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Another Perspective
As citizens of the only planet known to cradle life, we presently face a strategic threat to the quality of the global environment and the integrity of our remaining natural ecosystems. Much of the damage has been done in the last half century, and especially in the last decade. The consensus among many world leaders is that with continued environmental degradation there will be significant challenges to existing social structures (Gore, A., 1992, Earth in the Balance). Education in environmental issues and new teaching methods, along with sustainable development practices must be a high priority, if we are to succeed in empowering the next generation to take the initiative as environmental stewards and leaders.
Students must be led to discover the intricate nature of earth's ecosystems and how human activities impact them, as well as how a deminished environmental quality and reduced biodiversity threaten our future society. Above all, they must be given opportunities for involvement in positive change, and recognition for their efforts. The next generation must be encouraged to participate in these emerging technologies and master their use now, in preparation for work and further education. They must be given opportunities to experience the power of cooperative work, consensus, and voice and recognition for their work on behalf of the environment. As part of a global society, they must learn how to work with earth's natural ecosystems. They must also be given opportunities to share their acquired knowledge rapidly and efficiently with the rest of the world.
One way in which young people today can gain all of these needed skills is by organizing active youth groups and rally their efforts around environmental concerns; whether they be physical, biological or social. Student can learn much by utilizing the latest resource-use and environmental monitoring technology to study their regional ecosystems, and then in applying the newest telecommunication and distance-learning strategies, share information with other students around the world.
The use of computers and multimedia in the classroom continues to grow fast in the US. However, there are few programs in place which integrate environmental education with specific guides to activities that students can undertake. Further, there are virtually no programs available which integrate the use of environmental monitoring strategies with tools for database development, reports generation, student-directed publication, and access to the information superhighway for communicating their findings. Finally, access to the IWAY for schools is often cost-prohibitive. All the pieces to this puzzle are in place however, and there is growing interest in redefining "schooling" within the context of a new educational and communications paradigm that employs strategies like those promoted in the project "CoMap", Hemingway Learning Institute's innovative summer community mapping/cooperative learning camp.
In a September 1994 WIRED Magazine article, entitled "Access to Education", George Lucas (of entertainment and education fame) and Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska called for increasing access and preferential treatment for schools and educational organizations dedicated to giving young people access and experience with emerging information technologies. They state that "in the dawning of the information age – where access to information (and strategies) will be the currency of power and knowledge – the definition of access for educational institutions should be expanded to include multimedia technologies and services". The vision Lucas and Kerrey promote "stresses life-long learning and is student-centered, making teachers, families, and communities co-facilitators of learning". Their vision promotes increasing use of new technologies in support of the educational process; as does that of CoMap. Further, they state that "connecting every public school classroom and library to the developing superhighway is a legitimate goal of public policy." While this article is now more than a year old, the importance of the issue, and the authors' proposal still rings true.
For more on Mr. Lucas efforts to assist and influence education, check outThe George Lucas Educational Foundation. They also produce an excellent quarterly newsletter (Edutopia) that showcases important programs across the country.
Giving students access to technology now, while they are in school, will go a long way toward bolstering the market and bringing down the cost of participating in information technology. As info-technology literate students graduate into the marketplace every year they will bring with them both familiarity with programs and demand for further access.
Beyond the necessity to embrace and gain proficiency in new industries, today's youth need to experience for themselves and then teach the rest of us, how to live comfortably while consuming less, recycling more, polluting less and cooperating more in revitalizing and restoring communities, habitats, and eco-systems within our entire biosphere. Unfortunately, there are few guides to help today s youth in developing and teaching environmentally responsible behavior, and fewer opportunities for them to gather in focus groups and act upon their concerns. Further, even though schools in the US were prompted by the 1990 National Environmental Education Act to provide environmental curricula, to date there is a lack of programs in-place, and even less guidance and opportunity in existing after-school activities.
Regardless, in the US and internationally, grass-roots environmental youth groups spring up constantly. Often, however, their isolation and insulation within one school or neighborhood prevents them from gaining access to other students and thereby receiving recognition for their efforts. After running the course of tip-of-the-iceberg programs such as recycling, ecology clubs often burn-out or disband due to lack of direction in further issues identification and strategic planning. What these groups lack most however, is the ability to communicate their ideas; trading information and strategies which helps them stay committed and visible in the community. They also often lack proper equipment and guidance in its use in monitoring their environment, analyzing data, and reporting their findings.
CoMap's Niche:
CoMap isa model program providing students with needed strategies for taking
charge in researching issues, coordinating activities, conducting restoration
projects, and gaining access to each other and the adult community for voice
and recognition. Participating youngsters work out their various roles, leadership
and work together on local issues, delivering the results of their investigations
and restoration projects to each other and the adult community in interactive
"WEB" documentaries. Their ideas, strategies and solutions are promoted
in self-produced media that reaches beyond city, state and national boundaries
to reach sister organizations internationally. (more detail can be found at
.. CoMap notes.. ).
HLI - CoMap Project Leaders facilitate youth discovery and investigative study. They work within the community coordinating hands-on learning and citizenship skills development, and consult with the adult community in issues identification and group support. CoMap's website facilitates student media production and teaches children the ins & outs of reporting and net publishing. Student-collected video is turned into web graphics and quicktime movies enhancing the website.
Our goal is to have all student activities and investigations documented in logbooks on video, and distributed over the net. Environmental data collected during student surveys will be used to build a database for use in subsequent reports generation, student queries, and as a basis for continuing projects.
CoMap's website will be further developed as an interactive guide to the full compliment of new strategies. It will contain:
Future versions of the website will include interactive walk-throughs of computer models depicting local parks, study sites, private and community facilities for use in planning environmental and resource-use audits. The models will include generic homes, and community facilities such as a school, library, and county court house. Walk-throughs of these simplified models will highlight resource-use pathways and strategies for conducting audits and restoration activities along with costs analysis and resource savings. An excellent, though perhaps dated, example of a product with similar objectives is the "Greening of the White House" CD-ROM jointly developed by a Apple Computer, View by View, Inc., the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology, the American Institute of Architects, and the White House Office on Environmental Policy. A review of the program can be found in October 1994 issue of NEW MEDIA Magazine. Again, there are newer articles out there, but the strategies outline in the references I've made are still cutting edge... Except the edge has clearly migrated to the net and the world-wide-web. In this, my own work I hope will prove to be another great model.
For more on my proposed (funded by US WEST and GEPI) start-up project, visit Hemingway Learning Institute's grant proposal.
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