Teaching Green, The Elementary Years: Hands-On Learning in Grades K-5

Tim, Grant and Gail, Littlejohn (eds.) (2005).
Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers; 256 pages. $22.95. ISBN 0865715343.

Editors Tim Grant and Gail Littlejohn began Green Teacher magazine in 1991 as a resource for people wishing to introduce environmental education into their schools, youth programs and family life. In the last few years, they have culled some of the best articles from 15 years of publications, with up-to-date revisions by the original authors, to publish books for the same audience. The first, Teaching Green, the Middle Years, contains 238 pages of case studies and lessons from Canada, the United States and Scotland. The most recent, Teaching Green, The Elementary Years: Hands-On Learning in Grades K-5, features more than 60 authors from three countries: the United States, Canada and Australia. This international approach to environmental education reflects the global nature of the subject matter and introduces readers to more ideas than they would find in a book covering approaches from only a single country. These easy-to-use books will serve people working with youth to become aware of their local environment, learn about it intimately and develop the capacity to take what they know and act on it in daily life with young people as companions and partners.

Grant and Littlejohn begin each book with an introduction to what “teaching green” means. Their 10 points offer a philosophical and practical outline for environmental education with students of any age. From the first suggestion, “Students should have opportunities to develop a personal connection with nature,” to the last, “Teachers should be facilitators and co-learners,” the editors suggest an approach that is holistic and systematic, and that acknowledges the development of students as responsive and responsible people who understand the value of traditional knowledge as well as they understand media and the natural world around them.

The Elementary Years has seven sections, each of which includes lesson plans: Approaches to Learning; Exploring Nature around Us; Plants and Animals; Environmental Issues; Building Community; Global Awareness; and Imagination and Celebration. Each lesson plan comes from an actual experience with children and offers a philosophical framework with activities aimed towards children in grades kindergarten to eighth grade. The lessons range from specific observations of phenomena that can be explored on almost any school ground to extensive activities in local watersheds and forests. Many of the writers have won national awards for their teaching and have moved from public elementary schools to teaching in universities.

Those parents or teachers who want to take on a whole-school approach to environmental education should consult the article in The Elementary Years titled, “Guiding Your School toward Environmental Literacy.” In it, Jeff Reading, a specialist in outdoor education, clearly outlines a process used by many schools in Calgary, Alberta, to help teachers collaboratively develop a way of determining the approach a school will take to integrating environmental education into all aspects of learning. While this article focuses on a path for staff development, others highlight lesson plans that can be done with children.

The Middle Years has five sections: Learning about Ecosystems; Sustaining Ecosystems; Living Sustainably; Examining Values; and Making Interdisciplinary Connections. Since the audience here is middle school students and the adults who work with them, the case studies report more complex projects than those in the elementary book. “A Constructed Wetland: From Monitoring to Action” reports on how a group of 12- to 14-year-olds decided to monitor a Colorado mountain stream because the rusty color perturbed them. They had discovered effluent from an old gold mine; their measurements of heavy metals in the water through the River Watch program, sponsored by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, led them to consult the Colorado School of Mines and employ a new process of using limestone in constructed wetlands to remove heavy metals from stream water. This project lasted nine years, involved two universities, the Division of Wildlife, the Division of Minerals and Geology, the Logan School for Creative Learning, a dedicated teacher, an environmental laboratory, a myriad of experts and a 90-year-old gold miner who still had an active nearby claim. The students’ research into phytoremediation provided important data on which plants and which parts of the plants serve to mediate the heavy metal content of mine runoff, a serious issue in many parts of the world. The curiosity of children led to investigation, and increased knowledge and action among a variety of stakeholders for a sustained period.

Presenting ideas from simple to complex, both books offer multidisciplinary methods to guide children and youth into a deeper understanding of natural processes happening around them. By using journals, various art media, science experiments, and community service, students can immerse themselves in observation, exploration, and experimentation leading to a deeper knowledge of the earth. One article in The Elementary Years, “Observing Patterns in Nature,” suggests that “the brain is designed to perceive and derive meaning from patterns, and it resists having meaningless information imposed on it. Therefore, educators should consider beginning lessons by giving students a pattern to discover rather than a principle to memorize” (38). This focus on discovery runs throughout all of the articles in both books.

Each article includes its own references that encompass research articles, children’s literature, philosophy texts, and web sites. Photographs, drawings, and even game cards that can be replicated offer rich visual illustration. Most activities could easily be adapted for use with different aged people, from preschoolers to adults. Some of the articles focus on activities that could be done in one day, and others have activities that could take a year or more to accomplish with multi-aged participants. Most engage children in their own communities: sample activities include creating eco-maps of a neighborhood, models of local watersheds, and studies of Monarch butterflies that result in the creation of butterfly gardens. These books have value to the novice as well as the experienced environmental educator. The indices make it easy to find articles on specific subjects or methods of approach.

If you work with young people, the Green Teacher team has already published Greening School Grounds and Teaching About Climate Change, which follow the same format for people interested in these specific subject areas. Green Teacher, The High School Years was published in January, 2007. The Green Teacher web site has some lessons translated into Spanish and French: see www.greenteacher.com. Any of these books can be ordered from New Society Publishers – www.newsociety.com – or 1-800-567-6772.

Illène Pevec

Illène Pevec, currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, has worked in arts and environmental education in Canada, Brazil and the United States. Her passion is creating gardens with children and their communities to provide food, medicinal plants, natural habitat, beauty, and traditional knowledge in areas that lack these elements of life and good health. As an educational consultant with the Children, Youth and Environments Center for Research and Design, she supports schools in their efforts to create dynamic learning environments where students and teachers can incorporate green learning into everyday life.