In this article, the authors analyze evidence regarding the dissemination of mistaken ideas concerning the presence and function of pine trees ("Pinus halepensis") in a Mediterranean archipelago: the Balearic Islands (Spain). The main errors concerning the natural vegetation that are disseminated among citizens by the forest management…

Sustainability as a concept, though well understood in general terms, is often politically captured by interest groups and as such expressed through issues like concern for global climate change or the need to develop more efficient energy sources, to address regional, national or international priorities. Education for sustainability as a concept…

Modern American society faces challenges that are much different from those that the early pioneers of American play face. Play deprivation, or lack of play, is the result of children's unwillingness to choose free and spontaneous outdoor play such as that which occurs in parks and other natural settings. A lack of play in natural settings leads…

India is a country of unparalleled diversity within both the cultural and ecological spheres of life. This paper examines the author's experience exploring and inquiring into the mental health implications of mining and mining induced displacement within several Adivasi (tribal) communities in Andhra Pradesh, India. Through collaboration with…

This laboratory exercise investigates the influence of population density on offspring number and size in burying beetles. Students test the theoretical predictions that brood size declines and offspring size increases when competition over resources becomes stronger with increasing population density. Students design the experiment, collect and…

There is an assumption underlying education for sustainable development that all we need do is learn the skills and knowledge to live sustainably. Yet, many already know the issues and know we "should" act, but we don't. This article argues that a key part of the problem is that we live according to myths and daydreams perpetuated by a…

Children are naturally curious about the world in which they live. To focus this sense of wonder, have your students investigate their local habitat as it changes over the year. This multiseason study will build connections and add relevance to the habitats that children learn about. This series of activities for grades 4-6 explores the changing…

Background: There are several factors that influence teaching urban physical education. Violence, poverty and irrelevant curricula influence the teaching-learning environment in urban physical education. One approach to urban physical education is to look carefully at the ecology that exists within an urban physical education class. This ecology…

Recent emphasis on the development of creativity in Chinese students across various educational levels is highlighted in various Chinese societies, including Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Early childhood educators as important gatekeepers of fostering creative development in young children were invited to give their professional opinion on the…

As American settlement spread to the Midwest, college and university campuses came to symbolize some of the greatest achievements of public policy and private philanthropy. However, the expansion westward often ignored the cultural precedents of Native Americans and the diversity of the varied native landscapes. Today, campus planners and historic…

While nature is often claimed to be a space of harmonized balance or an antidote to the chaos of the modern world, we need a more grounded assessment of nature as endlessly changing and much less predictable than we like to assume. In this essay, I explore Karen Traviss' provocative exploration of unbalanced nature and unbounded bodies in her…

The present study aimed to describe and evaluate a transformative, embodied, emergent learning approach to acquiring ecological literacy through higher education. A class of teacher candidates in a bachelor of education program filled out a survey, which had them rate their level of agreement with 15 items related to ecological macro-models.…

The authors developed a framework of empirically grounded curricular goals for water-science literacy and documented the challenges that students face in achieving these goals. Water-related environmental science literacy requires an understanding of connected natural and human-engineered systems at multiple scales ranging from atomic-molecular…

The author has been teaching a graduate course entitled Envisioning a Sustainable Society since 1996 that seeks to explore the possible dimensions of a transformation of people's way of life and their beliefs about humanity's relationship with the planet. Designed for future teachers, educational leaders, and counselors, the course focuses on the…

A laboratory-based exercise that demonstrates mechanisms underlying leaf degradation in streams. Students examine the effects of "leaf conditioning" on the feeding behavior of invertebrate shredders. The exercise is completed in two sessions and can be adapted to both high school and college levels.