Many of today's adolescents have little to no connection to their environments or the native plants and animals that share their spaces. This is primarily due to a significant decrease in the amount of time children spend outdoors now, compared with children in the mid to late 20th century, compounded by a lack of natural history and outdoor…

A problem-based learning activity focusing on the human impact on the environment and the importance of sustainable development is presented. The activity revolves around a mysterious island where the civilization is on the blink of extinction, prompting students to investigate how human behavior, ecosystems, resources, and natural balance…

Social work has clear expertise in efforts to secure economic and social justice. The addition of environmental justice is an opportunity to extend these same skills into a new justice realm. Social workers not only need to learn about environmental issues but also claim their niche in the environmental crisis and ensure that poor and marginalized…

Safe and high-quality water is essential from both the health and environmental perspectives. Water quality is so important that the United Nations has included water in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Thus, the adequate control and treatment of water are necessities. These tasks must be…

In a fast-changing, globalising world, the teaching and implementation of a curriculum for Education for Sustainability (EfS) has been a challenge for many teachers. "Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability" highlights the issues and challenges educators and academics face in implementing EfS and gives examples of…

This article describes how one preschool teacher turned a luau celebrating moving on to elementary school as a springboard for a lesson on pollution. Over the course of one hour, this teacher introduced and provided a whole group lesson on pollution, and the responsibilities people share to protect the environment.

What's in Our Waters Jr. (WOW Jr.) is an environmental outreach program designed to teach fourth grade elementary students about watershed protection. This program is unique because of the partnership that brings together students, teachers, scientists, and water resource professionals to promote science education and environmental stewardship in…

Climate change and climate denial have remained largely off the radar in literacy and social studies education. This book addresses that gap with the design of the "Climate Denial Inquiry Model" (CDIM) and clear examples of how educators and students can confront two forms of climate denial: "science denial" and "action…

In today's electronic age, suburban and city children are increasingly disconnected with the natural world. Studying trees allows children to learn about the world they live in and can teach a variety of useful topics contained within the National Curriculum in England. Knowledge of trees is specifically required in the science curriculum at key…

This article describes how fifth grade students participated in a place-based environmental education initiative in West Michigan that supports teachers who want to involve their students in citizen science by protecting local water resources. Every year, Groundswell works with about 100 teachers at 30 schools to engage students in citizen science…

The simulation that we present here was designed to introduce students not only to climate change policy making but also to the Green Climate Fund and the process of negotiation. Rather than concentrating on either the political debate about climate change or doom and gloom scenarios, the focus of this simulation is on taking action and…

The burning of fossil fuels is triggering changes to the global climate that will have catastrophic environmental, economic and social consequences. The magnitude of the problem, and the deep challenges associated with confronting it, can seem overwhelming. There are, however, practical actions that academic staff and their associations can engage…

This book explores three global issues--climate change, peak oil and the limits to growth. It sets out the facts about the inevitable yet still largely unknown changes, and examines the feelings and attitudes the coming changes engender. It offers teachers ways to engage with vital but too often avoided issues, and to share success stories and…

Cruise planning may seem like an ordinary task for oceanographers, but it actually involves logical and strategic thinking, collaboration, and multidisciplinary work. The "Challenger" expedition, led by Charles Wyville Thomson from 1872 to 1876, was the first to be fully dedicated to understanding oceans (Rice et al. 1999) and was…

Science becomes engaging when students know that what they learn in the classroom relates to their own lives and communities. This article describes a project in which students use field exploration and online software to design virtual solutions to improve the hydrology of their school yard. The project is called Teaching Environmental…