bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Experimental Shortening of the Generation Interval
Authors: Adams C. E.
Published: July 2016

To those engaged in the improvement of livestock the problem of the generation interval needs virtually no introduction. In mammals, the generation interval consists of two well-defined phases :

(a) the interval between birth and sexual maturity and

(b) the gestation period.

Whereas the length of gestation within a species is a relatively fixed period subject only to minor variations, the ages at which puberty and sexual maturity are attained are very variable, being influenced both by genetic and environmental factors. Thus, breed, strain, season of birth, plane of nutrition and system of management all contribute to determining the onset of puberty and eventual attainment of sexual maturity.
Heather in the seasonal dietary of sheep
Authors: MacLeod A. C.
Published: July 2016

With the increased utilisation of land throughout the West of Scotland by the Forestry Commission, the problems arising from the integration of forestry and sheep-farming demand special attention. The Hill Farming Research Station at Lephinmore in Argyll has provided an opportunity over the past four years for the initiation of long-term experiments. These involve various preparatory studies and this paper describes a preliminary survey of the fragments of herbage in the rumen of sheep (after slaughter) with the object of assessing the seasonal variation in their grazing selectivity for heather. The Lephinmore hill is predominantly of heather. Since there are many divergent views as to the preference of sheep for heather, this survey was designed in a rather novel, indirect way to obtain more precise information. The rôle of heather as a dietary constituent is of added significance because, after the afforestation of the lower slopes of a hill, the sheep are then restricted to higher ground where there is greater snow cover in the winter.
Fattening Pigs on Pasture
Authors: Eyles D. E. , Alder F. E.
Published: July 2016

One of the advantages of keeping growing fattening pigs outside on pasture is that they are more healthy than those indoors (Fishwick, 1935), provided fresh ground, free from parasitic infections, is available. Reviewing American work, Morrison (1936) concluded that faster liveweight gains and improved efficiency of food utilisation are obtained from pigs full-fed on pasture compared with those full-fed in dry lot (also Fishwick, 1935; Smith et al., 1950). Pigs grazing outside in Great Britain usually receive enough sun on their skin to produce sufficient vitamin D to meet their requirements, except in adverse weather (Braude, 1954). Pigs at pasture have access to soil, which is a source of minerals (Davidson, 1930) and of vitamin B12 (Duckworth, 1955). Cunha et al. (1948) found that 5% of soil in a purified pig ration stimulated appetite and increased the haemoglobin value of the blood. Biggar (reported by Boden, 1952) obtained greater liveweight increases from pigs folded on pasture than from those folded on bare soil, showing that herbage is of value in addition to fresh air, sunlight and soil.
Genetic Differences between Bull-Breeding Herds
Authors: Robertson Alan , McArthur A. T. G.
Published: July 2016

In the analysis of the causes of variation between cows of a given breed in milk production, differences between herds pose some difficult problems. The nature of this variation is of importance from several points of view in the discussion of breed improvement. The situation is complicated by the fact that the herds of any breed type do not form a uniform group but can be classified roughly into a sort of ‘social structure’ (Robertson and Asker, 1951). The discussion of variation between all herds of a given breed type can then be broken down into the variation between strata and that between herds in the same stratum. From the analysis of production data from herds using artificial insemination (Robertson and Rendel, 1954; Korkman, 1953) there is evidence that the genetic component is a small proportion of the total variance in these herds; and also that in Great Britain the genetic difference in yield between the dominant group of herds (which provide many of the bulls used in A.I.) and the herds using A.I. is small. This is in agreement with studies on breed structure. In this paper we shall discuss the genetic differences between members of the small group of important herds which dominate each breed. These usually supply a high proportion of the bulls used. If we have good estimates of the breeding values of such bulls from the production records of their progeny, we can then examine the different breeding herds according to the breeding value of the bulls bred in them. Evidence of this type has been presented for Jersey bulls in New Zealand (Castle, 1952) but without statistical analysis of the results, although inspection suggests that there are definite differences between studs.
Carbohydrate supplements for beef cattle on grass/clover and grass/lucerne mixtures
Authors: Alder F. E. , Head M. J. , Berting J. F. R.
Published: July 2016

It is generally recognised that spring grass does not provide a balanced ration for the grazing animal, since it contains excess of nitrogenous substances in relation to carbohydrate. Young lucerne similarly contains more nitrogen than is necessary to provide a balanced feed. When grazing these types of herbage, the animal wastes much of the ingested nitrogen. If the ration included carbohydrate rich foods in addition to the high quality herbage, the animal might be able to utilise more of the nitrogen it is consuming.

