Using Social Media to Reinforce Environmental Learning And Action-Taking for School Students

Using Social Media to Reinforce Environmental Learning And Action-Taking for School Students - These class experiences reinforce the research findings but suggest it is not a simple process to fulfill this transfer of learning on a broader scale across classrooms. Unless environmental educators and teachers share a similar conceptualization of the role of trips in curriculum, little follow-up with respect to action-taking may occur.

Trips may become simply a fun self-contained learning experience. Clarifying educational philosophy with the teachers beforehand is important. There is also a contradiction between environmental educators aiming for transfer of learning and action-taking while simultaneously encouraging teachers to dictate their own aims for the trip experiences. Participatory discussions and training involving teachers and environmental educators would seem particularly valuable. Unfortunately in many contexts due to financial limitations and practical pressures, environmental organizations and schools frequently prioritize content and logistical discussions over broader consideration of trip roles and aims.

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Environmental educators typically do not have the resources to provide this additional help for the teachers. The teacher is left to her or his own devices while feeling pressure to move onto additional curriculum outcomes, sacrificing the actual doing of the actions, yet action taking is a key element of developing action competence. If resources are constrained, should organizations cut back on the number of programs they offer so as to direct resources to the follow-up action-taking back at school? These are hard decisions and funding organizations often value number of children participating over the longer term learning impacts.

Social media can have a valuable educational role only if teachers are comfortable with its use and have a clear conception of how to facilitate its use in the classroom. In-service training can play an important role in suggesting the benefits and answering the how-to questions, but it must be participatory in nature if it is to influence those teachers who focus on the negative aspects of technology in children’s lives. Social media provides positive opportunities for environmental educators if they employ it with careful consideration and thoughtful discussion with teachers. Students greatly value and benefit from appropriate social media interaction, the challenge is bringing teachers to this realization and helping them gain the
skills to utilize it.