An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic) Outline and written work in progress and a whole lotta

self talk.

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ABSTRACT Start with a brief summary or story that incorporates the main ideas of the study (50-150 words)

Ninas self-talk and reminders: Who is the audience/ideal reader? Are your limitations clear, have you acknowledged your perspectives/beliefs? check the rubric, check your class notes are you on track?

An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic) VIGNETTE OR ANECDOTE

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Its Friday afternoon in room 308 of the Social Studies domain. Students enter, put their books or bags down and some move to the shelf where their journals are kept while others look in on their plant projects. We all seem to chat with each other informally. Friday is like that. We feel the sense of release because the week is coming to a close. Ben normally gets to the watering can first, waters his spider plant and then checks in on the others. He doesnt know who they belong to; he just does his rounds, looking in on who might need a drink. Kiyans plant died before winter and he asked that he not get assigned another one. He still goes to the window sill though, checking in on Courage, Steadfastness, Kenwood, Ainsley and all the others whose names are now hidden by leaves. Some have been named after heroic qualities as a result of our WWII unit in November, while others have kept their first names chosen by their caretakers back September. Kiyan takes over the watering can so Ben can grab his journal. I greet them by turning up the volume of the instrumental tracks I have playing and its time to begin.

I raise the screen to reveal the journaling prompt for the day. Some start right away, others need some clarification about length or other inconsequentials like todays date. Clarification questions usually result in some kind of discussion. They seem to want to explain aloud and tell someone else what they think just so they feel comfortable about their own thoughts.

Theres someone who asks why were journaling less about our plants progress as metaphors for the topics we are learning and more about our feelings about the stuff were learning. I give my stock answer but then re-word when I see some perplexed faces. I couldnt expect you to value your plant or the environment, Leah, when you were still trying to establish what your own values were. Your plant

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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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was supposed to be a metaphor for caring for the environment and although you do water and prune it on Fridays, I doubt you think any more about it than that. I think thats partly my fault for how Ive scheduled things; the routine of journaling and watering was effective in that your plant was well looked after, but I dont think Im doing much to change your personal feelings about environmental stewardship. Leah looks at me, suppresses a giggle and asks, So you want me to think of my plant every day? Are you turning crazy, Ms. Pagtakhan? Youre starting to sound like one of those people. You know like those people. Leah pauses a moment and smiles warmly, probably checking to see if shes offended me. Thats okay, Ill still look after my plant and journal and stuff. I thank Leah for her participation and tell her that, at least in the interim, Id like to learn more about what she values and what values she derives from the topics we learn in class. The plant can be an onlooker of those discussions in the meantime. They look at me thoughtfully, confusedly, but continue writing on the days journal prompt. JOURNAL PROMPTS February 17: Look at the following photos and their captions. Notice that the photos on the left are from your textbook and the ones on the right are the same topic but from a different perspective. How would the stories of the post war period change if they were told from the perspective of the air? The water? The plant life? Are we getting better at telling their stories? STUDENT ENTRIES Smickle: If the post war period were told in a different perspective, they would think that were not being heard because although we know that their dying or unhealthy we havent changed out habits. Yes, during the last few years we have become more aware of what is happening however there hasnt been enough change. Air, millions of cars have been added to cities and each day gallons of has is burned. Plants, everyday millions of trees have been cut down even though we know that we need them. Water, pollution in water is so bad that the toxic levels are rising. Yes we hear that they are hurting and dying however we turn the other cheek and let it happen. Sting Ray: This entry is proof that we are getting better at telling the untold story-at least now we know. Knowing is hardly enough, though. Now comes the hard part. Now comes the action. Post-journal prompt discussion with Sting-Wray: .. but this makes me depressed and angry because we are the future and we are apathetic and unoriginal

Ninas self-talk and reminders: Who is the audience/ideal reader? Are your limitations clear, have you acknowledged your perspectives/beliefs? check the rubric, check your class notes are you on track?

An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic) Sarah: February 24, 2012: List 3-5 core values you live by. Briefly state why. Then indicate where environmental responsibility ranks on this list and explain why.

