F.

Ecoliteracy and Sustainable Development

Ecoliteracy considers ecological systems and awareness of how society operates within natural
aspects as an educational imperative. The basic principles of ecoliteracy are good starting points to
explore fundamental lessons that can be learned from nature for the reform of society (Wahl, 2017).

David Orr (1992) posited that by failing to include ecological perspectives in education, students
are taught that ecology is unimportant. Orr and Capra (1990) coined the idea of 'ecological literacy' as
creating a new emphasis on the need for education to integrate understanding of the interdependence
between natural processes and human ways of life. Therefore, ecoliteracy is the ability to understand
the organization of natural systems and the processes that maintain the healthy functioning of living
systems and life on Earth.

In another perspective, ecological literacy is an understanding of the principles of organization

that ecosystems have evolved to sustain the w of life, which is the first step on the road to sustainability.
The second step is the move towards ecodesign, of which there is a need to apply the ecological
knowledge to the fundamental redesign of technologies and social institutions, to bridge the current gap
between human design and the ecological sustainable systems of nature (Capra, 2003).

Sustainability

Sustainability is a qualitative and quantitative condition that demonstrates the human capacity
to survive over time. It is qualitative in a way that we want well-being although, it is difficult to measure.
But it is also quantitative in that natural capital and ecological carrying capacity can be measured with
foot printing tools. It is a biological and ecological imperative for human society to exist within the
carrying capacity of the ecosystem. Ecological literacy therefore, provides the basis for integrated
thinking about sustainability. It supports the frame of mind, ethics, and the type of practice that will
support the kind of thinking that prioritizes ecological imperatives.

To achieve sustainability, we must trace the roots of our cultural assumptions and work on
ecological illiteracy. Our society has created industries, processes, programs and institutions that are
destroying the ecosystem's ability to support life. This unsustainable and reckless action is a direct result
of lack of ecological understanding and lack of sense of urgency. With this in mind, ecological literacy
aims to replace fragmented thinking with new cognitive and social capacities necessary for the design of
sustainable ways of living.
Ecologically Literate Person and Society

For Wahl (2017), an ecologically literate person can apply such understanding to the design and
organization of communities and the creation of a regenerative culture. To be ecoliterate means to
understand the principles of organization of ecological communities (i.e. ecosystems) and to use those
principles for creating sustainable human communities (www.wikipedia.org). An ecologically literate
person understands the essence of independence and interconnectedness and that we are all part of a
living system. An ecologically literate person translates this understanding into actions that demonstrate
conscious efforts to minimize negative impacts on our life-sustaining systems and maximize value
contribution to our collective well-being, now and for future generations (http://
educationforsustainability.info/general/ecological-literacy/).

On the other hand, an ecologically literate society would be a sustainable society, which does
not destroy the natural environment on which they depend. Thus, ecological literacy is a powerful
concept as it creates a foundation for an integrated approach to environmental problems. Advocates
and catalysts champion eco-literacy as a new educational reform emerging from holism, systems
thinking, sustainability and complexity. Wahl (2017) claimed that nurturing ecological literacy in
students of a wide range of ages has become the goal of sustainability education programs worldwide.

Ways to Develop Ecoliteracy in Schools

A growing number of educators feel the need to foster learning that genuinely prepares young
people for the ecological challenges presented by this unprecedented time in human history. Thus, the
goal is to raise students with an important perspective called "socially and emotionally engaged
ecoliteracy", which is a process that offers an antidote for fear, anger and hopelessness, which result
from inaction. Hence, the act of engaging in ecological challenges whatever scale is possible or
appropriate it develops strength, hope and resiliency among young people.

In this case, ecoliteracy is founded on a new integration emotional, social and ecological forms
of intelligence. While social and emotional intelligence extend students abilities to see from anon
perspective, empathize, and show concern, ecological intelligence applies these capacities to
understanding of natural systems and cognitive skills with empathy for all of life.

By weaving these forms of intelligence together, ecoliteracy bud on success from reduced
behavioral problems to increased academic achievement to foster social and emotional learning.

