Preservice Teachers Environmental Concerns

Preservice teachers, Environmental Concerns,

and a Christian Perspective

Doug Hayhoe,

Tyndale University College & Seminary, Toronto, ON, Canada

Tyndale department of education

Christian university, authorized by Ontario to graduate one-year Bachelor of Education students

Preservice teachers don’t sign a statement of faith, as faculty do, but agree to follow lifestyle code.

Of the 60-70 teachers, some 1/3 are evangelical, 1/3 Catholic, and 1/3 other, including no faith

The commonplaces

Preservice teachers 30 primary-junior (PJ) teachers (K-Gr. 6) 30 junior-intermediate (JI) teachers (Gr. 4-10)

Science & technology methods course Knowledge: understanding of concepts Skills: inquiry, investigation, & communication skills Relating science & tech. to society & the environment

Provincial focus in Ontario The Environment

Ontario’s K-10 Curriculum for Science & Technology

Gr. Life Systems Structures & Mechanisms

Matter & Energy

Earth & Space

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Ontario’s K-10 Science & Technology Curriulum

Grade Life Systems Structures & Mechanisms

Matter & Energy Earth & Space

1 Living things Materials & Structures

Energy in our Lives

Daily & Seasonal Changes

2 Animals Movement Solids & Liquids Air & Water in the Environment

3 Plants Structures Forces Soils in the Environment

4 Habitats Pulleys and gears Light & Sound Rocks & Minerals

5 Human body Structures Chemical Changes Conservation of Energy

6 Biodiversity Flight Electricity Space (Astronomy)

7 Ecosystems Form & Function Solutions Heat in the Environment

8 The cell Systems Fluids Water Systems

9 Ecosystems Electricity Atoms Space (Astronomy)

10 Tissues & Organs Light & Optics Chemical Reactions

Climate Change





Energy in our Lives











Climate Change





Energy in our Lives











Climate Change

The context

Leadership in the environmental movement has often been provided by those of little faith, or little Christian faith. Our natural environment, however, is a very much a part of God’s creation.

My own research in science education as a Christian focuses on soil, air, water, and energy.

Classical Greek and Egyptian thought talked about four elements: earth, air, water, and fire.

Jeremiah’s World

“But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;

he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”

Jer. 10:12-13; 51:15-16

Jeremiah’s World




Jer. 10:12-13; 51:15-16

Jeremiah’s World




Jer. 10:12-13; 51:15-16

Jeremiah’s World




Jer. 10:12-13; 51:15-16

Jeremiah’s World




Jer. 10:12-13; 51:15-16

The challenge

To develop a Christian framework for focusing on environmental concerns in a science methods course with preservice teachers, which compliments the secular science curriculum they will be teaching from in school.

The environment is a key focus in the province of Ontario, with sustainability a “big idea”





Energy in our Lives








8 The cell Systems Fluids Water Systems9 Ecosystems Electricity Atoms Space (Astronomy)


Climate Change

Focus in science methods courses

With PJ preservice teachers (Gr. K-6) Soils (Grade 3 unit)

Conservation of Energy (Grade 5 unit)


With PJ preservice teachers (K- Gr. 6) Soils (Grade 3 unit) Conservation of Energy (Grade 5 unit)

With JI preservice teachers (Gr. 4-10) Water Systems (Grade 8 unit) Climate Change (Grade 10 unit)




Q1. What is their initial level of conceptual understanding?




Q1. What is their initial level of conceptual understanding?Q2. Can this be improved with course activities?




Q1. What is their initial level of conceptual understanding?Q2. Can this be improved with course activities?Q3. Will this also affect their stewardship concerns?

Sample item: soils (Gr. 3)

2. It usually takes how many years to form 1 cm of topsoil?

a) 1-10 months

b) 1-10 years

c) 100-1000 years

d) 1-10 million years

Sample item: energy (Gr. 5)

23. Which of the following decisions would save the average family the most energy?

a) Replace all the incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs

b) Buy all new energy-efficient appliances

c) Only buy fruit and vegetables grown near where you live

d) Trade in a large family car for a compact electric car

Sample item: water (Gr. 8)

20. Water that becomes groundwater

a) Typically occurs as underground lakes and rivers

b) Exists in the spaces between soil and rock particles

Sample item: climate change (Gr. 10)

16. Over the past century, the average surface

temperature of Earth’s oceans

a) has risen significantly

b) has stayed approximately the same

Pre-post results: soils & energy

PJ teachers wrote a multiple choice survey on soils and on energy with 25 items each. The random score would be 25%.

