MacNaughton, G & Williams, G (2009, p.48) states that demonstration is seen as 'a useful technique for teaching children to respect the environment'.
I've thought about this reference and how it could be linked to place thought in an early childhood setting. The more time children spend outside the more they are attuned to the different sounds, movements, and fragrances from outside. The more time they spend outside the more they learn to respect the world around them, this is especially true if educators demonstrate their enjoyment in nature as well.
My question for this week is what types of sustainable practices could you, as an educator, demonstrate to your future students so they can begin to learn how to respect the environment more?
One example I thought of was if children are particularly interested in the different trees and plants in the garden outside and want to continue to see them blossom and grow the educator may demonstrate how to conserve water when washing hands. This way children, over time, will begin to understand the importance of water conservation and the effects it has on the plants that grow in their garden.
References:
MacNaughton, G & Williams, G 2009, Techniques for teaching young children; choices for theory and practice, 3rd edn, Pearson Education Australia, NSW.
I love your idea of teaching children to appreciate and look after the environment around them and that we all play our part in looking after the world we live in. I think you could even broaden your thinking in terms of types of activities you could do. The activity about the environment could be anything, you could even base an activity to do with recycled items and objects, helping children focus on giving new life to something that would normally be thrown away.
ReplyDeleteSome great ideas from you Claire to take on board, thank you!
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ReplyDeleteI love your idea of introducing children to nature rather than just demonstrating things in a classroom. Relating to your idea of conserving water, you can also demonstrate how to compost fruit scraps into the garden rather than throwing it in the bin. Scraps can be used as soil fertilizer to give plants a boost of vital nutrients so i think that is also a great way to demonstrate how to help plants grow to children.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this as i feel that you are able to clearly understand how to relate respecting the environment in order to create a new learning environment for the children. This is a great way to get children to respect the environment as they will have time to grow within the outdoor setting, as well as learning to explore and be creative. Giving children the opportunity to grow their own is a great way to allow children to see them grow and respect it through watering them daily. This makes me question how as teachers we can utilise different learning settings in order to cater for children's learning which allows them to explore and use their creativity
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