In this country little experimental evidence is available on the use of carbohydrate supplements for beef cattle, although several firms produce high carbohydrate cakes with low fibre content, for feeding in conjunction with young succulent grass.
Animal production from pasture with and without conservation for winter feeding
Authors: Eyles D. E.
Published: July 2016

The uneven seasonal growth of herbage is the main obstacle to the more efficient utilisation of grassland. There is an abundance of growth in late spring and early summer and a scarcity during a summer drought and in winter. Heavy stocking in spring followed by lighter stocking in summer is a suitable management for fattening sheep and cattle because they can be sold fat from June onwards, but a constant number of livestock has to be maintained throughout the year on many farms which carry breeding or growing animals. On these farms grassland, besides giving summer grazing, is expected to provide the bulk of the fodder for over-wintering. It is doubtful whether the results of grazing experiments which evaluate summer grazing only can be applied to these farms.
The use of autumn grass for weaned calves
Authors: Nicholson I. A. , Smith R. G. C.
Published: July 2016

On hill farms where breeding cattle are kept there are advantages in retaining until the following spring at least a proportion of the surplus calves. The ability to winter them presents wider scope in choice of markets, while the sale of calves in spring, in addition to the dung produced, can provide a greater profit margin if wintering costs are minimised. Grass used efficiently in autumn offers an opportunity to reduce the requirement of the relatively expensive hay, silage, other crops and purchased feed. The value of extended grazing throughout autumn and winter months has been demonstrated by Smith (1953-4) for Blackface ewe hoggs, and for store stock and in-calf heifers by Hughes (1954) and Corbett (1954). In the case of calves, however, the period when late grass can be utilised depends on the continuance of moderate temperatures and availability of shelter from wind and rain, and therefore in most seasons will be relatively short. With these considerations in mind it was decided to compare the performance of two groups of weaned calves, one of which was housed and fed in courts immediately after weaning, while the other remained on grass for several weeks prior to court feeding.
The value of rumen inoculations and of diets containing sweetening agents for calves weaned on to dry food at three weeks of age
Authors: Preston T. R.
Published: July 2016

The successful outcome of early weaning and dry feeding of calves would appear to depend upon, among other things, the early establishment in the calf’s rumen of a microbial association similar to that in the adult ruminant. Inoculating the rumen of such calves with’ rumen contents from older animals might be a method of hastening this development.

In an earlier experiment in this series (Preston, 1956), it was found that by substituting linseed cake meal in place of dried skimmed milk in the meal mixture caused a reduction in consumption of the mixture and adversely affected growth rate. This indicated that it might be beneficial to incorporate in the diet some form of sweetening agent.
Crossbred lamb production from cast-for-age Blackface ewes
Authors: Donald H. P.
Published: July 2016

Many thousands of cast-for-age Blackface ewes in Scotland and England are transferred each year to lower ground after producing four or five lamb crops on their native hill farms. It is then customary to use on them rams of another breed, often the Border Leicester, with a view to the production of more profitable lambs than can be obtained from pure-breeding (Bywater, 1945). Such is the scale on which this procedure is practised that it becomes an important consideration in any breeding plan for hill sheep that the cast ewes should be adapted to this phase of their careers as well as to that which precedes it on the hills. The outcome of selection work with Blackface sheep consequently cannot be fully assessed until the cast ewes have reared crossbred lambs, and have been finally disposed of.
Environmental Education in a Culturally Diverse School
Authors: Tangen Donna , Fielding-Barnsley Ruth
Published: July 2016

School gardens provide a unique learning environment for English as Second Language (ESL) students; students are able to engage in experiential outdoor learning that will enhance in-class lessons. This study evaluated the effects of school gardening on ESL students' learning about good nutrition. Data collected indicated that there were positive gains in student learning and feelings of belonging to the school community. Indications from the study suggest that teacher attitudes play a big part in ESL student engagement in the learning process for environmental education. Garden-enhanced lessons about nutrition provided experiential learning for ESL students that effectively supported in-class learning.
Families, Homes and Environmental Education
Authors: Payne Phillip G.
Published: July 2016

