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Congress Activities
Congress activities will center on one of the three cross-cutting questions.
Symposia
Methodology and Pedagogy: Exploring Current Directions in Environmental Education Research
The purpose of the research symposium is to engage participants in discussions of key issues facing environmental education researchers as they confront an expanding diversity of methodological perspectives, as well as increasing demands to connect their inquires to pedagogy. The research symposium will focus on questions of social and ecological justice, intergenerational knowledge and ethics, and methodological diversity, and intends to enrich discussions across the congress themes. We have arranged four unique research vignette presentations that connect issues of pedagogy and methodology as a way to inspire subsequent discussions in small groups.
The research vignettes include the following presentations: 1) Deborah Barndt will share examples from two transnational research projects that integrate feminist, anti-racist popular education, and community arts into education about environmental issues; 2) Greg Lowan will highlight his research on Aboriginal and environmental education in relation to place, decolonization, and collaborative ethnography; 3) Valerie Triggs, working in the area of technology and environmental education, will discuss narrative and arts-based approaches to inquiry and teaching and learning through web-based experiences such as “Earth Shapes;” and 4) Aaron Morehouse will discuss theoretical underpinnings for pedagogy that connect ethics, place, and environment, using the example of a local place-environment-related program based on Catalina Island, USA.
In facilitated groups, we will discuss the following questions: a) What do these presentations call forth from my own work? b) Where do I think environmental education research is going? c) Summarize for plenary session: What are the issues that were most important to this group?
Chair and Moderator: Leesa Fawcett, Associate Professor, Coordinator Graduate Diploma in Environmental Sustainability Education, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
Panelists:
- Paul Hart, University of Regina, Canada
- Marcia McKenzie, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
- Connie Russell, Lakehead University, Canada
- Bob Stevenson, University at Buffalo, USA
- Deborah Barndt, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada
- Greg Lowan, University of Calgary, Canada
- Aaron Morehouse, Catalina Island Conservancy, California, USA
- Valerie Triggs, Centre for Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education, University of British Columbia, Canada
The Whys of Evaluation:
Part I: Education Program Evaluation
Part II: Policy and Impact Evaluation
For many in evaluation, the frame of utilization focus drives many of the decisions regarding what is asked, how it is asked, and why it is asked. This symposium in two parts is designed to create dialogue around the whys of evaluation. The parts will be complementary and related, but are also being planned to function as independent pieces, thus allowing the attendee to participate in one or both sessions.
The symposiums will use a panel of provocateurs to present varied positions on why should we evaluate? Historically, environmental education has been evaluated primarily to provide accountability data (see Journal of Program Planning & Evaluation, special edition on EE evaluation). Yet environmental education is often embedded in schools, or in zoos, nature centers, parks, the media, museums, and other institutions all of which have missions that include but are not driven by the purpose of environmental education. Therefore, the question of “why evaluate” becomes increasingly requisite as environmental educationists look at competing resources which demand higher accountability and relationship to larger mission.
Each symposium will begin with a framing of the session followed by three very short position statements designed to present a range of perceptions on the issue. The panelists will then discuss with each other and the audience the varied positions and what the group collectively answers the question: “why evaluate?”
Co-Chairs and Moderators: Joe E. Heimlich, Associate Professor, School of Environment and Natural Resources, OSU, USA and Ginger Potter, United States, Environmental Protection Agency, USA
Panelists:
- Joe E. Heimlich, Associate Professor, School of Environment and Natural Resources, OSU, USA
- Michaela Zint, University of Michigan, USA
- Danilla Tilbury, University of Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
- Sean Southey, RARE Conservation International, USA
- Tom Marcinkowski, Florida Institute of Technology, USA
Scientific and Environmental Education
Close links have been forged between scientific and environmental education. Some authors have simply combined these two fields into a classical approach, while others advocate renewed epistemological scientific positions and practices for environmental education. This conjunction of scientific and environmental education is a key issue at a time when the sciences – contributing to economic growth - have injected life into an industrial logic and emerging transborder risks. How then should scientific education position itself epistemologically, ethically and practically to nourish a reflexive and sociocritical identity in the face of environmental issues? How can we initiate an education of “knowledge dialogues” that generate principles, educational practices and policies of solidarity and social justice? These questions and others will be addressed at the Symposium, through presentations of the most recent research in the field.