To help educators foster socially and emotionally engaged ecoliteracy, the following are
identified practices in age-appropriate ways for students, ranging from pre-kindergarten through
adulthood and help promote the cognitive and affective the abilities with the integration of emotional,
social and ecological intelligences.
1. Develop empathy for all forms of life. By recognizing the common needs we share with all
organisms, we can extend our empathy to consider the quality of life of other life forms, feel
genuine concern about their well-being and act on that concern.

2. Embrace sustainability as a community practice. By learning the wondrous ways that plants,
animals and other living things are interdependent, students are inspired to consider the role of
interconnectedness within their communities and see the value in strengthening those
relationships by thinking and acting cooperatively.

3. Make the invisible visible. If we strive to develop ways of living that are more life-affirming, we
must find ways to make visible the things that seem invisible by using web-based tools, such as
Google Earth, GoodGuide and Fooducate Apps.

4. Anticipate unintended consequences. Teachers can teach students strategies for anticipating
unintended consequences. These include precautionary principle, that when an activity
threatens to have a damaging impact on the environment or human health, precautionary
actions should be taken. Another strategy is to shift from analyzing a problem by reducing it to
its isolated components, to adopting a systems thinking perspective that examines connections
and relationships among various components of the problem.

5. Understand how nature sustains life. Ecoliterate people recognize that nature has sustained life
for long that resulted to turning to nature when their teachers imbibe three crucial tenets to
ecoliterate living:

a. ecoliterate people learn from nature that all living organisms are complex and
interconnected that inhabit a particular place for survival;

b. ecoliterate people tend to be more aware that systems exist on various levels of scale;
and,

c. ecoliterate people collectively practice a way of life that fulfills the needs of the present
generation while simultaneously supporting nature's inherent ability to sustain life in
the future.
Seven Environmental Principles of Nature

Considering the key to understanding environmental problems is to learn about ecosystem.

Ecology can be best appreciated in schools through a more practical and more relatable perspectives
and manner of orientation and realization.

The following are basic environmental principles of ecosystem (adapted from Barry Commoner;
cited in Butler, 2012).

1. Nature knows best. People need to understand nature and have to abide by the rules it imposes
In essence, one must not go against the natural processes if he/she would like to ensure a
continuous and steady supply of resources.

2. All forms of life are important. Each organism plays a fundamental role in nature therefore, all
living things must be considered as invaluable instruments in maintaining balance in the
ecosystem.

3. Everything is connected to everything else. In an ecosystem, all components interact with each
other to ensure that the system is sustainable, of which any outside interference may result in
an imbalance and deterioration of the system.

4. Everything changes. People must rethink their relationship with the environment through
relevant technologies for positive changes.

5. Everything must go somewhere. Since wastes may go back to one's own backyard in some
other forms, it is important to become aware of the different types of waste, classify and
segregate those that are toxic and potentially hazardous.

6. Ours is a finite earth. Awareness of the earth's limited resources leads to a conscious effort to
change one's attitude and initiative to recycle them.

7. Nature is beautiful and we are stewards of God's creation. Being the most intelligent and being
gifted with reason, humans are capable of controlling and taking care of the creation to their
own advantage.
Towards a Green School and Education for Sustainable Development

Schools play a great role in the development of academics but also environmental ethics and
care for nature among students. The school environment, therefore, should encourage, support and
nurture students capacities on green environment as integrated

A "Green School" is identified with those elements and practices that inculcate environmental
sensitivity to promote environmental sustainability through various environment-friendly means and
encourage judicious use of resources. It also caters to the physical, mental and emotional needs of a
child by ensuring a school environment that is physically safe, emotionally secure and psychologically
enabling.

Essential aspects of Green School Environment

The ‘greenness’ of a school finds expression in various aspects of the environment. The Green
School has:

 clean, healthy, protective and green surroundings

 promotes both the physical and the psycho social health of learners and others in school

 ensures a healthy (provision of health services, such as nutritional supplementation and

counseling), hygienic (safe drinking water, neat and clean classrooms, playground and parks,
etc.), safe learning environment with healthy practices (e.g. a school free of drugs, corporal
punishment and harassment); and

 brings children closer to nature and involves them in taking care of it.