The findings from a study of how Green families construct and practise versions of an environmental ethic and ecopolitic in the home are suggestive of how environmental education in schools might be revised. In this study, the green home proved to be a very different form of environmental education and practice of sustainability. Children's environmental learning was closely associated with theirdoingof practical things in the home in relation to the everyday environmental problematic. But this embodied, situated and practicaldoing as learninghinged upon their parents' environmental commitments and the family's functioning as they were respectively “structured”—materially, symbolically, geographically and historically by the social relations and conditions of the home, availability of resources, school and community networks, and prevailing cultural climate. Hence, this study of household ecologies, orpostmodern oikos, provides evidence and insights for the further development of environmental education curricula and pedagogical strategies, understandings of a range of factors influencing learners' environmental engagement and action and, consequently, ecologically focussed research endeavours.
‘New’ Ways of Seeing and Doing: A Critical Reflection on Changes to Educational Theory and Practice
Authors: Abblitt Glenn
Published: July 2016

This paper documents a research journey that was initially undertaken to escape the feelings of tension and dissatisfaction that I had experienced as a secondary school teacher. The paper identifies the many influences that have guided the course of my continuing research journey. Philosophically, my research has taken me from viewing the world and my place in it from a narrow and authoritarian Western perspective through to a more inclusive and more democratic non-Western perspective. This shift in perspective initially resulted in changes to my educational theory and practice as manifested in the evolution of an environmental education program in a Melbourne secondary school. More recently my research perspective has again shifted, enabling me to pursue an opportunity to not only teach in, but more importantly also to learn in, a different cultural context. In both Melbourne and Manila, the transformations have come about by sharing ‘new’ ways of seeing and doing.
Ignorance in Environmental Education Research
Authors: Gough Noel
Published: July 2016

In this essay I suggest that the practice of environmental education research might be improved by efforts to identify what Jon Wagner (1993, p. 16) calls the ‘blank spots’ and ‘blind spots’ that configure the collective ignorance of environmental education researchers. In Wagner's terms, what we know enough to question but not answer are our blank spots; what we do not know well enough to even ask about or care about are our blind spots-areas in which existing theories, methods, and perceptions actually keep us from seeing phenomena as clearly as we might. By way of example, I argue that much research on significant life experiences does little to reduce ignorance in environmental education. I conclude by briefly appraising some strategies that might help environmental education researchers to recognise ways in which the field's dominant research traditions and models produce partialities and distortions.
What Student's Perceptions Tell Us About Teaching Environmental Education
Authors: Johnson Barbara , Fensham Peter
Published: July 2016

Throughout Australia there has been a substantial interest in enviromental education for more than a decade. Much human and financial effort has gone into curriculum development at the school level and into support for implementation via inservice education, conferences, workshops, etc. Relatively little systematic evaluation of these efforts has been undertaken at the level of what students are learning.

Most definitions of enviromental education internationally and in Australia emphasise the importance of affective learning concerning the environment alongside more usual cognitive knowledge and skills. Accordingly any evaluation should recognise this somewhat unusual balance among the intended learnings compared with most other subject areas.

Recent research in several areas of school learning has brought out the importance of starting with an explicit recognition of the perceptions and understandings students already hold about topics. Teaching and learning of the topic then ought to be processes that enable the learners to generate or construct from these starting points, new understandings and perceptions. There has, however, been almost no research, apart from a comparative study by Schaeffer and his co-workers of West German and Phillippino secondary school students' associations with the word, ENVIRONMENT. (Schaeffer, 1979; Hernandez, 1981; Villavicencio, 1981). This paper reports an attempt in Victoria to begin to fill these gaps.
Community-Based Sustainability: Conservation in the Ballarat Region
Authors: Kentish Barry , Robottom Ian
Published: July 2016

The discourse of sustainability is promoted internationally, with the United Nations declaring 2005-2014 as a Decade for Education for Sustainable Development. There is discussion concerning the nature, status and significance of Education for Sustainability and its relationship with the somewhat established discourse of environmental education. This debate requires continuing theorising and one approach is to reflect critically on specific examples of sustainability within specific communities. This article seeks to promote further discussion about sustainability, and to contribute to ongoing theorisation about Education for Sustainability, by considering a particular instance – that of environmental sustainability in the Ballarat region of Victoria. The case study suggests that implementation of this local environmental sustainability strategy was dominated by technocratic and individualistic ideologies.
Tertiary EE Student Projects: What the Academics Learnt
Authors: Meehan Barry , Thomas Ian
Published: July 2016

