Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education

Vol. 33, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 97–110

Educating pre-service teachers for a

sustainable environment
I. P.-A. Cheong*
University Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam

The paper reports on an initiative to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for a
sustainable environment. The initiative involved the training of pre-service teachers to not only be
aware of, or know about environmental problems and want to act for the environment, but also to
be able to act for the environment. Small group community problem solving projects illustrate
the nature of environmental community problems that could be acted upon. The process of
the projects, including how the pre-service teachers identified the community problems and
conducted the projects, is described. Outcomes of the projects including reflections about what
the pre-service teachers have learnt in being involved with the projects show the nature of capacity
building efforts possible to work towards a sustainable environment. Lessons learnt from the
involvement in community problem solving projects are also highlighted.

Introduction
South East Asian countries face many environmental concerns. One such concern was
the pollution from the haze affecting many countries, including Brunei Darussalam, in
the late 1990s. To deal with these environmental concerns, ASEAN countries
formulated Environmental Education (EE) plans to meet the following needs, such
as: (a) human resource development for EE: teachers who can effectively teach EE,
teachers who can write books and other instructional materials on EE for classroom use,
and teacher trainers in EE; and (b) more efficient integration of EE in the formal school
curriculum and co-curricular programmes (ASEAN, 2001). However these well
intended plans would not bring about any improvements in the environment if
implementation of the plans were not made. The role of pre-service teacher training in
implementing these plans is considered to be important here.
A study with Bruneian and Australian young people showed they have very similar
levels of environmental awareness, knowledge, sources of environmental informa-
tion, belief systems or worldviews about the environment and levels of perceived

*Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, University Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tunku
Link, Gadong BE 1410, Brunei, Darussalam. Email: irenecpa@ubd.edu.bn
ISSN 1359-866X (print)/ISSN 1469-2945 (online)/05/010097-14
# 2005 Australian Teacher Education Association
DOI: 10.1080/1359866052000341151
98 I. P.-A. Cheong

control over environmental trends. They also shared the desire for schools to do
more in the area of environmental education (Fien et al., 2002). Furthermore, a
larger study on youth in the Asia-Pacific region finds that few young people report
actual action taken as responsible environmental citizens and few are willing to work
for environmental protection. This lack of environmental action is attributed to
several reasons including the nature of educational experiences that did not develop
skills and knowledge to bring about environmental improvements or changes
successfully (Fien, in Yencken et al., 2000).
Hence as an effort to bring about the ability to act for the environment, a course on
environmental education was introduced to pre-service teachers in Brunei Darussalam
focusing on community problem solving. Pre-service teachers who will become teachers
in schools will need to be equipped to solve problems in the community if they are to
teach students to be able to sustain the environment. As Ramsey (2001) points out, all
students will become citizens who will be consumers of products and services of science,
and all will assume responsibility for the benefits and risks of scientific and technological
knowledge, and all will be decision makers concerning matters of science and
technology. Therefore it is important that pre-service teachers, who will become
teachers, develop the ability to facilitate school students to cope with this citizenship
role. Strategies used in meeting this need to develop community problems include
issues-based strategies (Ramsey, 2001) and community problem solving.
Community Problem Solving (CPS) is a teaching and learning strategy that
focuses on resolving or improving local issues through a problem solving process
(Stapp et al., 1996). The strategy consists of the following features. It involves
students in their local community, attempts to develop EE objectives of awareness,
knowledge, attitudes, skills and participation. A range of abilities such as
investigation, creating and critical thinking, group work, literacy (information
gathering) and evaluation (analysis and decision making) are developed. On top of
that the ‘action’ competence is developed through students’ first hand experience of
taking actions that they freely chose and that are aimed at solving the community
problem they identified. Implicit in this problem solving exercise is the provision for
the participants to become engaged in a cyclic process of articulating, discussing,
analyzing, conceptualizing, fact finding, planning and acting on a particular problem
and then evaluating the action. This action research process enables participants to
resolve existing problems rather than ask for ‘outside’ help (Stapp et al., 1996).
Although this model of community problem solving and action research was
proposed as a model and approach more than 10 years ago (Wals, 1990), not much
can be found in the literature to report whether the model and approach has been
used in EE teacher training in the Asia Pacific region except for Australia.

