An Environmental Education Supplement for Modern Biology

Abstract

Twenty four individual lessons were written that facilitate environmental education standards as outlined by the the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Environmental Education (1998). These lessons were designed to supplement a traditional high school biology curriculum in such a way that environmental education standards from basic awareness through decision making and action skills could be infused through most of the content. This holistic approach of infusing environmental education into traditional biological themes and constructs throughout the year, reinforces environmental education standards that might otherwise be addressed in an ecology unit only or not at all. A conceptual framework for such a supplement was conceived by Audrey Shomos in 1983. This is the framework that was used with minor changes to reflect progressions in content and pedagogy. While this supplement could be infused into any biology curriculum, the format of the supplement follows the phylogenetic approach of the Biology textbook; the most widely used biology textbook in the country. The content of each lesson ranges from extensions of traditional biological themes to current issues such as global warming, natural resource usage, genetic engineering, succession, and urban sprawl to name a few. The author believes that the 24 lessons provided in this environmental education supplement facilitate both the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Science and Environmental Education concurrently. Although the author did not provide a quantitative assessment tool to determine the effect this supplement has on environmental literacy, the qualitative assessments the author has witnessed through teaching these lessons would indicate that environmental literacy is affected [positively]. Consequently, the author would suggest that a future researcher take on the following project: Develop a comprehensive assessment tool to measure environmental literacy, conduct pre and post test procedures with an experimental group (a class where the supplement was used throughout the year) and a control group (a class where the supplement was not used at all), and compare the results using statistical analysis to see what affect this supplement has on environmental literacy among biology students.