的是培养具有社会责任感、跨学科、高素质、具有创新能力和团队精神与领导力的复合型创新人才,提升高校师生环境意识和环境教育能力,提高广大师生的可持续发展意识,提高研究环境问题和解决环境问题的能力,把＂节能减排＂工作落实到学校管理和教学活动之中,促进广大师生的行为转变,开发出适合我校节能减排教育的校本课程。     

‘I never imagined I’d have to teach these children’: providing authentic learning experiences for secondary pre‐service teachers in teaching students with special needs

This article describes a collaborative and cross‐curricula initiative undertaken in the School of Education at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. The project involved developing an integrated approach to providing professional year pre‐service secondary teacher education students with experiences that would assist them to develop their knowledge and skills to teach students with special needs in their classrooms. These experiences were undertaken in the authentic teaching and learning context of a post‐school literacy program for young adults with intellectual disabilities. In preliminary interviews pre‐service teachers revealed that they lacked experience, knowledge and understanding related to teaching students with special needs, and felt that their teacher education program lacked focus in this field. This project was developed in response to these expressed needs. Through participating in the project, pre‐service teachers’ knowledge and understanding about working with students with diverse learning needs were developed as they undertook real and purposeful tasks in an authentic context.     

Narratives of learning communities in environmental education

Abstract

This article introduces the core concepts that emerged from five environmental education action research studies conducted by a group called Learning Communities in Environmental Education, Science and Mathematics (CEAMECIM) from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG) in the south of Brazil. The studies focus on teacher education processes in learning communities involving teachers, researchers and environmental educators, and the critical writing and reading texts of classroom recordings to problematise participants’ teaching practices. CEAMECIM used action research cycles to examine narratives of educational action, narratives from teachers concerning their development as environmental educators, and narratives of their development of a sense of belonging, with a particular focus on critiquing social models that are based on hierarchies and individuality. From this analysis, we propose a new perspective on being and learning how to become a learning community, crystallised by the belief that ‘we are more when we are together’.     

Teaching about Human Relationships Education for primary school student‐teachers using an interactive CD‐ROM

Human Relationships Education is a very important part of primary school student‐teacher education. All primary school children need sound guidance and enhanced knowledge about puberty, growing up successfully, and feeling competent and confident in themselves. An interactive multimedia CD‐ROM was designed and developed for some Australian university student‐teachers in the final fourth year of their Bachelor of Education (Primary School), and addresses the Human Relationships Education curriculum. This paper analyses some of the pedagogies used in this pastoral care learning as examples of a Constructivist approach to designing multimedia interactivities based on Anderson and Krathwohl's learning framework. Such an approach may be useful for other educational designers to improve student‐teacher involvement in their pastoral care learning, to provide pedagogical variation and to use interactive multimedia, thus enhancing learning outcomes for student‐teachers and, in turn, their primary school students.     

Technology 2000

Abstract

This article describes a collaborative university-school district project for improving teaching and learning by using state-of-the-art educational technologies. The work resulted in the simultaneous improvement of P-12 education and teacher education. The article illustrates some of the important outcomes of a project known as Technology 2000, a collaborative effort between a university, a school district, and a business partner. Through using appropriate educational technologies, pre-service teachers, in cooperation with their supervising teachers in five classrooms at two school sites, engaged in the collaborative alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to facilitate student achievement. The participants believe that the outcomes of this educational technology project have important implications for improving teaching and learning in other schools and teacher education settings.     

Teachers' perceptions of technology education: Implications for curriculum innovation

This paper describes research into teachers' perceptions of technology education carried out as part of the Learning in Technology Education Project. Thirty primary and secondary school teachers were interviewed. Secondary teachers interpreted technology education in terms of their subject subcultures as did some primary teachers. The primary teachers were also influenced by current initiatives, outside school interests and teaching programs. Specializations: investigations in science, science and technology education. Specializations: learning theories, history and philosophy of science, chemical education.     

Sexuality education for young people: a theoretically integrated approach from Australia

Background: Teachers of sexuality education can often be uncertain about what theoretical basis and pedagogical strategies to use in their teaching. Sexuality educational programmes designed by teachers can often show few evident theoretical principles that have been applied in its construction. Thus, there seems to be a dearth of evidence of ways in which teachers can use appropriate theoretical foundations in their planning and teaching in sexuality education.

Purpose: This paper aims to suggest a way of providing such an appropriate theoretical framework for sexuality education teachers of young people aged 7–15 years of age.

Analysis: Age-appropriate primary and middle school pedagogies based on two integrated educational theories, namely Anderson and Krathwohl's theoretical framework of learning and teaching, with Verbal Linguistic Intelligence from Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, were analysed and evaluated. Key considerations were the earlier maturing of girls and boys, findings from relevant literature about children and young people's cognitive capacities, as well as the relevance of curriculum content for upper primary and middle school students, and the concomitant need for better and earlier sexuality education.

Conclusion: This approach, integrating Anderson and Krathwohl's theoretical framework of learning and teaching, with Gardner's Multiple Verbal Linguistic Intelligence, may be useful to assist health and sexuality education teachers in identifying and anchoring pedagogies in a more theoretically structured manner, thereby enhancing the quality of their sexuality education planning and teaching.     

Developing a School Focused Approach to Continuing Professional Development in Sustainability Education

This article has two aims. Its first is to describe how findings from a questionnaire survey of 96 UK primary schools influenced the theory of action adopted in the SEEPS Project, (Sustainability Education in European Primary Schools, 1997) funded by DGXI and DGXXII of the European Commission and Scottish Natural Heritage. SEEPS is a continuing professional development (CPD) project developed by representatives from 11 European educational systems. The first section of the article outlines how the Project came to adopt a school focused theory of action in CPD, in preference to a centralised or school-based approach. School focused CPD trains trainers and provides them with adaptable materials that can support individualised CPD programmes decided in and by the school and its staff. The second aim is to outline and analyse some of the more interesting inter and intra-regional relationships, correlations and differences which emerged from the survey. We have only included those findings that illuminate CPD provision in sustainability education. This article seeks to share data with others working in environmental education and sustainability education and to stimulate a debate about the relevance of school focused approaches in international discussions about CPD in environmental and sustainability education.