Pre-post results: water & climate chg

JI teachers wrote a survey on climate change and water with 45 binary choice items each. The random score would be 50%.

Ontario’s K-10 Curriculum for Science & Technology

A NEW BIG IDEA IN THE CURRICULUM Sustainability is the concept of meeting the needs of

the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Stewardship involves understanding that we need to use and care for the natural environment in a responsible way and making the effort to pass on to future generations no less than what we have access to ourselves.

Stewardship and sustainability – a new BIG IDEA?

“The custody of the garden was given in charge to Adam, to show that we possess the things which God has committed to our hands, on the condition, that being content with the frugal and moderate use of them, we should take care of what shall remain. Let him who possesses a field, so partake of its yearly fruits, that he may not suffer the ground to be injured by his negligence; but let him endeavor to hand it down to posterity as he received it, or even better cultivated.”

PJ Focus Group Interviews

1. Why do you think soil is an important topic for students to learn about?

2. Which key concepts about soil should students learn?

3. What should we be doing to conserve energy as teachers, students, adults, world citizens?

PJ Focus Group Interviews

1. Why do you think soil is an important topic for students to learn about?

2. Which key concepts about soil should students learn?

3. What should we be doing to conserve energy as teachers, students, adults, world citizens?

4. What perspectives inform your answer? In terms of scientific, ethical, faith-based?

Answer – an analogy from nature

“Life is based on death and in order for life to happen there needs to be death and so I made an analogy that in order for us to have life and to have oxygen there needs to be a de-composition cycle that goes on. [When] things in the soil are in the process of dying, that gives life … that leads [to] as teachers we are going to have to put certain behaviors to death in our classrooms so that we can then have life with our students ”

Answer – ethical considerations

“Ethically we have to start thinking about what are we putting into the soil. Do we really need tomatoes that are so large, is it changing the way the soil is made, is it changing the de-composition, is it changing the way the humus is in the soil for us to be creating crops that are surviving? ”

Answer – ethical coming out of faith-based considerations

“I think the ethical component comes out of the faith-based. Because we feel that, you know, this world is given to you by God and he created it for you. He wants you to take from it but also give back to it, care for it, nurture it and pass it on to the next generation. Those are the underlying values that inform the ethical … we are supposed to take care of the earth for ethical reasons, but it comes to, I think, a faith-based reason.”

”

Answer – created by God, so we need to take care of it

“My last placement was in a Catholic board, so I could speak about faith openly. So, a lot of conversation did come back to that God created this beautiful world for us. He created plants and the soil and we need to take care of it. There was conversation with children – you know, God made this for us, so we have to take care of it. He made us, so we have to take care of ourselves. So there was ownership there.”

Answer – an awe for God’s creation

“I love the term stewardship because that in itself is a Biblical term. Because God tells us to be good stewards of the earth and so that’s a task that he has given us. So, absolutely it is faith-based and to instill a love for the earth in our students and to instill a wonder for what they are seeing … that is something that you did and I really appreciate it in science” (continued)

”

Answer – an awe for God’s creation

(continued) “you just have this awe and wonder for the world which carries on into your students because when we have that same wonder, then they are going to want to learn more and learn … and hopefully they will want to learn more about how we can protect in the best manner possible … that’s why God put us here for. He gave us the gift and we have to respect that gift.”

”

Answer – take care of the earth

“We always say that God wants me to do this, but the first thing he said to any human was to take care of the earth. So often we forget that, and there are Christians who say, well, Christ is coming back so we can use up whatever resources we want because the world is going to end anyways … When they say that, you are missing the whole section where God gave it to us as a gift and we have to respect that and we have to fear God too. ”

”

A PJ student at a secular university

“I wouldn’t say faith-based …Umbrella Christianity, and depending who you talk to, some may yes, others no. That’s a hard one. As far as ethical, same thing. What’s ethical to you might not be ethical to me … People get backed into a corner when you talk ethics, morals, or faith. But if the ministry angles it from the scientific, factual basis, you are giving people less opportunity to argue it isn’t important.”

”

JI Focus Group Interviews

1. Describe the water cycle.

2. Why is water a looming environmental issue, when the Earth has so much water?

3. Explain why Earth’s average global temperature is rising?

4. What obligations do we have as teachers, students, adults, world citizens?

5. What perspectives inform your answer? In terms of scientific, ethical, faith-based?

Answer – ethical considerations #1

“I think on an ethical basis we are all people who live on the earth. The planet belongs to everyone and though we have enough in Canada, we are spoiled because we have this natural source of water that we take for granted that it will always be there and that it is ours.”