Thus, Green School a school engages the community, especially children, in thinking learning by
adopting participatory, practical collaborative approaches work healthier students staff involving the
whole community to work towards a sustainable future.

Green School adheres to the following precepts:

1. Learning about the environment. It focuses mainly on acquisition of knowledge and

understanding of the surroundings and related issues.

2. Learning through the environment. It refers to the processes of learning while being engaged
with environment inside and outside the classroom.

3. Learning for the environment. It aims at developing an informed response and responsibility
towards the environment beyond acquisition of skills and knowledge.
Understanding Green Curriculum

For a curriculum to be 'Green', must include the following aspects:

1. Environment is encompassing, multidisciplinary and dynamic, has scientific, social, economic,

political and technological dimensions.

2. Being holistic, a Green Curriculum views environment as all that is around and aims to give a
better understanding of the way the world functions its operations, its alteration because of the
actions of human race and its consequences.

3. It holistically addresses sustainability concerns, such as protection and conservation of natural

resources, traditions, culture and heritage, safety and security, physical and emotional

Dark Green School Program: Philippine Environmental Perspective

A Dark Green School (DGS) is a school that delivers Environmental Education through
assimilation of the environmental philosophy by the students in formal lessons, as well as in activities
outside the classroom.

Accordingly, schools must:

a. be clean and neat as evidence of good management and housekeeping.

b. call for green spaces, appropriate land use, planning, conservation of materials and energy,
proper waste management, segregation, use of appropriate materials and avoidance of harmful
ones and respect to others' right to a smoke-free air.

c. have management policies and guidelines that would create a healthful and ecological campus.

d. have a well-planned environmental curriculum for all levels, adequately oriented and trained
faculty, and administrative, library and financial support.

e. have faculty and students who are aware of and appreciate the environmental program of the
school.

f. reach out to an outside community to spread concern for Mother Earth and facilitate projects
and programs that improve the environment.

g. engage in research that adds knowledge in the ways of nature and the impact of human
activities.
Ecological Living Practices

Ecological living means to live in a way that it:

a. respects and replenishes the carrying capacity of our planet;

b. honors our interrelatedness with all expressions of life;

c. enhances the qualitative aspects of our relationships; and

d. brings forth the best of our human capacities for the co-creation of an ecologically sustainable
and caring world.

G. Arts and Creative Literacy

Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. Moreover, creativity is the
ability to see the world in new ways. Therefore, creative individuals exhibit the ability to switch between
different modes of thinking and shift their mental focus that suggests a connection between creativity
and dynamic interactions of brain networks (Sun, et. al, 2019).

Likewise, creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Henceforth, it is
characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make
connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. It involves two
processes: thinking, then producing (Naiman, 2011).

As such, creativity is a combinatorial force: the ability to tap into one's inner' pool of resources,
such as knowledge, insight, information, inspiration; and the fragments in the mind to combine them in
extraordinary new ways (Popova, n.d. in Naiman, 2011). It is also the process of bringing something new
into being that requires passion and commitment.

Creativity begins with a foundation of knowledge, learning a discipline, and mastering a way of
thinking. It can be learned by experimenting, exploring, questioning assumptions, using imagination and
synthesizing information.

The ability to generate creative and innovative ideas is not merely a function of the mind, but
also a function of five key behaviors that optimize brain for discovery:

a. associating or drawing connections between questions, problems, or ideas from unrelated fields;

b. questioning or posing queries that challenge common wisdom;

c. observing or scrutinizing the behavior of others to identify new ways of doing things;

d. networking or meeting people with different ideas and perspectives; and

 e. experimenting or constructing interactive experiences and provoking responses to see what
insights emerge.

Developing literacies of the arts and creativity involves design physical learning environment, the
emotional environment, scheduling, organization and implementation of curriculum and instruction and
attention to the body and the brain. Therefore, teachers should be empowered in developing these
literacies among students with the support of the administrators, parents, and other stakeholders.

Seven Habits of Highly Creative People

Naiman (2014) opined that if a person makes a habit of the seven practices, he/she will be
highly creative in his/her field. Thus, these would help teachers attain highest possible level of creativity.

