Teaching in Natural Areas: what urban teachers feel is most appropriate

Summary

This paper describes and discusses a study of urban teachers’ perceptions of the use of various natural settings for environmental education. In the study 59 teachers were interviewed. Each teacher was asked to examine a set of black and white photographs depicting four different natural settings. For each setting the teacher made a judgement as to whether particular subject areas (e.g. science, social studies and art) and lesson activities (e.g. writing, plant studies and listening and observation) could be taught there. Implications for the infusion of environmental education throughout the curriculum are discussed.