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My core values: Energy I want to enjoy every moment of my life. I want every day to be happy and energetic. Bravery I dont want to look back at my life and regret if I was too afraid to do/try something. Spontaneous I want to keep my life exciting and not boring. BTW, both my bellybutton and cartilage piercing were spontaneous. HardWorking I want to be successful. In school and in the future. I believe dedication and hard working is necessary. Health Im not a crazy health-person, and I also eat junk food, but I consider health life style is important. All the morals are ranked about equal. Environmental responsibility: It may sound selfish, but environment responsibility is not on my core values list. I try my best to save energy and not waste and use my 3Rs but my personal needs come first. Hermione: I think my generation does not have a movement and the reason I think this is because our generation is too focused on individual problems rather than problems that affect us all. I also think were lazy and very oblivious. I believe our generation thinks too highly of ourselves and think we can do anything. With these problems, we are unable to think of anything or anyone except for ourselves. Another reason we invented the word lol how sad is that? Im sure if there was an ipod app for creating your own movement, we may start one. Sting Wray: I listen to classical music mostly, which although containing a message is hard to derive much meaning from. The kinds of songs I am periodically attracted to (rather than those I regularly listen to) speak of environmental messages, and have a happy tune. I think this says that I care about the environment, and that I like uplifting things. Im not sure if my generation has a movement. I wish we did. On one hand there are the depressed, unmotivated and wholly boring individuals with no dreams (like **** and **** there). I see those people, those young people, I could cry. Right now Im so depressed because they just dont see. Theres something more. Whatever battle I fight, whether for the environment or peace, will I have to fight alone? I pray not. I pray they mature. Smickle: If the post war period were told in a different perspective, they would think that were not being heard because although we know that their dying or unhealthy we havent changed out habits. Yes, during the last few years we have become more aware of what is happening however there hasnt been enough change. Air, millions of cars have been

March 2, 2012: This week you have been presenting songs of the 50s-70s which embodied the values of that era. What was clear in the songs that you picked was the message of anti-war, a desire for governments to be more tolerant etc. Protest Songs are not unique to these eras. So today Im asking you to journal about the songs that you listen to. How are they reflective of your values? If you have to, take out your play list and scroll through it. Then answer: about a. What does this say what you believe? b. Is it an accurate reflection of who you are and what you value? Explain. Part III: There were quite a few songs from the 70s (particularly in response to the Vietnam war). It seemed that the protest movement embodied the entire era of the 60s and 70s. Is there a movement/idea of your era that seems to percolate through in the music of your generation. What is it?

February 17: Look at the following photos and their captions. Notice that the photos on the left are from your textbook and the ones on the right are the same topic

Ninas self-talk and reminders: Who is the audience/ideal reader? Are your limitations clear, have you acknowledged your perspectives/beliefs? check the rubric, check your class notes are you on track?

An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic) but from a different perspective. How would the stories of the post war period change if they were told from the perspective of the air? The water? The plant life? Are we getting better at telling their stories?

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added to cities and each day gallons of has is burned. Plants, everyday millions of trees have been cut down even though we know that we need them. Water, pollution in water is so bad that the toxic levels are rising. Yes we hear that they are hurting and dying however we turn the other cheek and let it happen. Sting Ray: This entry is proof that we are getting better at telling the untold story-at least now we know. Knowing is hardly enough, though. Now comes the hard part. Now comes the action. Post-journal prompt discussion with Sting-Wray: .. but this makes me depressed and angry because we are the future and we are apathetic and unoriginal

RESERACHERS PERSPECTIVE, ISSUES, PURPOSE, METHOD Reminder to Nina about what this section is supposed to do: Invite the reader to delve into the perspective of the researcher, why the interest in this study, the issues, purposes, and methods used. (3-6 pages) INTRODUCTION So they get it. They get that the environment is at risk and what has to be done at all levels of society to reverse the damage and protect the earth. Theyve heard the message in classrooms and on TV so we, as educators can all breathe a sigh of relief that the system isnt a failure. Sarah does her best she does the 3 Rs, like many of my students who wrote the same thing. My survey results reveal a solid awareness of environmental issues and what our part should be in changing the course of the future. They turn off the lights when not in use, bring re-usable containers to carry their lunches, opt for the recycling bin before a trash bin, etc But as I read through the journal entries and notes of the discussions in class, their environmentally aware actions are too systematic, preprogrammed, practiced, and engrained. What their writing also reveals is that those actions are not an indication of any personal responsibility they have for the environment. The behaviors are largely unemotional, unconcerned and dangerously detached from the world they live in.
Ninas self-talk and reminders: Who is the audience/ideal reader? Are your limitations clear, have you acknowledged your perspectives/beliefs? check the rubric, check your class notes are you on track?

