Unit 2: Promoting ecoliteracy

This module focuses on raising awareness of issues related to the environment and broadening your understanding of ecoliteracy and how it can be fostered in learners. Environmental issues are major global concerns which require concerted global efforts to address them. This module aims to encourage you to take action on an individual level but also within your role as a teacher. It presents a comprehensive understanding of environmental issues and will thus hopefully inspire you to further promote these topics within your teaching, at your school and in the wider community. The main themes in this module include climate crisis, biodiversity loss, pollution and waste management, deforestation, sustainability, and overconsumption. We selected these topics as some of the most pertinent and with widely available resources.

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Learning Objectives

  1. Values n.4: raise your awareness of climate crisis and environmental sustainability
  2. Attitudes n.10: encourage you to think critically about global issues
  3. Skills n.5: foster an understanding of the consequences of choices.
  4. Knowledge n.6: raise your awareness of how your consumption habits have an effect on people and the environment in other parts of the world

Learning Outcomes

  1. Values n.3 and 4: gain a deeper understanding of climate crisis, sustainability, and implications for the planet
  2. Attitudes n.3: understand the importance of reflecting on yourself and your daily practice as a teacher
  3. Skills n.4: engage with complex local/ global processes especially the ones related to environmental issues
  4. Knowledge n.6: better comprehend the concept of overconsumption.

Activities

Activity 1: Warm up
Estimated time
50 min
Learning objectives
  • To raise awareness about climate urgency, intergenerational justice, and movements for the future
Resources needed
  • Internet connection
Start activity
Activity 2: Biodiversity loss
Estimated time
40 min
Learning objectives
  • To raise awareness of biodiversity and its importance for the planet and humanity
Resources needed
  • Internet access
Start activity
Activity 3: Pollution and waste management
Estimated time
40 min
Learning objectives
  • To encourage you to think critically about different kinds of pollution, their consequences, and sustainable waste management
Resources needed
  • Internet connection
Start activity
Activity 4: Deforestation
Estimated time
45 min
Learning objectives
  • To foster an understanding of consequences of environmental issues such as deforestation to the world, living beings, and lives on earth.
Resources needed
  • Internet connection
Start activity
Activity 5: Overconsumption
Estimated time
45 min
Learning objectives
  • to explain the concept of overconsumption and introduce strategies to reduce consumption
Resources needed
  • Internet access
Start activity
Activity 6: Sustainability
Estimated time
30 min
Learning objectives
  • to introduce the topics sustainability and Earth Overshoot Day and offer suggestions on how to address these topics at school
Resources needed
  • Internet access
Start activity

Additional external resources

Glossary entries

  • Air Pollution: The contamination of the natural air with different pollutants.
  • Biodiversity: the existence of a large number of different kinds of animals and plants which make a balanced environment. Source 
  • Consumerism: Consumerism refers to the promotion of the interests of consumers as well as the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods.
  • Deforestation: The decrease in forest areas across the world that are lost for other uses such as agricultural croplands, urbanization, or mining activities.
  • Earth overshoot day: The day on which we have used up all of the natural resources that the earth can generate within a year.
  • Ecoliteracy or ecological literacy is the ability to understand the natural systems that make life on earth possible. Source
  • Ecological footprint: The amount of productive land and water that is needed to produce the goods consumed within a year.
  • Land Pollution: The contamination of the soil that prevents the growth of natural life. 
  • Light Pollution: The obtrusive over illumination of a certain area, that interferes with astronomical observation. 
  • Noise Pollution: Loud noises, created by human activity, can disrupt the living standards of those nearby. 
  • Planned obsolescence: Planned obsolescence is the policy of producing consumer goods that quickly become obsolete or need replacing.
  • Plastic pollution: The accumulation in the environment of synthetic plastic products to the point that they create problems for wildlife and their habitats as well as for human populations.
  • Sustainable development goals: The UNESCO has defined 17 goals that aim to end poverty, protect the planned, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace ad prosperity.
  • Radioactive Pollution: The presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids or gases, where their presence is unintended or undesirable.
  • Water Pollution: The contamination of our water supply with chemicals, bacteria or plastic waste.

References

Project Partners

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.​