Method
The context
An environmental education course was introduced as a new education elective—‘A
multidisciplinary approach for a sustainable environment’—to final year pre-service
 Educating pre-service teachers for a sustainable environment 99

teachers pursuing a variety of programmes in preparation to become secondary

school teachers. The contents of the course included background introduction in
environmental education, and the use of CPS as well as storytelling, both units
adapted from the UNESCO teachers’ resource file for EE titled ‘Learning for a
sustainable environment professional development guide for teacher education’
(Fien et al., 1997).
Three and a half hours were used for lectures and group work discussions in
introducing the community problem solving features with case studies, learning
outcomes, how different it is to other strategies, how it meets the aims and objec-
tives of EE (action) as well as the other problem solving skills that would be
developed in pre-service teachers. The 24 pre-service teachers were then given three
one-hour sessions to brainstorm where CPS might be used in a subject they might
teach in and a relevant community problem that they might like to act for. In this
way the pre-service teachers were expected to assume more responsibility for their
own learning in the identification and selection of the community problems.
Meanwhile, the lecturer acted as a guide and facilitator in the process, and
intervened only when necessary, such as when the action selected would take too
long to accomplish.

Research questions
The research questions which this study attempted to address were:
1. To what extent is it possible for the pre-service student teachers to identify, select
and act on real community problems?
2. To what extent have the pre-service teachers achieved community problem
solving skills by being involved in the CPS projects?
3. To what extent can the CPS projects change the behaviour of the pre-service
teachers in environmental action?

Data sources and analysis

Data for this study was obtained from two sources. The first data sources are the
products of the CPS projects in the form of reports and posters and presenta-
tions. Six projects were conducted by groups of pre-service teachers consisting of
about four–five per group. The project products are described to give an idea of
the nature of possible community problems according to the essential features
of the projects.
The second set of data is sourced from the reflections of pre-service teachers
involved in the community problem solving projects. The pre-service teachers were
asked to record their reflections on what they have learnt in being involved with the
project. These reflections were recorded after being involved in a community
problem solving project for a period of about seven weeks. The student teachers’
reflections are read and reread to make sense of them and to categorize the
reflections into the several categories of the CPS skills. The framework used for the
100 I. P.-A. Cheong

CPS skills is adapted from the UNESCO teachers’ resource file for EE. Quotes from
the students’ reflections were selected as evidence of the CPS skills and abilities
recognized by the pre-service teachers to have been achieved.1
The results of the study are reported here in response to the three research
questions.

To what extent is it possible for the pre-service student teachers to identify,

select and act on real community problems?
The pre-service teachers involved in this study worked in groups of their own
choice. They identified community problems by brainstorming problems that
they come up with and know of and then they selected a problem that they wish
to conduct their community problem solving strategy on. Several meeting sessions
were allocated to enable the pre-service teachers to work together at the beginning
and they had to manage their own time to complete the project. Each group
submitted a written project report, and presented their CPS project in an exhibition
to their peers, lecturers and assessors who were invited from various authorities—
such as the Land Transport Department, University Estate, Environmental
Department, Municipal Board, Survey Department, Town and Country Planning
Department and the Fisheries Department—according to their relevance to the
projects chosen. The six community problems that were presented are briefly
described below.

Project 1. Traffic congestion in the university

What was the problem? Most staff and students drive to the university leading to
congestion at car parks and roadsides. This caused the university administration to
clear more land for car parking which contributed to more air and noise pollution as
well as the greenhouse effect.

What was the possible solution? Introduced the need for and set-up of a car pooling
system for the university.

What action was taken? The awareness of the university students and staff were
investigated on car congestion and their effects via a questionnaire and analysis of
results; leaflets were given out to inform how people can make a difference by car
pooling; posters were put up for the same reason as the leaflets; lists of people
interested to participate in car pooling were initiated.