Problem solving and teamwork abilities are important skills for graduates entering the environment profession. Through a problem based learning approach small groups of students from the environmental courses at RMIT University have been gaining these professional skills by undertaking projects in Vietnam. With three years experience in running the project we have data, through the students' reflections and feedback, to demonstrate the value of the project approach, and to undertake improvements. Drawing on data from the latest project we can identify opportunities for improving the details of the project's organisation, but importantly demonstrate the value of the project in providing a depth of professional experiences for the students. This analysis will be important for other academics needing support in the development of project based activities for those in environmental courses.
Case Study: Calculating the Ecological Footprint of the 2004 Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) Biennial Conference
Authors: Rickard Andrew
Published: July 2016

Event tourism is accompanied by social, economic and environmental benefits and costs. The assessment of this form of tourism has however largely focused on the social and economic perspectives, while environmental assessments have been bound to a destination-based approach. The application of the Ecological Footprint methodology allows for these environmental assessment boundaries to be extended. This case study applies the footprint methodology to the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) Biennial Conference held in Adelaide in 2004. The results of the case study provide important insight into the planning and delivery of future events for the Association and event managers.
Seeing the Trees and the Forest: Attending to Australian Natural History as if it Mattered
Authors: Steward Alistair
Published: July 2016

Discourse in theAustralian Journal of Environmental Educationof the last ten years has not addressed a pedagogy that draws on and reflects the natural history of the continent. Australia is an ecological and species diverse country that has experienced substantial environmental change as a consequence of European settlement. Australians have historically been, and increasingly are, urban people. With high rates of urban residency in a substantially modified landscape, what role might environmental education play in assisting Australians to develop understandings of the natural history of specific Australian places? While Australia has a rich history of people observing, comparing and recording the natural history of the continent, environmental education discourse in this journal has not addressed how pedagogy might be informed by a focus on natural history. This paper draws attention to this gap in Australian environmental education discourse and offers some thoughts and ideas for a pedagogy based on the natural history of specific places.
Enhancing Wildlife Education Through Mindfulness
Authors: Woods Barbara , Moscardo Gianna
Published: July 2016

In recent decades there has been an increase in opportunities for people to view wildlife in tourism settings such as wildlife tours, national parks and captive environments such as zoos. This in turn has provided increasing opportunities to educate people of all ages about the value of wildlife and their habitats. One concept useful for enhancing learning is that of mindfulness. This concept suggests characteristics of interpretation that attract and sustain the focused attention of visitors. Using open-ended descriptions of best wildlife experiences from 790 respondents, this study found that 84% of descriptions contained at least one element consistent with the mindfulness concept. This paper argues that a mindfulness model can be used to understand visitor responses to wildlife tourism and direct the design of experiences that enhance learning and enjoyment.
The World Summit, Sustainable Development and Environmental Education
Authors: Tilbury Daniella
Published: July 2016

Despite the bad press surrounding the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the outcomes of the event confirm that WSSD served to reinvigorate global commitments and actions to sustainable development.

The Summit, which took place from 26 August - 4 September 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, aimed to review progress made towards Sustainable Development over the past 10 years and to work towards commitments to action (UN General Assembly Resolution 55/199). It saw the largest ever gathering of world leaders and over 21,000 participants from 191 government, intergovernmental and non-government organisations, the private sector, academia and the scientific community (IISD, 2002). The mere presence of these stakeholders, willing to engage in the negotiation process, demonstrates that sustainable development is very much alive and relevant.

President Thabo Mbeki opened by characterising the growing gap between North and South as “global apartheid” and highlighting the crises of poverty and ecological degradation. It was clear then that the outcomes of the Summit had to go beyond the Rio 1992 commitments which focused on environmental actions. He called for a practicable and meaningful Johannesburg Plan of Implementation to fulfil the framework of Agenda 21 within the Summit theme of “People, Planet and Prosperity”.
A Gender Inclusive Curriculum Model for Environmental Studies
Authors: Whitehouse Hilary L W , Taylor Sandra G
Published: July 2016

This paper presents a gender inclusive curriculum model for environmental studies at the senior secondary level. The curriculum model is based on three sources of information about gender and environmental studies: ecofeminist theory concerning Western constructions of the humanity–nature relation, socialist feminist critique of academic and professional practice in the environmental disciplines, and an analysis of syllabus documents produced for senior secondary environmental studies courses in South Australia and Victoria. The model induces recommendations concerning the representation of the concept ‘environment’ in the syllabus, the portrayal of women in the syllabus, and the pedagogic and assessment strategies promoted in the syllabus.
Creativity, Continuity and Context in Teacher Education: Lessons from the Field
Authors: Bore Anne
Published: July 2016

