The module Sustainable Development, over the last two weeks, has developed my knowledge and changed my attitudes towards the environment. Beforehand I didn’t really have a full understanding of the topic, ‘Environment’. Whenever hearing about the environment, it was only ever heard about in a negative context. As I had limited knowledge and a negative outlook on the ‘environment’, which results in me not having an interest on how I impact the environment and how the environment impacts me.

“The disproportionate overuse of resources by industrialised nations has raised living standards in many countries but at a huge cost to the health of the Earth’s living systems” (Scottish Government, 2012, p.6)

I believe it is now becoming an important subject to teach to all ages in the curriculum. If pupils are educated about how they can impact the environment, it is more likely they will stay interested, be proactive and continue to educated others, therefore others will take more of an interest on the environment and how it affects all other aspects. Curriculum for Excellence’s experience and outcome SOC 2-08a supports this as it states, “I can discuss the environmental impact of human activity and suggest ways in which we can live in a more environmentally responsible way” (Scottish Government, 2004)

The various activities during the previous two weeks learning about both natural and urban environments has helped me developed a range of skills; both as a student and as a teacher.

As a group we went out into our natural environments, around the university campus, we participated in a group sensory walk around campus, where we engaged in seeing, smelling, feeling and hearing our surroundings. As a student this developed my team working skills as we openly shared what each person could sense. We related the task to primary teaching and how it could be used as a beneficial learning activity to educate children on natural environments, as well as considering what aspects of the task could be changed to adapt to a child’s needs and allowing each child to experience a fun and safe learning. For example making sure on the walk the children are aware of the boundaries and ensuring that they are dressed appropriately for the weather conditions. What I found very interesting was hearing everyone’s opinions on how one small activity can be applied to one area of the curriculum but can also be used and adapted to become cross-curricular. An example of a cross-curricular activity would be by the pupil’s using materials found from their sensory walk (i.e. leaves) to create a piece of art work.

From lecture tutorials and my own further reading, I am now aware of the differences between natural and urban environments and the positive and negative impacts both have on the world and us as individuals. It is important that we as student teachers encourage the teaching of our environments to encourage young pupils to take an interest in their world and the impacts that they can have.

 

Scottish Government (2012) Learning for Sustainability: The Report of the One Planet Schools Working Group. Edinburgh: Scottish Government

Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Social Studies. [Online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/social-studies-eo.pdf [Accessed:27 September 2017].