Project 2. Abandoned land

What was the problem? A park was found to be in a sad state, not maintained properly
or regularly, with a poor drainage system; some parts were used as dumping grounds
and facilities were broken or in a poor condition. Hence the park was not used by the
nearby residents.
 Educating pre-service teachers for a sustainable environment 101

What was the possible solution? Working with the community to improve the
conditions of the park.

What action was taken? Interviews with housing authorities, investigation into the
awareness and usage of the park; organize cleaning campaign with leaflets to invite
residents to participate; get permission and views of head of village; write article in
newspaper.

Project 3. Rubbish and sewage in the water village

What was the problem? Water quality was decreasing to a state where the water was
not safe for swimming; rubbish was accumulating along the riverbanks making the
environment unhealthy for human habitation.

What was the possible solution? Evaluation of the water quality, increase awareness,
attitude and action; initiate recycling of aluminum cans and cardboard from waste
produced, propose action plans needed for the problem.

What action was taken? Visited the nearby Sewage Treatment Plant, surveyed the
extent of the rubbish and sewage problem, interviewed community members and
relevant authorities; attempted to test quality of river, investigated awareness of the
university students concerning the problem and to investigate their ideas for
improving the water quality.

Project 4. Erosion
What was the problem? There are serious erosion problems in Brunei but not much
action has been done to curb it.

What was the possible solution? To create awareness in the university students.

What action was taken? Searched for information on erosion for awareness; surveyed
the degree of awareness of erosion; took pictures of existing sites of erosion; created
web site to increase awareness of erosion issue.

Project 5. Paper recycling in the university

What was the problem? Paper constitutes the highest percentage of waste produced
by Bruneians.

What was the possible solution? Initiate paper recycling in the university library and
students’ shop.

What action was done? Investigated the extent of the awareness and abilities to
recycle paper.
102 I. P.-A. Cheong

Project 6. Turtle conservation

What was the problem? Turtle population declining due to breeding grounds being
destroyed and eggs being hunted for delicacy.

What was the solution? Initiate and increase awareness, attitude and action of the
university students for the turtles.

What action was done? Interviewed students to determine the extent of awareness;
put up posters and distribute leaflets to increase awareness about turtles in Brunei;
collected donations for the Turtle Conservation Fund.
It is evident that there is a variety of real community problems which were
identified and selected to act on by the pre-service teachers. All of the problems are
real and are of concern from a community’s point of view. Although there were
bigger issues that the pre-service teachers wanted to tackle they were reminded that
they had only a few weeks to act on the problems and to present their project. All of
the projects worked on increasing awareness of the communities as their baseline
action while five groups conducted more action such as initiated car pooling or a
recycle of aluminum cans and paper system or conducted a cleaning campaign or
initiated a collection of funds for the turtle conservation cause. The actions were
actually taken by the small groups with evidences that they have done so.

To what extent have the pre-service teachers achieved community problem

solving skills by being involved in the CPS projects?
Reflections of the pre-service teachers in their perceptions of whether their
involvement in the CPS projects have caused any development of skills and any
changes in their attitudes and behaviour towards the environment are presented
below to show the extent that the pre-service teachers have achieved them. The
following reflections showed that most of the skills needed for community problem
solving were achieved by the different pre-service teachers involved in the CPS
projects.
Investigation In this category, the specific community problem skills that pre-service
teachers recognized as being developed included identifying the problem and
selecting the problem of concern with the local community.

The first challenge that I came across with my group was in identifying and selecting a
community problem. It was not easy as we all live in separate areas. Thus we all
experience different problems but eventually we all agreed on car congestion in the
university. (Student B)

The assignment required us to select a community problem. It was quite a tough

decision in selecting appropriate community problem since there are limitations
towards obtaining resources. Finally, we chose rubbish and sewage disposal in the water
village. (Student C)
 Educating pre-service teachers for a sustainable environment 103

At the beginning of this assignment, I couldn’t care less about the community
problem that we chose, i.e., rubbish and sewage disposal in the water village. This
is because I thought the problem was not so serious until we actually read and
plotted the data of Sungei (river) Brunei derived from the treatment plant in
Kampong (village) Pintu Malim. The reading of BOD (Biochemical Oxygen
Demand) was dangerously increasing as time goes by. To add to this, the
reading for Coliform was very high. We felt something should be done about this.
(Student D)

Group process skills Under this category, the specific skills included the consideration
and respect for others; listening and comprehending; giving clear verbal expression;
taking on a variety of roles within a group; being a group leader when appropriate;
providing constructive feedback to others; exploring group decision making
processes; monitoring ‘on-task’ behaviour of the group; and monitoring the time
allocated for tasks. The reflections of the pre-service teachers showed much of their
personal struggles in working with others but they eventually recognized and
accepted that they have to work with others to come up with some results in their
action plans.