Lessons from a pilot introduction of environmental education into a teacher education programme designed to address pupil disengagement from school science, are discussed in this paper. Pre-service teachers discovered that environmental education can be a potent context for creativity and continuity in curriculum planning. Interpretation of the responses demonstrates that environmental education can be used to develop scientific and eco-literacy and that pre-service teachers can be imaginative when offered the opportunity to link disparate areas of science in this context, but the timing of the intervention appears to be critical. Exposure to school culture appears to inhibit their ability to plan imaginatively. This has implications for pre-service teacher education and practising teachers internationally, if pupil disenchantment with science is to be halted.
A Letter from the Future: UNESCO and the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
Authors: Fien John
Published: July 2016

This paper begins with a letter of thanks from future generations for the wisdom our generation has shown in initiating a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It describes the overall goals of the Decade and focuses on the Action Plan being developed by UNESCO to guide its contributions as the international lead agency for the Decade. These are shown to be two-fold. The first is one of leadership, catalysing, coordinating and supporting activities around the world, especially supporting the re-orientation of national education systems and policies in support of sustainable development and encouraging civil society, the private sector and the media to participate. The second is as a substantive implementer of Education for Sustainable Development, itself, helping to create an enabling environment for the achievement of the objectives of the Decade.
Situated Environmental Learning in Southern Africa at the Start of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
Authors: O'Donoghue Rob , Lotz-Sisitka Heila
Published: July 2016

Within the globalising trajectory of modernism, conservation, then environmental (EE) and now sustainability education (ESD) have each emerged as developing responses to risk produced by and in the modern state. Through adopting a long term process perspective, this paper narrates the emergence of situated learning perspectives and a developing re-orientation of EE at the start of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD). We identified the need to examine ESD practice in responses to recent ESD consultations in 14 southern African countries, where a rhetorical marking was noted in discussions on ESD practices, particularly with regard to changing teaching and learning processes. The paper narrates how an interplay of review, research and practical engagement activities have all contributed to an extended critical review of learning interactions in environmental education in an attempt to provide useful perspective for educational activities within the UNDESD. We found that EE and ESD initiatives only acquired more substantive meaning and coherent orientation when examined within ongoing inquiries into situated learning, agency and risk reduction in contexts of poverty, vulnerability and risk, the key concern to us in this paper and the primary focus of the WEHAB (Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture and Biodiversity) sustainable development agenda in the region.
Epistemological Renewal and Environmental Education: Science in Context
Authors: Bader Barbara
Published: July 2016

The instrumental relationship to nature and the realist epistemology that dominate the analysis of contemporary environmental issues have prompted me to develop an interest in a socialized conception of science in environmental education (EE) so as to throw into question a certain overappreciation of scientific expertise whenever the environment is at issue. This interest in an epistemological renewal has also impelled me to favour the socioconstructivist model of cognition in EE. The relevance of these various aspects is presented to the reader as the extension of a necessary epistemological renewal in EE, as various authors in this field of research have advocated.
“Holding Environments”: Creating Spaces to Support Children's Environmental Learning in the 21st Century
Authors: Malone Karen
Published: July 2016

For many children across the globe, whether in low or high income nations, growing up in the 21st century will mean living in overcrowded, unsafe and polluted environments which provide limited opportunity for natural play and environmental learning. Yet Agenda 21, the Habitat Agenda and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child all clearly articulate the importance of urban environments as the context for supporting children's sense of place, community identity and empathy with the natural world. I will argue in this paper that these attributes are all key drivers for supporting children in their role as future decision makers and environmental stewards. Extending Winnicotts' concept of “holding environments” beyond the social and cultural aspects of communities as sites for placemaking I draw a link to the value of botanical gardens and other green spaces in cities as the “holding environments” for children's environmental learning. I will construct an argument around the premise that to participate in, and contribute to, global sustainability - our children need places and the opportunity to engage, connect and respond to nature.
Constructivism in Environmental Education: Beyond Conceptual Change Theory
Authors: Robottom Ian
Published: July 2016