An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic) The Issue

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Although the education system has been successful at educating students on various environmental challenges, it has shortcomings in actually changing mindsets of individuals. The environmental awareness survey distributed at the beginning of the research and the individual journal entries of students substantiate this reality. Too many of them have written I do it, but I dont care or Im not wasteful; I turn the lights off and dont run the car, but I dont care about the environment. These actions indicate some accomplishments in the area of more environmentally considerate behaviours but a significant limitation glares back at us. Students do, but do not feel any allegiance to the earth they are doing it for. The educational theorist, Lev Vygotsky and other social constructionists would argue that we are not educated on a matter until it becomes part of who we are (N. Gajdamaschko, personal communication, October 28, 2011). Dont we want our students actions to be purposeful, reflections of what they believe? Dont we want our students to live with intention and actions that reflect their values? This report isnt a doomsday report. In only seeks to shine a light on one teachers practice, specifically mine, and address inadequacies that may have contributed to students already apathetic attitude to this particular topic. What the action research has illuminated are three problems that occur when the teaching of environmental education (EE). These briefly are: 1) rigidity of teacher practice 2) the value education factor and 3) the role of science in shaping students thinking. Rigidity of Teacher Practice On the matter of teacher practice, the action research aims to illuminate the problematic framework of a course which has resulted in a rigid lesson planning. The research uses my practice as a Social Studies 11 teacher to this provincially examinable course as data. I will use the British Columbia Integrated Resource Package for Social Studies 11 (Appendix A), specifically the eight-page section on the
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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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Prescribed Learning Outcomes (PLOs) to highlight the explicitly listed achievement indicators. In response to these guidelines, this report will include my 2011-2012 year plan (Appendix B) submitted to my department head and Dean of Academics at the start of every school year to show the attempts I have made at scheduling and meeting the PLOs for this course. Further to this, the British Columbia Social Studies Teachers Association 2010 survey results (Appendix C) will further substantiate the claim that the Socials 11 curriculum has resulted in inflexibility in the classroom. It is important to note that the action research is not about blaming the course or the ministry, because as Gillian Judson, Imaginative Ecological Educator puts it, the PLOs are just possible learning outcomes. How much we adhere to that depends on our own educational philosophy (G. Judson, personal communication, October, 2010). Judson reminds teachers that there is such thing as autonomy. But what cannot be overlooked is that teacher autonomy is also determined by the community in which that teacher operates. As such my journal entries as a sort of day in the life of teaching Socials 11 at Collingwood School (Appendix D) are included in this study to further establish the context in which this report comes from. My teaching practice is a product of many things: my own values, my community, and the institution responsible for authoring curriculum. In trying to balance all those, the topic of EE has not emerged as something more natural in my practice a real disconnect given that EE should be a natural consideration to someone like myself who holds environmental stewardship as a core value. Instead it has been too premeditated and rigid resulting in the perpetuation of already engrained and so-called environmentally conscious behaviours. Put simply, strict routines followed by teachers are good in that they provide the time and space for students to think about environmental issues. By the same token, those routines can become mechanical, allowing only for a limited topic to think about and an environmental awareness that comes once out of a five day teaching week. In the absence of that routine would students be as mindful of the environment as the teacher planner intended? According to my earlier discussion with Leah, the answer is mostly not.
Ninas self-talk and reminders: Who is the audience/ideal reader? Are your limitations clear, have you acknowledged your perspectives/beliefs? check the rubric, check your class notes are you on track?

An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic) The Value Education Factor