”

Answer – inform ourselves, first

“I think we have to inform ourselves, first and foremost, and then bring that to life in the classroom. Not only in terms of instruction but also in what we do in day to day life at school.”

”

”

Answer – ethical considerations #2

“I’d like to take a holistic approach. And I think that all three of those can inter-play with each other. My faith-base motivates me to act ethically and I use the science to back it up.” (to be continued)

”

Answer – Biblical considerations

[Question: Do you think there is a commandment that says, ‘take water to poor countries”?]

”

Answer – Biblical considerations

[Question: Do you think there is a commandment that says, ‘take water to poor countries”?]

“No, it says ‘do unto other as you would have them do unto you’ and another commandment ‘love you neighbor as yourself’ and my faith commands me to be a good steward of the earth as well. So, stewardship is another part of the science curriculum here in Ontario and so I think we need to practice this. So I see it as a holistic piece.”

”

Answer – more ethical than faith-based

[Q: What does sustainability & stewardship mean?]

”

”

”



“I would say it is more ethical …what you are doing effects the person next to you. You don’t need to be someone of a particular faith to realize that is not being fair. So, I think it is more ethical than faith based. Because even if you have no religion – like, you don’t have anything that you are holding onto, that in itself that you’re being concerned about the next human being is coming more from an ethical point of view rather than faith.”

”

”

”



“I would say it is more ethical …what you are doing effects the person next to you. You don’t need to be someone of a particular faith to realize that is not being fair. So, I think it is more ethical than faith based. Because even if you have no religion – like, you don’t have anything that you are holding onto, that in itself that you’re being concerned about the next human being is coming more from an ethical point of view rather than faith.”

”

”

”

Answer – for Christians, faith-based

“I also hear what Olga and Jack have said that there are those who do not hold to a faith basis, but if you are a teacher with a faith basis, that is motivating for you to educate your students and their families about climate change and the environment. It does motivate, and those who do have a faith basis should be motivated by that because we do know that it has been given to us to take care of and it is a pleasure to take care of it.”

”

”

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Key ideas of preservice teachers:

Stewardship is not just a faith-based concept Sustainability is not just a secular concept Ethical and faith-based reasons support each other Having a wonder for creation links to caring for it Creation also has lessons for us to appreciate Stewardship goes back to Genesis, but the two great commandments were emphasized by Christ We have to be informed before being transformed

Approaching the issue negatively

Calvin de Witt’s 7 Degradations1. Climate change caused by greenhouse gases2. Land and soil degradation3. Deforestation4. Extinction of species5. Water degradation6. Global toxification7. Human and cultural degradation

Approaching the issue positively

Calvin de Witt’s 7 Provisions for Creation1. Earth’s energy exchange with the sun and space2. Soil building3. Cycling in the atmosphere (water, carbon cycles)4. Water purification and detoxification5. Fruitfulness and abundant life (habitats, biodiversity)6. Global circulations of water and air7. Human ability to learn from creation





Energy in our Lives










Climate Change





Energy in our Lives










Climate Change

Our Creator’s unique gifts to us:

1. The universe, a unique energy environment for Earth2. Earth’s unique atmosphere for life3. Earth’s unique water systems4. Earth’s unique rock and soil formations5. The unique web of life6. Unique cycles of energy and matter7. Humans, a unique species in relationship with the Creator, stewarding the Earth and our own bodies



Matter & Energy

Earth & Space


Energy in our Lives




4 Habitats Pulleys and gears Light & Sound Rocks & Minerals5 Human body Structures Chemical

ChangesConservation of Energy

6 Biodiversity Flight Electricity Space (Astronomy)7 Ecosystems Form & Function Solutions Heat in the Envir.8 The cell Systems Fluids Water Systems9 Ecosystems Electricity Atoms Space (Astronomy)

10 Tissues & Organs

Light & Optics Chemical Reactions

Climate Change


Grade Life Systems(biotic environment)

Structures & Mechanism(technology)

Matter & Energy(science)

Earth & Space(abiotic environment)


Energy in our Lives




4 Habitats Pulleys and gears Light & Sound Rocks & Minerals5 Human body Structures Chemical

ChangesConservation of Energy

6 Biodiversity Flight Electricity Space (Astronomy)7 Ecosystems Form & Function Solutions Heat in the Envir.8 The cell Systems Fluids Water Systems9 Ecosystems Electricity Atoms Space (Astronomy)

10 Tissues & Organs

Light & Optics Chemical Reactions

Climate Change