Earth systems education and the development of environmental insight

Abstract

Looking closely on its influence of environmental education on the development of environmental literacy indicates that for many cases it never reaches far beyond the level of recycling and cleaning of the schoolyard. One of the reasons for these limited outcomes is focusing mainly on the development of environmental awareness and almost ignoring the development of environmental insight. This environmental insight involves the implementation of the Earth systems approach which is a holistic framework for Earth sciences and science curricula that emphasizes the study of the cyclic pattern of the transformation of matter and energy among the four Earth systems: geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. An important part of the educational effectiveness of the Earth systems approach depends on the system thinking abilities of its learners. This chapter presents findings from two independent studies of school students and adult. These studies that used a mixed approach methodology enable to draw a clear linkage between learning through the Earth systems approach and the development of system thinking abilities and a clear linkage between system thinking abilities, which is the heart of environmental insight, and positive environmental behavior.