1. Prepare the ground. Creativity requires an absorbed mind, a relaxed state of focus and
attention by giving the self-sufficient time and space needed while letting the desire to create
from the pleasure of creative expression and inspiration.

2. Plant seeds for creativity. It is important to put attention on what you want to create, not on
complaints and set an intention to produce the desired results.

3. Live in the question. Ask questions, instead of trying to find immediate answers and pay
attention to questions that other people ask.

4. Feed your brain. Get interested in something that later can provide you wisdom and ideas if you
learn to make connections between people, places and things that are not usually connected.

5. Experiment and explore. Follow your curiosity, experiment with ideas, and learn from your
mistakes therefore, the quality of your creativity will improve.

6. Replenish your creative stock. You must learn to be self-nourishing and translate hobbies,
talents and skills into wonderful potentials.

7. Liberate your creativity. Your child's play provides the clue to your creativity, potentials and
passion.

In general, creativity takes on many forms in business, art, design, education and science. When you
express your creativity in these domains, you have the ability to make life indeed a work of art (Naiman,
2011).
Visual Literacy

In the advent of the Internet, students must develop the necessary visual literacy skills to
navigate the image-intense world. Therefore, visual literacy refers to interpreting and creating visual
images usually about communication and interaction.

Visual literacy is the ability to read, write and create visual images. It is a concept that relates to
art and design and has much wider applications. It is about language, communication and interaction.
Visual media is a linguistic tool, with which we communicate, exchange ideas and navigate our visual
digital world.

The term was first coined in 1969 by John Debes, who was the founder of the International
Visual Literacy Association Debes explains: "Visual literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a
human being can develop by seeing, having and Integrating other sensory experiences."

According to Oxford Research Encyclopedia, visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate
and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image, extending the meaning of
literacy. which commonly signifies interpretation of a written or printed text. It is therefore, based on
the idea that pictures can be read and the meaning can be through a process of reading.

Serafini (2017) asserted that visual literacy is a set of visual competencies or cognitive skills and
strategies one needs to make sense of visual images. These visual competencies were seen as universal
cognitive abilities that were used for understanding visual Images regardless of the contexts of
production, reception, and dissemination. More contemporary definitions stress that visual literacy is a
contextualized, social practice as much as an individualized, cognitively-based set of competencies. It is
also a process of generating meanings in transaction with multimodal ensembles that include written
text, visual images, and design elements from a variety of perspectives to meet the requirements of
particular social contexts.

Theories of visual literacy can be integrated across disciplines. Therefore, visual literacy now
incorporates sociocultural, semiotic, critical, and multimodal perspectives to understand the meaning
that e potential of the visual and verbal ensembles encountered in social environments (Serafini, 2017).
Digital technology has greatly impacted are our understanding of visual literacy as we now see children
growing up with tablets and computers and what appears to be highly developed visual literacy instincts.
Verbal Creativity

In view of the rapidly increasing complexity of the world, creativity is more important now than
ever before and is even considered as a useful and effective response to evolutionary changes, since it
allows the individual to flexibly respond to the continuously changing conditions around (Runco, 2004 in
nk, et. al., 2015). Torrance, (1969) in Hasan (2017) recognized creativity as important for the
development of a fully functioning, mentally healthy, well-educated and vocationally successful
individual. It is because of growing recognition of the importance of creative functioning and there is
sufficient evidence of the universality of creativity.

Scott, et. al (2004) cited that creativity-related skills can be improved by providing specific rules,
techniques or strategies to develop appropriate cognitive skills for the domain at hand. This could be
realized through creative ideation trainings or divergent inking exercises (Coskun, 2005; Benedek, et. al,
2006), which aim stimulating effective search, retrieval, and integration/combination remote
associations related to a given stimulus word. Divergent inking is a useful concept for identifying,
supporting and measuring reativity as a process to actualize one's self, manipulate internal and external
symbols as creation of illustrative ideas based on his/ her knowledge senses regarding people and
objects to produce on (Hasan, 2017).

The four major components of divergent thinking are fluency, flexibility, originality and
elaboration, which very useful for an operational concept. Fluency refers to the total number of ideas,
options and solutions generated for an open-ended problem; flexibility is the number of conceptual
categories; originality is the aspect of created or invented works and is about statistical infrequency of
responses related to the task compared with original ideas; and elaboration is the ability to expand on
an idea with details and the ability to create an intricate plan.

