Description
Book SynopsisMost environmental learning takes place outside of the formal education system, but our understanding of how this learning actually occurs is in its infancy. By surfing the internet, watching nature documentaries, and visiting parks, forests, marine sanctuaries, and zoos, people make active choices to learn about various aspects of their environment every day. Free-Choice Learning and the Environment explores the theoretical foundations of free-choice environmental education, the practical implications for applying theory to the education of learners of all ages, and the policy implications for creating new and sustainable environmental education opportunities.
Trade ReviewFree-Choice Learning and the Environment is essential reading for environmental educators. From theory to practice and implementation, and the application of research, it brings to light, in a highly easy-to-read format, the power and necessity of free-choice learning for understanding and addressing the multitude of issues we face in our environment. -- Brian A. Day, North American Association for Environmental Education
This well-researched book with an extensive, impressive bibliography is an excellent scholarly venture into free-choice learning about the environment. Recommended. * CHOICE *
This collection of well-known and esteemed authors provides timely and much-needed theoretical, scientific, and practical understanding of the learning that occurs in zoos, botanical gardens, parks, and other popular settings where people experience nature in largely informal and unstructured ways. For many people today, these settings represent one of the most important ways of experiencing nature. This book provides a window into how these areas affect us and, importantly, can be enhanced to provide a more meaningful and lasting understanding and appreciation of the natural world. -- Stephen Kellert, Yale University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Chapter 1. Free-Choice Learning and the Environment Chapter 3 Chapter 2. Who is th Free-Choice Environmental Education Learner? Chapter 4 Chapter 3. Fostering Empathy with Wildlife: Factors Affecting Free-Choice Learning for Conservation Concern and Behavior Chapter 5 Chapter 4. Behavior Change Theories and Free-Choice Environmental Learning Chapter 6 Chapter 5. From Mission to Practice Chapter 7 Chapter 6. Tools of Engagement: How Education and Other Social Strategies Can Engage People in Conservation Action Chapter 8 Chapter 7. How Can Participatory Action Research Inform Free-Choice Learning Pedagogy and Research in Environmental Education Contexts? Chapter 9 Chapter 8. Environmental Literacy through the Lens of Aquarium Ocean Literacy Efforts Chapter 10 Chapter 9. Free-Choice Environmental Learning in Practice: Research to inform environmental education practice Chapter 11 Chapter 10. Future Directions for Research in Free-Choice Environmental Learning Chapter 12 Chapter 11. The Federal Government and Free-Choice Learning