Other than environmental knowledge gained, this assignment also tested and taught us
the meaning of group work. I felt, although there were times when one disagreed with
their group members, one would just have to find a mutual resolution to it, if possible
non-hostile. (Student A)

Overall, the most important skills that I have acquired are having learnt how to manage
my time resourcefully and to work orderly throughout this assignment. Besides that, all
four of us have learnt a lot from each other during our group discussions, which were
often held on Sundays. (Student E)

In this assignment we get to work as a team. The advantages of working in groups

included division of labour and more ideas from four people rather than one. (Student
F)

I learnt that sometimes we need to help each other in order to help ourselves achieve the
same goals, whether we liked it or not. Similar to what was taught before, it was more
like the ‘interdependence’ between people and also the environment—a mutualism
whereby both benefit by helping each other. (Student H)

This assignment had given me many opportunities to brush up on my personal skills

and had opened up my mind to new perspectives in EE. I learnt to work as a team, to
trust others and to solve problems through discussion with others in the group. I learnt
how to look for the right information from the right sources and how to select
appropriate community. (Student G)

Information gathering skills This category of skills that were developed consist of;
using of the library including print and electronic resources, designing data gathering
strategies for the problem being investigated; using scientific and social science
techniques (e.g., water quality testing, social survey) for investigation; identifying
relevant agencies, contacting organizations and members of the community; and
104 I. P.-A. Cheong

requesting information from sources by writing letters, making telephone inquiries

or using email.

Distributing the questionnaires to the university staff and students was indeed a great
experience for me because I got to communicate with the participants personally about
their views of introducing the car pooling system … Having collected all the data, I
interpreted the data. (Student E)

We had the opportunity to go to government departments as well as to certain sections

in the water village, in search of information. Before that we had to find out which
department was responsible for the cleanliness, rubbish collecting as well the
monitoring of water quality in the water village. It was quite sad when some of the
personnel from the government tried to pass us from one department to another. We
initially had no one to refer to for our research but eventually ended up with some
helpful government personnel. (Student F)

This assignment had not confined me to the university but made us go to other areas
such as the various ministries to interview people and obtain data. We had difficulty in
finding suitable times for carrying out certain actions. For example, we had to make
appointments prior to our visit to the relevant authorities. They may not be able to see
us so we were forced to postpone the visits (many times). Without the information, we
were not able to proceed with our action. (Student J)

I went to the hatchery site at Pantai Meragang with my team members and the
experiences gained were amazing. It was actually my first time seeing those turtles with
my own eyes. Normally, I get to see turtles on Discovery channels but this time I really
get to see it in reality. (Student K)

I learnt a lot from the 20 minutes talk with the Town and Country Planning staff—it
was interesting to hear people’s opinion about erosion. We do not need to know the
solutions all the time, instead we know where to find the solution or who to approach.
(Student H)

Analysis and decision making skills Encompassed in these two categories are specific
skills such as: analyzing data gathered using scientific and social science techniques;
thinking critically and creatively about possible alternatives; considering the values of
other people and their own; deciding a course of action; and justifying decisions.

