The need for improvements in evaluation, communication, and outreach are outlined. I make the contention that despite well intentioned recommendations meaningful change only occurs in
communities and educative institutions when the stakeholders explore, decide upon, and implement the necessary improvements together. Additionally, ideas for future research arising from this project’s exploration of the topic are outlined in this chapter.
7.1.0 Planning Community
The planning community can do much to assist environmental educators in their task of increasing the environmental consciousness of the people of Ontario. Firstly, they need to engage in a dialogue with some of the environmental education organizations such as COEO, that can best inform them about the types of green spaces suited for their community.
The current policies of intensification will create denser, more urbanised communities (Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure, 2012). Highly urbanized communities lack the biological and geomorphological
diversity that makes certain spaces excellent for engendering environmental consciousness (Fjørtoft & Sageie, 2000; Matthews & Limb, 1999; Waters & Maynard, 2010). Accessibility for children is especially important (Woolley, Dunn, Spencer, Short, & Rowley, 1999). In tomorrow’s dense urbanized city, it would be important that children be able to access these ‘wild’ parks without the attendance of any adults. The unstructured time utilized by older children in the natural world was highlighted by this study’s participants as a major factor in engendering an increase in environmental consciousness. The variability of topography and ecological features are important factors because they ensure that the novelty of the experience can be renewed each time the person visits the site. This novelty of
experience is important because it ensures that the person will return to the site and develop a connection with some of the features.
Municipalities that wish to be considered ‘green’ communities need to take urban planning measures, such as strict, enforced urban design guidelines and natural space provisions to ensure that the spaces account for the emotional need of their population. Utilizing section four of the GGH Growth Plan as a regulatory tool, municipalities can design strong official plans that “develop a culture of conservation” (Ministry of Infrastructure, 2006, § 4.2.4), engage the province to declare urban areas as ‘significant’ areas thereby invoking the protection of Provincial Policy Statement 2005 section two, and work with the applicable conservation authorities to implement land protection through watershed protection policies. Ideally every neighbourhood should have a green space constructed so that a parent knows that their child is playing, learning within, and loving a space that helps them grow into an adult that engages in activities that minimize their impact on the ecological services provided by nature.
7.2.0 Education Community
Since the task of environmental education has been partially given to relatively inaccessible
environmental education programs, it is important that they perform this vital task as effectively as possible. The education community can make important improvements to the environmental
consciousness of their communities. They can become the bridge to reintroduce people to their natural environment, whether it is in an urban or rural setting.
Environmental education programs need to invest the time and resources for visits and activities within their communities. Ideally every group that visits the centre would have a pre-trip visit by the
environmental educator to begin the relationship building between sites. These pre-trip visits should not be totally adult centred, like a parents’ night, but rather a chance to get the environmental lesson started at the home community with the pupils and future visiting adult. By demonstrating how to
undertake local environmental education lessons, the environmental educator increases their pedagogical influence by educating the adult about the techniques and pedagogy of out-of-doors education. The experience also primes the students to the idea of learning out-of-doors. An adult that sees the benefit of conducting classes outdoors could utilize the techniques again in that year, thereby gifting the pupils with another out-of-class experience. The pupils that are primed for learning outdoors will experience less stress than pupils who simply get off a bus in the ‘woods’ and are told to learn. Environmental educators can also help with the implementation of the Ministry of Education’s recent changes in the interdisciplinary Scope and Sequence of Expectations within all the schools in their jurisdiction by creating opportunities for adults to learn from adults about teaching about the environment.
Environmental education centres have to ensure that all their educators are active members of a professional organization. These organizations act as a common area where assessment tools, best practices, and important news can be shared among educator professionals. By having many members, these organizations may present a solidarity movement to counter trends that threaten sister centres, or to advise municipal governments about the best methods to create environmental educative spaces.
Environmental education programs need to perform more meaningful assessment. There is an emergence of environmental education specific evaluation manuals, such as the Evaluating Your Environmental Education Programs workbook (Ernst et al., 2009), that provide simple, accessible means to begin the evaluation process effectively. Environmental centres also need to obtain professional external assessment, to ensure that the centre’s programs and operation are consistent with its mandate. If environmental educators perceive that their employment existence is being threatened by budgetary concerns, then they need to better justify their role in the community. The educators that participated in this study communicated that much of their present program assessment is based on a
satisfaction survey of the visiting adult. These surveys need to be altered so that the explicit program goals, if they exist, of the centres are assessed. Centres also need to begin to utilize more assessment tools that test the treatment efficacy of each of their programs. Centres could substantiate their funding needs with quantifiable scientific data that clearly demonstrates that a pupil that has attended an environmental education lesson at the centre is more connected to their environment.
7.3.0 Future Research
This study uncovered many questions that future research could help to answer.
Most importantly, a study using a probability sampling method could provide the statistical legitimacy of this thesis’s findings. Such a study would uncover the aspects of this phenomenon that the non-
probability and low-respondent number characteristics of this study did not encompass. A study aiming to achieve a representative probability sample would require the initiative and co-operation of several organizations such COEO, OSEE, Conservation Ontario, and the Ontario Camping Association to open their membership lists for research purposes. Secondly, of great importance to the practicing environmental education community, is a quantitative understanding of the effect a pre-trip in-class visit by the environmental educator has on the success of increasing environmental consciousness. For such a study, the use of the affective and cognitive dimension metrics (see section 1.5.0) would ensure that valid metrics are used. Thirdly, an investigation to understand the agreement between the “gut- check” assessment utilized by environmental educators and the actual increase of environmental consciousness should be undertaken to understand if environmental educator’s perceptions are in line with the validated measurement instruments. Fourthly, to better understand the reality of how Ontario’s pupils are spending their environmental education trip time, an effort should be exerted to accumulate data that compares the actual time away from school to the amount of time the pupil is immersed in the environmental education program. It is possible that time in transit, meal-times, and off-program times reduce the amount of program time to a fraction of what is supposed. Lastly, a study
that compares the effect of programs with an unstructured organization to programs with a
predominance of curriculum based hands-on activities should be supported by researchers, educators, and funding agencies. Such a study could confirm the environmental educators’ perception that unstructured activities best deepen environmental consciousness.
Environmental education in Ontario requires some context specific research. It is essential that the unique circumstances that compose Ontario’s society be explored. Planners need to understand that accessible natural spaces must be positioned in the intensifying cities with as much priority as the provision of parking or transit. Educators need to appreciate the necessity for providing the opportunity for pupils to access the natural world within their school day. In the next chapter I provide some concluding remarks concerning environmental education in Ontario.