Rethinking the Role of Outdoor, and Informal Setting in Environmental Education
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 1953
Special Issue Editors
Interests: exploring and advancing the development of students' system thinking in science education; understanding and improving learning processes in informal science education learning environments; environmental education in a cultural context
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Humanity is facing global challenges that are unprecedented in scale. Rising global temperatures, plastic pollution, biodiversity loss, deforestation and many other environmental issues require urgent and comprehensive action. In addition, large-scale social and economic issues such as poverty and inequality threaten the environmental resilience of communities worldwide.
Research literature has pointed to out-of-school institutions, such as museums, science centers, zoological parks and aquariums, as an especially important arena for preparing citizens for a sustainable future. A variety of outdoor environments, such as the schoolyard, open natural areas, national parks, urban environments, industrial areas, and archeological sites, are considered important contributions to environmental education. However, a question arises as to whether this shift in educational settings and practices will engage young people and communities on a global scale, particularly in the role of complementing school-based environmental science education.
Across the world, youth participate in citizen science programs led by science and natural history museums. These informal outreach programs engage the youth in authentic scientific research activities, gaining critical thinking skills and knowledge applied in a real-world environmental context. The rise in this young generation of activists who struggle against the increase in global pollution, warming and development that seeks to use limited natural resources is reinforced by communities and non-government organizations. Furthermore, in everyday settings learning tends to be motivated by personal interests, (e.g., hobbies) and concerns (e.g., personal health, local environmental issues).
The main purpose of this Special Issue is to provide the international community of researchers who study meaningful ways to implement the above informal settings in environmental education with a platform to communicate and exchange ideas, present current knowledge, and discuss the future research agenda for those in our community.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Design-based research derived from empirical studies in out-of-school science education institutions, with potential to promote sustainability;
- Public participation and collaboration in scientific research to improve people’s knowledge about scientific methods, and promote environmental literacy;
- Unique cognitive, affective, physical and social aspects of the outdoor learning environment emerge in environmental context;
- Professional development programs in designed informal settings, in which educators explore how learning is shaped by institutional goals, and visitors’ interpretations;
- Opportunities to foster connectedness to nature and reinforce pro environmental behavior, in informal settings;
- Science communication strategies in informal science learning institutions that may play a critical role in engaging the public in environmental education;
- Characteristics of exhibits, field trips, as well as volunteer monitoring that can support personal free-choice learning.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Orit Ben-Zvi Assaraf
Prof. Dr. Tali Tal
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- environmental education
- outdoor learning
- informal settings
- free-choice learning
- citizen science