Constructivism, as a set of theories about how learners learn, has been an important discourse in the educational research literature for a number of years. Interestingly, it has been far more visible in science education research than in environmental education research. This article considers conceptual change theory within constructivism as a contested concept, outlines differing expressions of constructivism in science education and environmental education, and argues for approaches to environmental education that adopt socially constructivist perspectives with respect to the character of the subject matter content as well as to learners' apprehension of such content. In considering implications for research, this perspective is juxtaposed with a recent United States Education Act, which prescribes a far more objectivist approach to educational research and which serves as a reminder that research itself is a powerful factor in shaping how we construct the nature of subject matter, learning and the implications of these for teaching practice.
Negotiating Nature: Collaboration and Conflict Between Aboriginal and Conservation Interests in New South Wales, Australia
Authors: Adams Michael
Published: July 2016

Faced with the paradox of a large global increase in conservation reserves and a simultaneous global decrease in actual effective protection for biodiversity, conservation scientists and policymakers are questioning established conservation theory and practice. I argue that the fundamental premises, the foundational myths, for Western-style conservation also need to be questioned. The statistics on Indigenous land claims, and conservation reserves, in Australia and more specifically the state of New South Wales (NSW), reveal a landscape of policy failure in both arenas. Focusing on Australia, I use spatial analysis and policy histories to demonstrate converging trajectories of land use priorities for conservation needs and Indigenous peoples' needs. This intersection, while generating much potential for conflict, also creates new political landscapes. A combination of spatial and cultural analyses can create a clear picture of new “operational landscapes”, and an understanding of the (sometimes) complementary values of different cultural groups negotiating about these landscapes. From the basis that environmental problems are fundamentally social problems, this paper contributes to explorations of new paradigms supporting new social-ecological relationships, and new relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
The Quest for Sustainable, Healthy Communities
Authors: Black Alan W.
Published: July 2016

Sustainability is a contested concept. Whilst the “triple bottom line” is sometimes used to describe the economic, social and ecological dimensions of sustainability, there are differing conceptions of what this notion implies. There are nevertheless some recurring themes that are outlined in this paper. There has also been some convergence in notions of “sustainable communities” and “healthy communities”. Balanced integration of economic, social and ecological dimensions remains a challenge for policy-makers, educators and community members.
Identifying Training Needs to Improve Indigenous Community Representatives Input into Environmental Resource Management Consultative Processes: A case study of the Bundjalung Nation
Authors: Lloyd David , Norrie Fiona
Published: July 2016

Despite increased engagement of Indigenous representatives as participants on consultative panels charged with processes of natural resource management, concerns have been raised by both Indigenous representatives and management agencies regarding the ability of Indigenous people to have quality input into the decisions these processes produce. In order to determine how to more effectively engage Australian Aboriginal peoples in the management process, this article describes the results of interviews with Elders of the Bundjalung Nation and other community representatives who represent their community's interests on natural resource management boards within their traditional country. Community representatives identified the factors they considered important in understanding natural resource management and administrative processes and where training would enable them to make a significant contribution to the consultation process. It also highlighted a need for non-Indigenous managers to gain a greater understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems and protocols.
Teacher Education in Environmental Education – Does it Work?
Authors: McConnell Bert
Published: July 2016

This paper summarises a research project carried out by the author on the effectiveness of pre-service teacher education in environmental education in New Zealand. Secondary pre-service teacher education students who had opted for a 20 hour course in environmental education expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the course but this begged the question of what would happen to them once they hit the reality of the classroom in a country which then had no policy or curriculum guidelines on environmental education. The author followed up eleven graduates from the 1996 course and six from 1997 to see if they were teaching, if they were teaching environmental education and how they now felt about their teacher training. The results were mixed – but some were teaching environmental education. They all continued to speak highly of their College training in environmental education and all but one would encourage others to do the course. However classroom management problems, staff cynicism and a lack of status for environmental education had created difficulties for them. Several had already given up on teaching as a career and others were considering leaving. Strategies to counter these disturbing trends are outlined as recommendations to the College and the wider education community.