Firk, et. al (2012) explained that cognitive common or moderately creative ideas was effective in
improving verbal creativity, and most importantly, stimulation effects were also apparent at the level of
the brain. As such, a widespread creativity-related neural network includes left middle and superior
temporal gyri along with right parietal cortex being sensitive to cognitive stimulation.

Aesthetics

Britannica defines aesthetics, also spelled esthetics, as the philosophical study of beauty and
taste. It is closely related to the philosophy concerned with the nature of art and the concepts of which
individual works of art are interpreted and evaluated.

In perspective, it is an interesting and puzzling realm of experience: the realm of the beautiful,
the ugly, the sublime and the elegant; of taste, criticism and fine art; and of contemplation, sensuous
enjoyment and charm. In all these phenomena, similar principles operate and similar interests are
engaged.
 The nature and scope of Aesthetics. Aesthetics deals not only with the nature and value of arts
but also with those responses to natural objects that find expression in the language of the beautiful and
the ugly. The terms beautiful and ugly are too vague in application and too subjective in meaning.
Everything on earth may be perceived as beautiful by someone from his/her point of view while
different people may use the word differently that often may have little or nothing in common but all
are simply based on judgment. It may also be that the term beautiful has no sense except as the
expression of an attitude, which in turn, people may associate it to different matters.

Moreover, in spite of the emphasis of philosophers on the terms beautiful and ugly, aesthetics
becomes an insignificant issue for discussion in the description of what appeals in nature. Just like when
appreciating a poem, it can be described as ironic, moving. expressive, balanced and harmonious.
Likewise, in characterizing a favorite stretch of countryside, it can be noted as peaceful, soft.
atmospheric, harsh, and evocative, rather than beautiful.

Three Approaches to Aesthetics

Britannica laid down three approaches to aesthetics as follows:

1. It is the study of aesthetic concepts or the analysis of "language of criticism," in which particular
judgments re singled out and their logic and justification are presented.

2. It is a philosophical study of certain states of mind, responses, attitudes and emotions that are
involved in aesthetic experience.

3. It is the philosophical study of the aesthetic object that reflects the view that problems of
aesthetics exist because the world contains special objects toward which people react
selectively as described in aesthetic terms.

Integrating Arts and Creativity Literacy into the Curriculum

1. Physical environment. Design physical environment to such castle-designed school building,

well-architecturally, designed edifice, and ceilings, creative murals, beautiful garden landscape,
colorful blocks and benches the science garden, structured music and arts studio, atelier,
amphitheater, etc.

2. Emotional environment. Take time to create and maintain climate of respect, caring support
someone making mistakes.

3. Project-based learning (PBL). Provide time, space and opportunity express themselves ideas,
emotions and insights through Design and plan any projects that are relevant, rigorous real-
world attain motivation, engagement learning.
 4. Teach creative thinking skills. Teach students about "metacognition" their thinking" even to the
process brainstorming, reasoning, comparing and contrasting, problem-solving, concept
mapping, analyzing, evaluating more.

5. Alternative assessments. Instead of just a worksheet or an assignment, provide different

authentic assessment like performance, systems design, product/output making, visual arts
creation, task-based, project-based, portfolio and others provided with rubrics and other forms
of metrics.

6. Scheduling. Project-based curriculum and performance based assessment need ample time and
proper scheduling in either structured or unstructured manner.

7. Student-centered and personalized learning. Provide students freedom to choose on what they
will learn, how they will learn it and how they will demonstrate what they have learned.

8. Incorporate arts. Integrate seamlessly music, art, drama and dance into the curriculum to
develop creativity.

9. Integration of technologies. Encourage students to create and utilize blogs and websites,
Glogster, Voice Thread, student publishing, video game design, coding, filmmaking, photography,
global collaborative classroom projects using Google Hangouts, etc.

10. Preparing the body and brain for creativity. Create activities that induce body-mind integration,
such as yoga, ballet, jazz, zumba, calisthenics, etc.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Heart, heart!