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It happened rather accidentally. In attempting to employ Kieran Egans Romantic Understanding Framework in a post-war period unit, it became clear that students had limited skill linking a persons behaviours to any particular value. One of the lessons within the unit was about the legacies left by four Prime Ministers from the period of 1948 to 1980. As always with Egans work, engaging the imagination requires tapping into students own hopes fears and emotions. With this in mind, I used the tool of the literate eye or, in lay-teachers speak, a graphic organizer to gather information on each leader (Appendix E). The IE spin on the chart happens when instead of simply filling in information about specific legislation associated with that Prime Minister, students had to state an underlying value that leader had to have possessed resulting in their administrations success in passing said law. The goal was to humanize the historical figure and identify the principles they believed in. In the previous year, I created a separate column entitled, Challenges where students had to infer the obstacles faced by that leader in trying to pass a controversial bill. The column was meant to remind the student of the heroic quality of the leaders and the overarching heroic quality of the unit. The challenges column was deleted this year in an attempt to move the curriculum along faster. I figured the heroic quality could be a point of discussion instead. The process of completing the chart became the Trojan horse of the unit. Students experienced only marginal problems in completing the fact-finding section. They simply had to go to the index of their Counterpoints textbook and/or Student Workbook, find the title of the bill or act and then correctly transcribe it onto their chart. Since many had done that part for homework of this five-page chart, they came to school hoping to have some clarification of what values I was speaking of. My desk was busy with individuals coming up as representatives of groups asking what a value was and how they were supposed to know what value a leader is supposed to possess. They could not make the connection

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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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between that leaders behavior and what values he might be acting on. My day plan had to be changed because a chart that normally took two-class periods took five all because I had to find a way to equip them with some value vocabulary. (Appendix E) Even my most reflective students like Sting Ray above had difficulties associating behaviours to values. It became clear that this difficulty had to be a contributing factor to their view on environmental responsibility. Without the opportunity to acquire a value vocabulary or practice in seeing values in action, students couldnt be expected to identify their own value systems. In addition to this, they had no real understanding that environmental stewardship was a value in and of itself. The Role of Science in Shaping Students Thinking When Al Gores Inconvenient Truth was met with the polemic Great Global Swindle, it created the biggest out for people of Western industrialized nations. Science had effectively disputed science and its very impact was felt in my Social Studies classroom.
The film's basic premise is that the current scientific opinion on the anthropogenic causes of global warming has numerous scientific flaws, and that vested monetary interests in the scientific establishment and the media discourage the public and the scientific community from acknowledging or even debating this. The film asserts that the publicised scientific consensus is the product of a "global warming activist industry" driven by a desire for research funding. Other culprits, according to the film, are Western environmentalists promoting expensive solar and wind power over cheap fossil fuels in Africa, resulting in African countries being held back from industrialising. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Global_Warming_Swindle

In rationalizing global warming, the latter documentary ruined the Inconvenient Truth that asked Western standards of living to drastically change. Where the first film put the onus on politicians, corporations and average citizens to be more environmentally responsible in defense of the earths ecosystems, the latter negated that responsibility. Students could now rationalize global warming as part of the natural cycle of the earth and that human impacts are not as damaging as environmentalists would have us think. In fact the whole environmental movement could be written off as a trendy and what is trendy gets funding. Who was being unethical now?

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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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What did students get from this debate? They learned that until the adults sorted it out, they were allowed to do as they were doing before. Science had given them license to be idle or at least minimalists in their environmentally responsible behaviours. The initial survey and class discussions will reveal this view in more detail. In addition to this, the literature on environmental apathy is also the product of a progressivist view of education where traditional modes of education perpetuate the belief that science can restore and manage the earth as we need it to. Problem solved. Changing that attitude was the goal of this action research project but I later found that that was too tall an order for this 6 week project. Instead the AR allowed me to justify more EE in the classroom but in more fluid ways. The AR again became about my practice and reinforced a view I share with David Orr, the ecological educator. For Orr, all education is environmental education and all topics then need to connect back to the natural world (1996). Currently the Social Studies IRP, texts and exam prep guide organizes PLOs by social, political and economic issues. Already the compartmentalization of topics under those subheadings presents a challenge in showing their wider implications. For instance, the Citizenship & Immigration Act if 1970 is listed under the IRP as social issue where students are encouraged to examine demographic changes in Canada in the latter half of the century. But shifting demographics play out in the market an economic issue. And if those new Canadian citizens experience strife or are on the receiving end of legislation that limits their economic mobility, said citizen would need to challenge that piece of legislation now a political issue. Because textbooks, PLOs and study guides treat policies as separate, it behooves the teacher to make those connections in the classroom. Just as it becomes automatic for students to think in terms of the social, political and economic, as the course progresses, the environmental impact must also be part of that tool for thinking of the educator makes it so. If EE were tied more seamlessly into every aspect of the curriculum, considerations about environment