The preparation of questionnaire, leaflet and posters already took up time, in terms of
what to put in and ways to lay it out to attract attention. Then, we had to consider the
sample; who to give it to and the sample size. The distribution of the leaflets also had us
thinking how to give it out. At first, we wanted to put it at the windscreen of cars parked
in the university but then had to consider the weather. If it rained, then the leaflet will
be a waste. Furthermore, the driver may not be interested in reading the leaflet as they
may be in the mood of going home after a tired day. (Student L)

One main problem that we came upon was making decision on which community
problem we want to tackle. This was because it depended on the amount of information
and access to data. Furthermore, relevant authorities were quite reluctant in giving their
cooperation. After interviewing certain authorities, we came up with an appropriate
community problem: sewage and rubbish disposal at the water village. With this topic,
 Educating pre-service teachers for a sustainable environment 105

we managed to gather information concerning the chosen topic. It was quite an

interesting topic since I have background knowledge, being a biology student. Besides
that, some of my relatives live in the water village, which could further help with the
project work. (Student J)

Action skills In this category, pre-service teachers were expected to have developed
abilities to decide on steps in an action plan; freely choose to take actions; and evaluate
whether changes that occurred were the result of the actions addressed the problem.
Reflections of the pre-service teachers showed that they had brainstormed and
decided on their environmental action but did not fully implement them in their
CPS projects. However, it is worrying to see that many of them expressed
frustrations as they could not achieve the extent of success hoped for from their
action taken for the environment.
Carrying the problem solving strategy (i.e., car pool) isn’t as easy either. We have to
learn how to deal with semi-failure (since there wasn’t much participation) and not let it
dampen our spirits and motivation. Only a few of our friends had started practicing car
pooling when going out for lunch more frequently but nevertheless, this is also adds to
the success side of the story. (Student A)

From this assignment, I have seen that saying and doing something are totally different. We
thought that from the planning of the assignment, it seem quite easy to carry out. However
when it comes to do the real work, we encountered some problems. (Student L)

We enjoyed implementing the action. This included the visit to the hatchery, creating
the poster and collecting donations. The annoying part was that the talks could not be
done on the planned date. This had actually made some of the undergraduates who
intend to come to become unmotivated and we were afraid that they won’t come on the
next date set. (Student M)

I felt lots of frustrations while doing this project: especially when some authorities keeps
on delaying (sort of refusing to help us) which of course affect our progress and when
we did not get any support and cooperation from the residents involved—none actually
turned up during the cleaning campaign despite hundreds of flyers we distributed
to inform them (feel as if they do not appreciate what we’re trying to do). I also realize
the residents have problem with their attitude; they have to change their way of thinking
to be able to move forward and make a change—instead they are relying too much on
the government to do all the actions, they should work out something for their own
benefit. (Student G)

Personally I really feel sad that the park was not only abandoned but also become a
dumping place where people throw different kinds of rubbish. In my opinion, the
residents are the main community resource since they live in that area. It was quite sad
when we found that the residents did not cooperate with us. I guess they only depended
on the government or in our case, volunteers from the university to clean up the mess,
their mess. I guess I am emotional about this matter but it can be very frustrating.
(Student N)

Time constraints played a very important limiting role in the implementation of

environmental actions.
106 I. P.-A. Cheong

Due to time constraint, we only managed to do some actions only. One of it is acting as
an agent for the water village residents in selling reusable products to the recycling
centre. It was quite a success and from it I have learned to be more responsible and feel
proud of what I have done which indirectly could help to solve the problems that take
place in the water village. (Student C)

A project does not work in a few weeks and it really takes a lot of work, time and effort.
(Student R)

More time is actually needed to implement such project. By proper planning, this
project will become more successful. (Student O)

Some feelings of success for the environmental action taken were evident too.
The brochure was distributed to our university students that are in the compound of the
university. Some of them were amazed that Brunei actually had turtles and wish to
know the locations for its existence. Others supported by donating some of their lunch
money to the charity fund for the fisheries department for buying turtle food. In the first
day itself of the donation we had collected B$44 dollar for the turtle funds. These
showed that our university students had the empathic feeling toward turtles and realize
their important role. (Student K)

Initially I actually regarded this problem as something that we do for the sake of passing
the course and to fulfill the expectations of the lecturers. However, as we planned and
carried out the different actions, I began to feel good and optimistic about it; the feeling
of making other people aware of a problem that never come across their mind and
furthermore, in trying to get them to do something about it (no matter success or
failure) made me feel powerful … (and yet powerless, as I could only create awareness
in them; whether they really do something about the problem or care about it, sad to
say, it is beyond my control) But what really matters most was that I had tried my best, I
had taken my first step. (Student P)

