[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-597197-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-597197-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","starting-points-questions-of-quality-in-environmental-education","Starting Points - Questions of Quality in Environmental Education","","Paper examines what constitutes “good” environmental education amid attempts to set standards across subjects and cross-curricular areas. Rather than establish normative criteria, it proposes engaging teachers in critical reflection on their own practice and thinking through a structured series of reflective questions. The intent is to open dialogue and guide discussion and debate so practitioners and theorists can pursue meaningful directions, shaping praxis as critical understanding evolves.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/starting-points-questions-of-quality-in-environmental-education/597197/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/starting-points-questions-of-quality-in-environmental-education/597197.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Rainbow Cat","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What problem does the paper address about environmental education standards?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It questions whether rhetoric about standards can influence actual practice, and it challenges the usefulness of relying on fixed normative criteria.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What does the paper suggest instead of establishing normative criteria?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It suggests engaging teachers in critical reflection on their own practice and thinking, using a constructed series of questions to create conditions for reflection.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How does the paper connect environmental crises to educational value?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It argues that citizens need to understand worldwide environmental changes—what is happening, why, and how—so environmental education gains urgency and educational significance.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},597197,1792230584,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962090769181,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Starting Points: Questions of Quality in Environmental Education  \nPaul Hart, University of Regina, Bob Jickling, Yukon College, & Richard Kool, B.C. Parks, Canada  \nAbstract  \nWhat does good education look like? Despite recent attempts to develop standards for educational subjects and cross-curricular areas such as environmental education, there remains the question about whether rhetoric can influence practice. In this paper we suggest that rather than establish normative criteria, it maybe more fruitful to find ways to engage teachers in critical reflection about their own practice and thinking. So, we have constructed a series of questions to create conditions for such reflection. The intent is not to close the reflective process with established criteria but to raise questions as a means of opening the dialogue. Thus engaged, we hope practitioners and theorists can take this dialogue in directions which are meaningful to them. We thus encourage praxis which evolves as the critical thinking about environmental education evolves through discussion and debate.  \nRésumé  \nQuelles sont les qualités d’une bonne éducation? En dépit derécentes tentatives d’établir des normes pour les sujets scolaireset les domaines pluridisciplinaires, tels que l’éducation relative à l’environnement, la question demeure si la rhétorique peut influencer la pratique. Dans cette communication, plutôt que d’établir des critères normatifs, nous suggérons qu’il serait peutêtre plus fructueux de trouver des façons d’engager lesenseignants dans une réflexion critique sur leurs propres pratique et pensée. Par conséquent, nous avons préparé unesérie de questions pour créer les conditions propices à cetteréflexion. L’intention n’est pas de freiner le processus deréflexion avec des critères établis, mais de soulever des questions pour amorcer le dialogue. Ainsi, nous espérons que les praticiens et les théoriciens orienteront le dialogue sur des  \n104 Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 4, Summer 1999  \nsujets qui sont significatifs pour eux. Nous favorisons donc unepraxie qui progresse grâce à une réflexion critique sur l’éducation relative à l’environnement par le biais de discussionset de débats.  \nIn directing the activities of the young, society determines its own future  \n. . . . (John Dewey, 1996, p. 41)  \nIn the last years of the 20th century the world is facing a variety of crises, including the progressive deterioration of the environment worldwide. There is no doubt that the increasing scope of human activity has caused major alterations to land-cover, to animal and plant populations and biodiversity, to atmospheric gas composition, and to the quality of water bodies. Human activity has created new products that will be present on the earth for millennia. Some of these alterations are irreversible: species made extinct will not come back. Some of the changes are reversible within modest time frames: some forests will regrow, some water bodies will flush themselves. And, some of the changes will only be cured through longer time frames: chloroflourocarbons will slowly decay in the upper atmosphere. These changes are not random and independent but threads in a whole cloth, says David Orr (1994) . The fact that we see them as disconnected or fail to see them at all is evidence of a failure in education.  \nThere is an urgency for all citizens to understand what is happening to the worldwide environment, why it is happening, and how we know it is happening. We also need to know who is benefiting from the activities which bring about environmental degradation, what is being done to make them accountable for their decisions, and what can be done to prevent degradation of the earth’s systems. The quest to find modes of human activity that align with nature’s ability to provide for our needs and to remove our wastes must be one of the most urgent quests of our time. We need to learn how we can live well in a place. This need to learn affords educat","cbCaiq1GrfiPfij8","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiq1GrfiPfij8","pdf",175783,22,"English","# Abstract\n## Purpose and approach\n## Need for critical dialogue\n## Environmental crises and education urgency\n## Learning in natural places and schools\n## Rethinking standards and ends","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the paper address about environmental education standards?\",\"answer\":\"It questions whether rhetoric about standards can influence actual practice, and it challenges the usefulness of relying on fixed normative criteria.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the paper suggest instead of establishing normative criteria?\",\"answer\":\"It suggests engaging teachers in critical reflection on their own practice and thinking, using a constructed series of questions to create conditions for reflection.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper connect environmental crises to educational value?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that citizens need to understand worldwide environmental changes—what is happening, why, and how—so environmental education gains urgency and educational significance.\"}]","Starting Points - Questions of Quality in Environmental Education | PDF",1792084584,55]