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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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would be a more natural part of students thinking. Just as social, economic and political issues are an indisputable part of our world, so too is the environment that we live in. Omitting it or limiting how I have approached it in the curriculum has allowed my students to limit their responsibility to it. Methods The methodology is largely the result of the kind of course I teach and the demographic I teach to. Social Studies 11 is a survey course with a ministry exam attached to it in June. Although the exam is only worth 20% of the year, it is deemed a valuable indicator of students knowledge acquisition by parents and administrators of this West Vancouver private school. That being said, the dissemination of that knowledge happens quickly despite the fact that the course covers very complex domestic and international issues from 1914 to present day. Where History 12 might allot one month for World War I, Socials 11 may limit it to two weeks. And where History 12 might focus on World War I from a European perspective, Socials 11 will do both the European and Canadian (and yes, over the same two weeks). For these reasons my action research project does not have a complete environmental issues focus. Not only is there a time crunch associated with the course, it is mostly a Canadian and European history and social issues course. Human Geography, the unit where EE would typically fall into, consists of one third of the exam but that unit is normally taught in isolation, usually after the 20th century history and government units are complete. (Again, refer to Appendix A for the year plan).

Given these parameters, the research design involved infusing EE topics within the regular curriculum in order to create more of a mindfulness of the environment in students. Students would not only learn about the war in Afghanistan from an ideological standpoint but also from the view of its environmental impacts. Those class discussions were probed and recorded in my daily field journal (Appendix G). (Note that there are two: a journal of my thoughts on teaching this course is in Appendix C whereas journal entries that are the product of employing EE more imaginatively are in Appendix G). The actual research
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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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design with the schedule of implementation and data collection is found in Appendix F. Before these discussions occurred students participated in an initial survey which aimed to identify their level of environmental engagement (Appendix H). This was be done to establish a baseline of what their attitude was before the study began in order to make comparisons at a later date. Because of the limited timespan and turn the action research took, a comparison of before-and after attitudes of environmental engagement was not relevant to the scope of this study. The sole purpose of the study as outlined in the proposal was to identify and address student apathy over EE by employing Kieran Egans tools of imaginative engagement and the experiential learning cycle found in The Environmental Learning & Experience Curriculum Maps. Along with classroom discussions and interviews with students, students were given a journaling prompt on Fridays (the summation of the weeks lessons) over the four week study period which asked them to reflect on some aspect of the curricular topic, only within an EE lens. Prompts took the form of images, vignettes or news articles of human impacts on the natural environment. Prompts were later altered when the notion of values presented a challenge for students. The initial research design also included an observation of students outside of the classroom in an attempt to find out how environmentally responsible or irresponsible behavior played out in the school community, more specifically the cafeteria. But again, as values education took a larger role in the action research, it became less necessary to look at environmentally responsible behaviours, and more necessary to provide students with a vocabulary to express their values. In addition to these methods, I have engaged in dialogue with various teachers who have observed my students, taught the Socials 11 course and know of its challenges. Those teachers have also commented on their views of EE in the classroom and are included in this report.

