[ draft version comments appreciated] Catherine Kavassalis Return to Contents Return to BioMuncie
last revision: 11/24/2002
This
study examines the creation of a community-specific environmental education
website and considers its effectiveness as an educational resource. The creation
of this website, BioMuncie.org, will be described in the context of
environmental education in the United States and in particular in Indiana.
Muncie, Indiana is the focus of the site.
The educational platform of BioMuncie is an admixture of traditional science education and environmental education. Its ultimate goal is to raise public awareness about environmental issues and moreover to encourage social action to address the problems created by pollution and mismanaged development. To assess the impact and effectiveness of this website, the actions and reflections of one environmentalist working in Muncie, Carol Blakney, will be traced as she uses the site as an educational resource. The Muncie community is regularly surveyed as a part of the ongoing Middletown Studies (Lynd & Lynd, 1929; Lynd & Lynd, 1937; Caplow, 1983; Caplow, Hicks & Wattenburg, 2000, American Religion Data Archives, 2002). These provide some preliminary information on environmental attitudes. Although no new attitudinal data will be available during the course of this initial investigation, future surveys will be helpful in assessing the site’s effectiveness. In the mean time, for the purposes of this study, Carol’s reflections, media coverage of environmental issues, and site activity will provide preliminary data on the site’s impact and effectiveness as a learning resource.
Within the United States, environmental education (EE) receives inconsistent attention. Although there are many excellent programs in schools, colleges and universities, nature centers, parks, museums, and zoos, environmental education exists largely outside mainstream education and is often seen as a supplement or add-on (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001). The degree of inclusion into formal education varies greatly from state to state, community to community, and teacher to teacher (National Environmental Education Advisory Council, 2001). Environmental literacy across the country is poor and although Americans profess concern for the environment and support the concept of environmental education, it has not become a significant part of mainstream education (National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, 2001).
Schools mirror what society values and therefore
chooses to institutionalize. Thus the position that environmental
education plays in institutionalized settings reflects the relative importance
of environmental education to the public. Education about the environment is
traditionally covered within science curricula. Even though growing
concerns with global environmental problems have produced shifts in curriculum
platforms in science education, as evidenced by
recent changes in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS,
1997) and the National Research Council (NRC,
1995) science education standards, these changes are largely intended to improve
the nation's economy not the nation's environment. Science education
is seen as causally linked to the nation’s macroeconomy (Hollenbeck, 2001).
This connection was strongly expressed in the U.S. Department of
Education’s report A Nation at Risk, which served as the impetus for
current reforms.
The task of rebuilding our system of learning is enormous and must be properly understood and taken seriously: Although a million and a half new workers enter the economy each year from our schools and colleges, the adults working today will still make up about 75 percent of the workforce in the year 2000. These workers, and new entrants into the workforce, will need further education and retraining if they--and we as a Nation--are to thrive and prosper…. Citizens know intuitively what some of the best economists have shown in their research, that education is one of the chief engines of a society's material well being. (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983, sect. 5 ¶ 3 – sect. 7 ¶ 5)
Thus science and technology education is primarily focused on producing economic advantage and not on producing environmentally literate and environmentally responsible citizens. In other nations such as Japan (Ishizaka, 2000) , New Zealand (Ministry for the Environment, 1998) and Canada (Lin, 2000; Government of Canada, 2002), environmental education plays a far more prominent role within school curricula. The perceived immediacy of the environmental problems in these countries has prompted such reform.
Pollsters monitoring the American consciousness consistently show that although Americans are concerned with environmental health, the economy, education and currently national security are given priority. Most Americans feel environmental problems are happening somewhere else, not in their community (Public Agenda, 2002). This suggests that community-specific environmental education might be important in building an awareness that environmental problems impact everyone. Research in education supports this idea, for personalizing a problem generates a need or desire to know and learn (Kolb, 1984; Pierce, 2000). Opinion polls also suggest that individuals feel overwhelmed by environmental problems in the world and unable to address them. Thus educating people about effective programs and providing models for action should be included in environmental education efforts.
Environmental activists have been working at making the environment a priority with some success. Initially these efforts were localized and issue specific. Now with the help of the Internet environmental activists are communicating globally and sharing ideas. This new medium provides a means of disseminating information, building community and focusing action. It has become a powerful activist's resource. It is also a powerful educational resource.
It is hypothesized that a community-specific environmental education website would be an effective means of raising public awareness in a given region and encouraging responsible environmental behaviour. By providing customized environmental information and educational resources, the site can personalize environmental problems and solutions. In addition, it can build and support a community of local activists who can then reach out to those without Internet access to educate and activate the general public.
Competing philosophies exist within the environmental movement. Conservationists wrestle preservationists and anthropocentrists oppose ecocentrists. Chapter 2 provides historical context for the environmental movement in the United States and Chapter 4 examines the movement in Indiana. As in much of the United States, conservationism dominates in Indiana. Most environmental education programs within the state are either conservation-oriented or prevention-oriented, that is they aim to prevent pollution (e.g. recycling) or prevent people from being harmed by pollution (e.g. lead poisoning prevention). In addition, mirroring the country as a whole, EE is offered primarily in the form of supplementary school programs or as nonformal programs at museums, zoos and parks and recreation departments across the state.
In Chapter 3, those factors hindering inclusion of EE within institutional settings are discussed. These include conflicting value systems, concerns over the propagation of misinformation and concerns over the politicization of education. Particular attention is given to the criticisms of environmental education in the development of BioMuncie’s educational platform described in Chapter 6. For reasons explained, BioMuncie strives to have a firm basis in science education while adhering to the goals set out for environmental education in the Tbilisi Declaration (UNESCO, 1978).
Although the Internet is a powerful educational resource, it is not without limitations and problems. Issues of access, advocacy and quality are considered in Chapter 5 and strongly influence the selection of material contained in BioMuncie. In addition, the need for community outreach is identified. The outreach program, conducted by Carol Blakney, which coincides with the construction of the site, is described in Chapter 8, along with the chain of events that occurred as a result of the site’s creation. After only six months, many positive things have occurred in the Muncie area indicating increased awareness of environmental issues and an increased desire to address environmental problems. In the concluding chapter, an analysis of the site’s impact is presented. BioMuncie’s educational success is attributed to its presentation of credible, relevant, community-specific information and the efforts of local activists to bring this information into the general community.