Children as Change Agents: The Influence of Integrating Environmental Education into Home Learning Projects on Families and Community Members

Environmental education focusing on sustainability should be integrated into the elementary curriculum. Learning experiences should include home learning projects that are relevant to the students, involve active participation, and stimulate discussions with their families. Students can use their knowledge and skills to influence the attitudes and behavior of their parents and other community members. Environmental history shows us that environmental education is a relatively new field that is becoming increasingly more critical as our natural resources are deteriorating at a rapid rate. Environmental education should raise children’s awareness of the environment and provide learning experiences through which they obtain knowledge, values, and skills to solve environmental problems now and in the future. Ideally, environmental education should be a continuous learning process that is integrated into the curriculum and begins when children are very young. Why begin environmental education so young if it takes years before the children grow up and become policy makers? When they are young, children can be more easily taught to have respect for the environment as a way of life. As they become involved in environmental issues that relate to their immediate environment and the world beyond through school projects, they will not only learn and retain the information, they will also internalize the values associated with caring for the environment and conserving our resources. Another benefit is that children have tremendous influence over their parents and can use the knowledge and skills learned through their participation in learning experiences to influence the attitudes and behaviors of their parents and other community members. Children today need to learn different information than their parents or grandparents did, as each generation differs in the kind of education children need to acquire at school. Many factors determine curriculum including history, social policy, research, and current situations. Environmental history has become increasingly relevant today because as the curriculum reflects society’s trends, the need to practice activities that promote sustainability are evident. Information is growing so rapidly now that sometimes children’s knowledge is more up to date than their parents’. Children learn information about environmental issues in school and in the media; however, environmental education was not such an issue when their parents were in school. It is unlikely that all adults will receive the education that is needed to make serious changes in environmental behavior and policy. However, by involving children in school projects which require parent participation and home learning, children have the potential to be change agents by effectively influencing their parents’ attitudes and behavior concerning environmental issues. Need for Integrating Environmental Education Environmental education is a long term solution to environmental problems. The goal of sustainable development is to increase human well-being while reducing negative human impact