The key to successful environmental education is the classroom teacher. If the teachers do not have the knowledge, skills and commitment to environmentalise their curriculum it is unlikely environmentally literate students will be produced (Wilke 1985, p. 1).
How to Grasp Environmental Complexities? Photographic Narratives and Environmental Concept Formation
Authors: Bergmann Iris
Published: July 2016

How learners come to grips and can transform their thinking about something extremely complex such as environmental issues are addressed with this research. It is argued that the qualities of the visual mode of information processing are of particular relevance for cognition in the environmental context. This paper reports on a study of the photographic experience of nineteen participants who worked individually on an environmental photography project of their choice over a period of up to ten weeks. It was found that on completion of their project, the participants' conceptualisations of their topics became more differentiated, complex and defined; multiple perspectives were constructed and their own positions and feelings clarified. Above all, a notion of optimism emerged after Initial conceptualisations of environmental issues as issues of pollution, degradation, violation and death. This paper discusses the cognitive potential of the visual mode for the development of environmental thinking and presents some examples of conceptual shifts through the photographic work.
Environmental Education in the People's Republic of China: Features, Factors and Trends
Authors: Huaixin Zhu , Dillon Justin
Published: July 2016

The genesis and development of environmental education in the People's Republic of China is described. Background information about the education system and about environmental issues are summarised. Some key factors which have proven to be obstacles to progress, in terms of environmental education, are identified and some thoughts about future prospects are outlined.
Ecological Education: Extending the Definition of Environmental Education
Authors: Smith Gregory A. , Williams Dilafruz R.
Published: July 2016

Except in small measure, environmental education in the United States has not yet challenged the status quo of Western notions of progress or monoculturalism, or recognized that moving through the environmental crisis may require significant shifts in generally unquestioned cultural attitudes and beliefs. In the U.S., environmental education has instead tended to focus on information regarding environmental problems and to explore topics such as endangered species, global climate change, or the water quality of local streams and rivers. Even this has become a source of controversy in the United States since the mid-1990s as a coalition of right-wing organizations has mounted a well-coordinated political campaign charging environmental educators with bias and a failure to present both sides of controversial issues (Sanera & Shaw 1996, Independent Commission on Environmental Education 1997). Despite this, we believe that if environmental education is to live up to its promise as a vehicle for developing a citizenry capable of making wise decisions about the impact of human activities on the environment, examining and altering fundamental cultural beliefs and practices that are contributing to the degradation of the planet's natural systems will be imperative.

We have chosen to call this extended form of environmental education ecological education. For us, ecological education connotes an emphasis on the inescapable embeddedness of human beings in natural settings and the responsibilities that arise from this relationship. Rather than seeing nature as other—a set of phenomena capable of being manipulated like parts of a machine—the practice of ecological education requires viewing human beings as one part of the natural world and human cultures as an outgrowth of interactions between our species and particular places. We believe that the development of sustainable cultures will in fact require widespread acceptance of a relationship between humans and the earth grounded in moral sentiments that arise from the willingness to care. As Indian physicist and ecofeminist Vandana Shiva writes, the term ‘sustainability’ implies the ability and willingness ‘to support, bear weight of, hold up, enable to last out, give strength to, endure without giving way’ (Shiva 1992, p. 191).
The Landcare for Teachers Program: Learning and Teaching for the Environment
Authors: Stadler Tania
Published: July 2016

The development of an innovative environmental education program for teachers was the direct outcome of a doctoral study of land degradation in Australia (Stadler 1989). The Landcare for Teachers Program arose from my research into the issue of land degradation within an historical and policy context and found a need for knowledge and understanding among the wider population. The thesis argued for the role of education as a positive long-term strategy to change the attitudes and behaviour of the Australian community towards the environment.

Landcare for Teachers was developed at the University of Tasmania by the author in 1990 with National Landcare Program (NLP) funding. It has operated there successfully since and has been extended to other states from 1993. Teachers are a key target group due to their ability to transfer their knowledge and skills to the next generation of land managers and decision makers and to their multiplier effect. Yet while their work has become more demanding and complex, morale among teachers is low and the profession has poor community support (Schools Council 1990, p. 3). The educational program described in this paper was designed to provide teachers with little or no background in science with a basic understanding of the need to care for the environment and the skills and confidence to pass that understanding on to their own students.
Creating Effective Interpretation for Managing Interaction Between Tourists and Wildlife
Authors: Orams Mark
Published: July 2016