Chairs: Barbara Bader, Université Laval, Canada et Yves Girault, Muséum d’Histoire naturelle de Paris, France
Moderator : Patrick Charland, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Panelists :
- Barbara Bader, Université Laval, Canada et Yves Girault, Muséum d’Histoire naturelle de Paris, France, Renouvellement des postures épistémologiques et des pratiques en sciences et en éducation relative à l’environnement dans un contexte de risques
- Ian Robottom, Deakin University, Australie, Environmental education: Essentially socially constructed?
- Laurence Somonneaux, École Nationale de Formation Agronomique, France, Développer à la fois la réflexivité axiologique et le raisonnement critique épistémique sur les Questions Socialement Vives Relatives à l’Environnement
- Justin Dillon, King’s College London, Angleterre, Perspectives on environmental education-related research in science education
- Milagros Chavez, Universidad de Los Andes, Éthique de l’environnement comme dimension transversale de l’éducation en sciences et en technologie
- Sylvie Barma, Université Laval, Canada, Renouvellement des postures épistémologiques en éducation aux sciences et à l’environnement : lecture socioculturelle du renouvellement de pratiques d’enseignants du secondaire au Québec
- Barbara Bader et Richard Vincent, Université Laval, Canada, De l’intérêt de la sociologie de l’acteur-réseau pour actualiser la conception des sciences lorsque les questions environnementales se posent
Environmental Education in the Circumpolar World: Making Connections
Canada is a circumpolar nation and participant in International Polar Year research and celebrations. This symposium provides an opportunity for environmental educators from circumpolar nations to meet and discuss their work (all strands), and to bring circumpolar perspectives into the Congress. But this is also an important opportunity to initiate and foster North-South dialogues around one or more of the three Congress questions.
In the wake of International Polar Year, what does environmental education look like in the circumpolar North? Who is involved? What are the challenges and solutions of delivering environmental education in the boreal nations? Congress attendees from northern countries are invited to share best practices, lessons learned, and plan the development of a pan-Northern environmental education network. Reports on research or consequences resulting from International Polar Year activity is particularly encouraged.
Chair and Moderator: Remy Rodden, Conservation Education Coordinator, Environment Yukon, Canada
Panelists:
- Elise Maltin, Education Specialist, Northern Canada, Parks Canada Agency/Agence Parcs Canada, Canada
- Sharina Dodsworth, Environmental Education Specialist, Department of Environment, Government of Nunavut, Canada
[Canadian Wildlife Federation]
Innovative Learning About Wildlife Biodiversity: The Canadian Wildlife Federation Learning Institute
This symposium will reflect on the current state of wildlife education as determined from a major on-line survey being undertaken by the Canadian Wildlife Federation Learning Institute (CWFLI). The discussion will be further informed by an innovative series of conversation sessions between panelists and 5WEEC delegates that will be held at the Sponsor Presentations venue on Monday and Tuesday of the Congress (times will be posted on site). All congress delegates are invited to visit those presentations to engage in lively conversations that will help advance research on innovative learning about wildlife biodiversity, and then to participate in the Symposium where we will bring it all together!
At the symposium, the panel will address four specific areas:
- Introduction to the survey and review of preliminary results
- Overview of the status, issues, existing networks and research in the field of Distance Learning applied to wildlife conservation. Impacts of this type of learning and potential models such as a Global Learning Space will be addressed.
- Current research on the level of adoption of emerging technologies by wildlife/environmental/biodiversity educators, and reflections on how results will inform decision makers such as the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada
- The CWFLI’s vision on innovative lifelong learning to transform people’s relationship with wildlife.
Chair and Moderator: Dr. Grant A. Gardner, Institute Fellow, Canadian Wildlife Federation Learning Institute; Associate Vice-President (Academic), Memorial University
Panelists:
- Richard Mrazek, Institute Fellow, Canadian Wildlife Federation Learning Institute and Professor of Science Education, Faculty of Education, University of Lethbridge, Canada
- Yves Jean, Institute Fellow, Canadian Wildlife Federation Learning Institute / Institute d’Éducation sur la Conservation and Professor and Director, Unité d'Enseignement et de Recherche, Sciences et Technologies, TELUQ/UQAM, Canada
- Leo Elshof, Institute Fellow, Canadian Wildlife Federation Learning Institute and Assistant Professor, Acadia University, Canada
- Luba Mycio-Mommers, Canadian Wildlife Federation, Canada