This project had been useful yet unforgettable experience. It involved doing things by
yourself with a tint of creativity, cooperative learning with others, leadership and
perseverance. Sometimes it did test my patience but in spite of all those difficulty, at the
end of the day, it felt worth it. At least I had contributed a portion of my energy in
making the university a much better place whereby students know the importance of
reducing, reusing and recycling papers. (Student O)

The reflections below show that some of the pre-service teachers are aware of the
need to assess or evaluate the success of their actions and have managed to develop
higher capabilities, such as evaluation abilities as a result of their involvement with
CPS.
However, I believe what my group and I had done for the park though only little, but it
was worthwhile and more or less helped improve the park condition. Any action starts
with a small step. (Student I)

The results we obtained from what we had done were not satisfying at all. Only a few
who answered the questionnaire were willing to participate in car pooling. Trying to set
up a car pooling system was then not a very good idea here. It worked in other countries
where car congestion was bad in terms of health hazards. They would go all the way to
support car pooling. However in Brunei, we have not gone to that extreme state of
 Educating pre-service teachers for a sustainable environment 107

pollution yet from car exhausts. People were still unaware of the contribution to
pollution that car congestion can give. Thus, they are not willing to car pool. For
car pooling to be more effective, the people here should first be aware of the future
effect of car congestion. … It might be more effective to consider the use of buses to
areas of housing where most students lived. Still, it needed to be noted that the buses
itself might cause pollution if running at every hour. These can be reduced slightly by
using buses that are energy efficient. (Student L)

In summary, the pre-service teachers illustrated in their reflections that by being

involved in the CPS projects with real life community problems, they had become
aware of the various process skills that are required of them and they had realized
that they had developed a variety of problem solving skills.

To what extent can the CPS projects change the behaviour of the pre-service
teachers in environmental action?
From the reflections below, it is encouraging to read that some of the pre-service
teachers have recognized some changes in their attitude and behaviour towards
the environment. In particular, they have recognized that after their involvement in
the CPS project, they are able to act and not just be aware of or know of
environmental problems and that, small steps taken by them can be valuable and
contribute to the solving of environmental problems.
I felt that this assignment is the most challenging among the others in this course. It
required us to take action instead of just talk. Before taking this course and doing this
assignment, I was once like many others in this community where I have some
awareness to some environmental issues but lack action. However this course and
assignment had taught me to be more aware of my own actions and to look at the world
with a slight difference. There is no point in being aware of the problems around us and
yet not take any actions. It would just be like sitting on the riverbanks watching a
helpless puppy drowning in the river. (Student A)

In the end, this assignment had taught me a lot about perseverance and being more
responsible to the environment. I should feel proud of what I had done where I had
helped villagers to recycle their products and taught them to be more responsible
citizens to the country. (Student J)

This assignment taught me to be actively involved towards the conserving the natural
resources that was constantly depleting. I learnt to reduce paper whenever possible such
as printing on both sides whenever possible and as much as possible reduce printing
unnecessarily. What I have done I know I contribute only a small fraction in reducing
tree destruction and indirectly our bio-diversity. But I know if we all work together we
can make a change and preserve nature. (Student Q)

Personally, I must admit that I did waste papers without knowing the importance of
reducing paper use. We had taken small baby steps in the library; and perhaps, this
project could be conducted in other places as well. (Student O)

It is even more encouraging to read one of the reflections that show higher level
reflection and achievement in the pre-service teachers’ learning, such as:
108 I. P.-A. Cheong

This assignment had also made me become aware of the many community problems
that most people tend to overlook and how little action the local people are willing to
make when it comes to environmental issues. It is easy to bring about the awareness but
changing the attitudes and lifestyles our communities’ high consumption, materialistic,
resource-depleting habits are difficult. Sometimes people fear changes for they do not
know what is to come but the major reason could be due to the unwillingness to give up
their convenience. (Student A)

In summary, by being involved in the CPS projects, some of the pre-service teachers
have shown that they had recognized small changes in their own behaviour
concerning community problems. They have shown that they not only realized that
they need awareness but also perseverance, courage, the ability to act for the
environment as well as the need to want to change their own lifestyle to be able to
contribute much towards a sustainable environment.