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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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This is where the research has taken me thus far. It began as plan to establish a relationship between students and living things in an attempt to make them more environmentally aware. (Recall the plants on the window sill). It has become something else. It has become a process of awakening students to their own belief systems, helping them acquire the vocabulary associated with having a value system, and then looking at how that translates into their personal views on global and local issues. It has also been about me, as a teacher who has tried year after year to drive the message of environmental responsibility home but having marginal success, mostly apathy and disinterest. The process of research and self-reflection has given me a heightened awareness of my own practice as teacher-planner, scheduling in time to relate curriculum concepts to the environment. Its quite a ways from where I began, but it has helped me understand why barriers to environmental education have existed in my classroom. DEFINING THE STUDY AND ITS CONTEXT Reminder to Nina about what this section is supposed to do: Give an extensive description of the context, database, and related research. (3-6 pages) CONTEXT-SETTING AND LITERATURE Collingwood School is a K-12 school which uses traditional education teaching approaches; this involves direct instruction, seatwork and students learning through listening and observation. The instruction is based on textbooks, lectures, with both individual and group assignments. Subjects are taught independently from each other although some attempts at cross-curricular planning and teaching happen at the primary and middle school level. At the senior level, however, all subjects are taught by subject area specialists in isolation from other disciplines. Collingwood School is also an independent, co-educational school which is located in West Vancouvers British Properties, one the wealthiest municipalities in Canada. West Vancouver has the highest average income per household of any city in Canada as of 2011 as a large portion of the population is involved in
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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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senior management positions in one of finance, professional science and technical services, or retail trade. In many cases parents are not only community leaders but also stake holders in the economy (cite). Students who attend Collingwood do so because it boasts a high university acceptance rate in ivyleague schools and other prestigious institutions both in North America and abroad (cite our brochure). Collingwood has a reputation for high academic achievement but this is only one of its four pillars where students engage themselves. The other three are: Service, Athletics and Arts Education where credit hours are required in all areas for graduation. By all counts, a traditional education, one that Collingwood is modeled after would translate into an effective way of educating students. According to the latest report by the Fraser Institute, Collingwood earned a score of 9.1 out of 10 on their last report card and ranked 16th out of 227 schools in BC (Fraser Institute, 2011). This means our students perform extremely well on provincial exams and other standardized tests (like the Fundamental Skills Assessment) but it should also be noted that that the Fraser Institute focuses solely on academic achievement of these schools. The methodology for this research project is a response to both the demographic and the philosophy of the school making academics priority one. Provincial exams, whether they are worth 20% or 40% affect Fraser Institute standings which in turn affect enrollment. DEVELOPMENT OF THE ISSUES Reminder to Nina about what this section is supposed to do: Drawing on other research and data, more fully develop the issues mentioned earlier, which will lead into the data analysis and interpretations in the next section (3-6 pages) Related Research The Fraser Institute does not tell what kind of people our students will become although high academic standings do allow for some inferences on the matter of professional careers at least. Given our clientele, our students likely enter into the same fields or become entrepreneurs as their parents have done. But this also begs the question of what kind of people our students turn out to be. If the purpose

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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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of education is to give students the means for upward mobility and success(Orr, 1996), then I have achieved that before I even began. Given that the average income of parents is $160,000 (Fraser Institute, 2011) our students are already the most upwardly mobile people in the country. But does this mean that they are kinder, more globally responsible, more connected to their communities or are action-oriented people? I would argue from the journal entries and classroom discussion generated from this study that they are not. They are no different from any other student in British Columbia in that they are just as ambivalent about global issues, dangerously apathetic and inaction-oriented as any other adolescent in the province, never mind the western world. Students from traditional educational systems (that also happen to be progressivist) are successful, optimistic, and informed to some extent. But they are also detached and overconfident a dangerous combination as they inherit a planet that is currently at risk. With wealth and science, comes a certain degree of arrogance. Things that are broken can be fixed or purchased again. Science solves all when we fund it. And there is this assumption that someone will. We are intelligent enough to do this. We are humans and the epitome of ingenuity and innovation (Orr, 1996). Traditional education has contributed to the disengagement of youth and continues to taut progress as the main goal of education. The dangers of that are found in work of ecological educators like David Orr and Chet Bowers. For David Orr, traditional education has perpetuated six myths in education. These are the following:

1) ignorance is a solvable problem. Ignorance is not a solvable problem, but rather an inescapable part of the 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)
human condition with enough knowledge and technology we can manage planet Earth that knowledge is increasing and by implication human goodness we can adequately restore that which we have dismantled the purpose of education is that of giving you the means for upward mobility and success. our culture represents the pinnacle of human achievement

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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

(Orr, 1996)

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These myths disconnect students from the environment because it puts too much emphasis on information and ingenuity people. Education becomes a means-ends game without any real instruction on how students can use the information for the improvement and preservation of the communities they belong to. Students care less about how to be responsible to the earth, but more about their responsibility to advance it and its people. Only when the very practice of teaching changes can we expect our students perceptions on EE to change. For Chet Bowers, this is the crux of the problem in effective ecological education. Bowers work addresses the nature of the institution and how deeply entrenched we are in our current practices, or what he calls the double binds to make any headway in truly educating our students on environmental issues. Defined, a double bind is something that happens in communication where an individual (or group) receives two or more conflicting messages, in which one message negates the other (wiki? cite). Bowers feels that the lens from which curriculum writers operate is already flawed; it is an economically-driven monetized lens of the Western world that disables our ability to see the problems created by that same world (Bowers, 2006 p. 401). This is belief has become, what he calls the commons or the commons of Western education. As cultures enclose (another Bowers term which I should maybe put a footnote for) concepts surrounding the environment, we create positive or negative associations that recapitulate themselves over time. What results are real challenges in designing effective EE programs. Bowers second point roots much of the problem of ecological education to the language used by current educators. To him, the language is laced in bias, with value-laden terms which carry a history of assumptions. Powerful and important ideas like global warming, pollution, and save the rainforest, (ideas that used to carry weight) now have become clich, only holding marginal interest. These act to undermine the importance of re-creating the commons. In earlier research he will call this the problem of the double-bind. Lastly, Bowers states that current environmental educational
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An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

