 | Environmental Education in the Schools (Peace Corps, 1993) |
 |  | Activities, activities and more activities |
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Values and attitudes
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"Every human has a fundamental right to an environment of
quality that permits a life of dignity, and well-being." -UN Conference on the Human Environment, 1972 |
Many educators feel that the way to help students build a values system is to use a values clarification process throughout their schooling. The goal of this approach is to help students make choices about what they believe, weigh the pros and cons, evaluate consequences, accept that others have different beliefs, feel comfortable with the decisions they make, be willing to stand up for their beliefs, and take the final step to act on their beliefs. What's the role of the educator in this process? Mainly it's as facilitator-listening and questioning-to help students figure out their own feelings. For example, Louise Rath, in his book Values and Teaching (Merrill Publishing Co., 1978) outlines these three major steps in the values clarification process and what types of questions you can ask to help guide student thinking.
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STEPS IN THE PROCESS OF VALUING |
KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK |
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CHOOSING |
* Did you consider any alternatives? |
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* Have you thought about possible consequences? | |
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* Was this something you yourself chose to do? | |
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PRIZING |
* Is this something you really feel good about? |
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* Who have you told about this? | |
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ACTING |
* What have you done about this so far? |
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* What will come next? |
There are many creative and practical strategies that can help students begin to develop a values system, from activities dealing with awareness to those focusing on moral reasoning. In this section, we've included four activities that focus on values, attitudes, and moral reasoning. The first looks at the pros and cons of making a rare bird egg collection. The second activity focuses on reasons to protect the rain forests. The third activity looks at personal feelings and beliefs that involve reptiles and amphibians. And the final activity looks at attitudes about agricultural practices.
ACTIVITIES IN THIS SECTION
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1. RARE BIRD EGGS FOR SALE, reprinted from Project WILD published by the Western Regional Environmental Education Council. 2. WHAT WOULD YOU DO? reprinted from Ranger Rick's NatureScope: Let's Hear It for Herps! published by the National Wildlife Federation (1988). 3. AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES (A), reprinted from A Guide on Environmental Values Education by Michael Caduto published by Unesco-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme, Environmental Education Series #13. 4. AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES (B), reprinted from A Guide on Environmental Values Education by Michael Caduto. Published by Unesco-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme, Environmental Education Series #13. 5. WHY SAVE THE RAIN FORESTS? reprinted from Ranger
Rick's NatureScope: Rain Forests-Tropical Treasures published by the
National Wildlife Federation (1989).
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