Conclusions
The projects produced showed that even for a short period of time, it is possible for
the pre-service teachers to be involved in projects where they try to solve real
community problems that they have identified and selected to work on. All elements
of the community problem solving skills were indicated by the pre-service teachers in
most of the reflections. In most of the stages of the project there were indications of
frustrations with working with others in their group and they eventually found ways
to cope and work together to meet the deadlines. This suggests that teacher training
programmes could develop the group process skills even with student teachers who
are not used to working in groups or project work. However, more time would be
needed for better implementation of the projects and for development of the group
process skills. Hence for future courses, it is recommended that more time and
more lecturer facilitated group discussions be allowed for. The groups that took
the longest time to identify and select their community problem to work on were
the ones that had community problems that involved dealing with people in the real
community rather than just the university community.
For many of the pre-service teachers the use of sources of information other than
course notes or the media for the environmental issue, such as from government
departments and surveys or from reports, was a new experience for the student
teachers. Many of the actions implemented came with a lot of frustration, on the part
of the pre-service teachers. They were disappointed with others (such as members of
the community) who they felt should play a greater role in environmental action and
take more responsibility in their own community problems. This indicates that more
community education is needed with the local citizens in order that they take more
responsibility in the upkeep of their own surroundings and environment. However,
feelings of success and hope are also expressed by the pre-service teachers having
made small steps to wards acting for the environment. Some were aware that they
needed to assess their environmental actions but still did not do so. For future
studies, it would be more beneficial to set as meta-cognition tasks for the student
teachers to reflect on each of the categories of problem solving skills, as well as the
 Educating pre-service teachers for a sustainable environment 109

suitability of community problem and the environmental action they decided to

work on, in order that they can recognize their own strengths and weaknesses from
conducting their community projects.
From their involvement in CPS projects, many of the pre-service teachers have
indicated some changes in their behaviour such as in taking action rather than just
talking or knowing about environmental problems. Some of the changes in their
lifestyles are indicated in their reflections. Enhanced awareness about what one can
do for the environment such as the limitations and possibilities of awareness and
actions can be detected in one’s reflections. One of the main concerns about
conducting community problem solving projects in training is whether the effects of
the projects are sustainable or long term. Future studies to investigate whether these
pre-service teachers will have sustained ability to act for the environment both in
their personal lifestyle and/or in their teaching would be useful. However, already as
a follow up of two of the projects, pre-service teachers involved have used their
abilities in CPS and facilitated a workshop with participants consisting of headmen
and school heads in the water village to encourage them to come up with their own
action plans to solve solid waste problems that exist. The cascading effect of such
training of teachers in CPS can be illustrated in the words of one of the pre-service
teachers below:
Being involved in the workshop was a new and unforgettable experience for us all. … By
the end of the workshop, the people involved (such as the headmen) were the ones who
identified, suggested and decided upon realistic solutions for their problems of solid
rubbish in Kampong Air … rather than have someone else who do not really know
about the village to tell them what to do. We were proud to be able to contribute
something for the environment so that it can be sustained or made even better for the
future generation. (Student F)

This kind of community education, where discussions were facilitated by educators

for community members and stakeholders was a start in getting communities to
identify and work out what their community problems are and how they themselves
would help themselves or solve their own problems. In this case, the pre-service
teachers supervised by their lecturer helped the community members to focus on
how to help themselves and to take some responsibility. In facilitating these
workshop discussions the pre-service teachers drew on their newly learnt action
research skills to help the local community in their problem solving.

Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Dr L K Thong for co-lecturing in the course
mentioned in this study. This article is based on a paper presented at the Conference
of the Science Teacher Association in Western Australia, 23–25 May 2003, Perth.

Note
1. Quotes from pre-service teachers were edited throughout the paper to ensure the meaning was
understood.
110 I. P.-A. Cheong

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