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methods are taught in isolation, without cross-curricular considerations and/or in compartmentalized segments in our curriculum. As such it begets a surface understanding of the core concepts. To Bowers, learning about the cultural and environmental commons should also be an integral part of every area of the curriculum (Bowers, 399, 2006). Bowers believes the institution needs to free itself from these double binds through education regarding the nature and the functions of ecological systems in order to create a new commons in education.

PRESENTATION OF THE DATA: DESCRIPTIVE DETAIL, VIGNETTES, QUOTATIONS, TRIANGULATION OF THE DATA. Reminder to Nina about what this section is supposed to do: According to Stake (1995), this is the place for experiential data including what the researcher does to confirm and disconfirm her or his observations (p. 123); it can provide a portrait that presents data but refrains as much as possible from interpretation. (2-4 pages) ACTION & DATA COLLECTION CLAIMS ABOUT LEARNING AND TEACHING Just by going over their EE survey results, the data tells me that they already do what they can and the offenses are committed by a small grouping of people. For every one student who uses a paper cup from Starbucks, there are 8 or so more who use reusable mugs. They recycle, they reduce, they re-use. And when asked why, they know. You could likely give them an impromptu quiz on Environmental Issues and I would guess the average mark to be at least a B. So where is the problem? When discussing EE in class, the response has been mixed but mostly disengaged and bored. Theyve heard it all before. Why dont their behaviours match their beliefs? These outward actions that are mostly positive go mostly unnoticed by their hearts. They have no greater sense of pride in what small actions they are doing than if they did not do the 3Rs at all. Are the actions too small to be proud of? When asked if they should do more, their helplessness comes out. They describe their powerlessness

Ninas self-talk and reminders: Who is the audience/ideal reader? Are your limitations clear, have you acknowledged your perspectives/beliefs? check the rubric, check your class notes are you on track?

An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

Pagtakhan 18

at home, at school, and among their peers. I dont grocery shop so I dont know what my moms doing. The question becomes of how we can empower students and

ASSERTIONS Reminder to Nina about what this section is supposed to do: Here, Stake (1988) suggests providing information that allows the readers to reconsider their knowledge of the case, and presents a summary of what he thinks he understands about the case, and how these may have changed during the study (p. 123). The assertions are based on the researchers interpretation. (2-4 pages) What did I learn? Conclusion

CLOSING VIGNETTE Reminder to Nina about what this section is supposed to do: A vignette or story serves to point in a direction, or leaves the reader with an issue or sense of the main idea (if there is one), or opens out into another question. It can be thought provoking and end the report (a paragraph).

Reflection & Discussion (below was taken from my methodology section) This is where the research has taken me thus far. It began as plan to establish a relationship between students and living things in an attempt to make them more environmentally aware. (Recall the plants on the window sill). It has become something else. It has become a process of awakening students to their own belief systems, helping them acquire the vocabulary associated with having a value system, and then looking at how that translates into their personal views on global and local issues. It has also
Ninas self-talk and reminders: Who is the audience/ideal reader? Are your limitations clear, have you acknowledged your perspectives/beliefs? check the rubric, check your class notes are you on track?

An Assignment to Save the World (only less dramatic)

Pagtakhan 19

been about me, as a teacher who has tried year after year to drive the message of environmental responsibility home but having marginal success, mostly apathy and disinterest. The process of research and self-reflection has given me a heightened awareness of my own practice as teacher-planner, scheduling in time to relate curriculum concepts to the environment. Its quite a ways from where I began, but it has helped me understand why barriers to environmental education have existed in my classroom.

APPENDICES Reminder to Nina about what this section is supposed to do: Include selective data and other material useful to interpreting the study, its context and issues. (Variable)

(outline based on Action Research for Teachers found in 904 courseware package)

Ninas self-talk and reminders: Who is the audience/ideal reader? Are your limitations clear, have you acknowledged your perspectives/beliefs? check the rubric, check your class notes are you on track?