Ecotourism associated with wildlife is becoming increasingly popular. The effects on wildlife of this increasing popularity are causing concern. Environmental interpretation programs may be a means of minimising negative effects if they are able to change tourists' behaviour. A review of cognitive psychology literature and theories of learning shows that simply increasing information and understanding does not necessarily result in more appropriate human behaviour. However, there are several techniques, such as the creation and resolution of cognitive dissonance and the use of the affective domain, which may create more effective interpretation. This paper reviews relevant theories of learning and offers guidelines for the creation of effective interpretation programs in the context of tourist - wildlife interaction.
Environmental Studies: Lessons from a Quaternary Perspective
Authors: Gunnell Pam , Dyer Ken
Published: July 2016

At the beginning of the last decade, Silver (1980, p.7) was able to write with assurance that ‘Behind our political and ideological disagreements…lies a crucial, common confidence in the educational process’, a confidence based on education's ability both to maintain the social, political and economic status quo and to change it. Over a decade later, and with our awareness of global environmental crises that those years have brought, the authors have become increasingly convinced of the practical fact that formal education in our society has functioned predominantly to maintain the social, political and economic conditions that have produced environmental crisis and is thereby severely hampered in its ability to make the changes necessary to stop the degradation of our planet, let alone improve its health.

Although we do not propose that the deteriorating state of the planet can be attributed to any single underlying cause, we would suggest that a generic term for many of these causes is the ‘culture of positivism’ (Giroux 1981, p.38) which, in Giroux's words, has a ‘limited focus on objectivity, efficiency, and technique …’. Gough too (1987, p.54) argues that Western industrial society's systems of education rest on ‘an epistemological paradigm’, a particular set of theories about how human beings gain knowledge of themselves and their world as well as the kinds of knowledge that are valued. According to Gough (1987, p.54), the kinds of knowledge which have dominated Western industrial education are those which have been structured by Western society's dominant form of theorising, namely: positivist, empirical science. The idea of a culture which is mechanistic and reductionist, which encourages human beings to dominate and control ‘nature’, and which looks for ever more sophisticated ‘technical fixes’ to overcome the tragic results of its own logic is reflected also throughout the ‘green’ literature. See, for instance, Bookchin (1986 and 1990), Fox (1990), Passmore (1980) and Young (1991). Ways in which this dominant culture adversely affects our relationship with our environment are documented in the same literature.
Eliciting Students' Understandings: Necessary Steps in Environmental Education
Authors: Robertson Alistair
Published: July 2016

One difficulty in conceptualising the scope of environmental education results from the tremendous breadth of environmental issues which need to be addressed. Environmental issues may be considered, for example, in terms of ‘an interlinked array of political, social, economic and biophysical environmental factors’ (O'Donoghue & McNaught 1991, p.391; see also Di Chiro 1987, p.25). This conception portrays environment as not just natural systems alone, but as ‘a human creation, a result of the way we use nature and its resources to satisfy our needs and wants’ (Fien 1993, p.3). These conceptual developments are consistent with the growing realisation that environmental issues cannot be understood, let alone addressed, in isolation from social and political values and lifestyle choices (Capra, 1982; Devall, 1988; Guha, 1989). Illustrating this thinking, Livingston (in Evernden 1993, p.xii) portrays environmental issues as analogous to the tips of icebergs: they are simply the visible portion of a much larger entity, where the ‘submerged mass constitutes the fundamental problem, that domain of unspoken assumptions which legitimates the behaviour which precipitates the state of affairs we designate as “the environmental crisis”’. Evernden (1993, p.xii) proposes that a consideration of environmental issues must begin with the recognition that their source ‘lies not without but within, not in industrial effluent but in assumptions so casually held as to be virtually invisible’. These interpretations of root causes of environmental issues have important implications for environmental education research and teaching practices.
Education for Action: A Practical Demonstration of Reflected Action on the Urban Environment
Authors: Kean Joan
Published: July 2016

Concern about the quality of our environment has been given increasing prominence by public, private and voluntary bodies alike. We are advised through newspapers and the media on such matters as lead in petrol, the waste on non-renewable resources, the greenhouse effect, extinction of wild flora and fauna, the dumping of nuclear waste, which are all threatening the future of our planet. There is a strong emphasis on checking and reversing the deterioration and destruction of may aspects of our world.

The word “environment”, however, has come to mean to many the natural or rural, not the human or urban. Little attention is paid to the urban environment, yet in Britain most people live in towns or cities where vast changes are taking place with dramatic effect on those who live there. We are faced with poverty, unemployment and disadvantage, as well as derelict, degraded and inhuman environments. The scale of change and complexity of issues in the urban environment demands a deeper understanding and more positive action. (Kean, 1991)