Decision Making and Environmental Education

Abstract

This topic can be divided into two aspects: decision making as an instructional topic in environmental education units which should teach students how to decide on actions in controversial issues; and decision making by environmental education curriculum developers. In a survey of 40 American environmental education programs, 82% indicated that they think decision making should be part of environmental education, but only 36% had prepared instructional units for that purpose or intended to do so in the near future. The difficulties in the preparation of such units and the question if decision making is an art or science is discussed. Various techniques for the training in decision making are reviewed and examples are cited.

Two major decisions to be taken by curriculum planners in environmental education are: choosing the central theme of environmental education units and choosing the optimal framework for the introduction of the unit into the educational system. Four criteria for the choice of the central theme are discussed. Environmental education units can be introduced into existing school subjects where they can be part of integrated courses or of extra-curricular activities. Some of the advantages and disadvantages of the different alternatives are shown.