Term
Summer 2024
Capstone
Capstone Project
Degree Name
MAED: NSEE
Facilitator(s)
Jana Lo Bello Miller
Content Expert
Maggie McCoy
Abstract
The growing awareness of the effects of climate change on our planet and the need for solutions that slow, stop, or potentially reverse these effects have led to the desire to increase environmental education in our youth. Research shows that building environmental literacy and stewardship helps create citizens with pro-environmental behaviors. Since the Tbilisi Declaration in 1977, there has been significant growth in environmental education programs in non-traditional education settings. However, despite the need for environmental education, it struggles to gain a strong footing in the traditional classroom. This is due to multiple reasons, with educator preparedness and resources being two major factors. This capstone project aimed to research effective instructional strategies and their impact on one’s environmental literacy and stewardship to create a unit of study that would fit into a traditional classroom setting. My research found that several key strategies apply to effective classroom instruction and beneficial environmental education programs. Utilizing these key strategies as well as state science curriculum and environmental literacy standards, my unit of study was designed to teach fourth-grade standards while incorporating a local environmental issue with the goal of increasing the environmental literacy of my students. The unit of study designed for this capstone project serves as an example of how general education can be leveraged to increase environmental literacy and stewardship in today’s youth.
Project Type
Curriculum
Keywords
Curriculum, Environmental Studies, Science
Recommended Citation
McKenna, Brandi, "Integrating Environmental Education into the 4th-grade Classroom" (2024). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects. 1067.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_cp/1067
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Education Student Capstone Projects