ENSb1203 Environmental Education

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/1/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Jan Činčera, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. et Mgr. Michal Medek (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jan Činčera, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Kateřina Hendrychová
Supplier department: Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Prerequisites
! ENS203 Environmental Education &&!NOW( ENS203 Environmental Education )&&TYP_STUDIA(B)
No prerequisities needed for this course.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Students get overview on theory and practice of environmental education (EE), its development in abroad and in the Czech Republic, and with various approaches existing in the field. They get overview about delivery of EE in formal, nonformal, and informal education and about various types of organisations dealing with EE in the Czech Republic and in abroad. They will discuss selected theoretical issues of EE and compare various strategies for achieving the goals for EE for different age groups. They will learn to design simple EE programmes. They will be provided with information about financial sources for their own EE projects.
Students
1. Discuss strong and week points of approaches and strategies of EE.
2. They evaluate strong and week points of visited EE programmes.
3. They describe selected EE organisations and programmes they provide.
Learning outcomes
After succesfully completing the course, students will be able to
- assess the quality of an environmental education program and suggest its modifications;
- assess a program offer of centers for environmental education;
- compare existing approaches in environmental education and assess their strong and weak points.
Syllabus
  • The course covers the following topics.

  • Development of EE     Goal: students in follow-up reflexion and on-line discussion comment articles important for development of EE and evaluate them from their own point of view.
    Origins of EE. H. Hungerford, S. van Matre, J. Cornell. Action competence. Education for sustainable development.
  • Age specifics of target groups of EE
    Goal: student apply their knowledge of development psychology on EE programmes. They learn EE approaches for pre-school children
    A. Developmental psychology and its application in EE, message from E. Strejckova, forest kindergarten.
    B. Case studies: Forest kindergarten, Ozone programme.
  • Introducing of environmental education (EE)
    Goal: students reflect their experience with EE, evaluate what was interesting, what correspondents with their concept, and what does not.
  • Environmental education in the Czech Republic
    Goal: Students get overview about grounding of EE in formal education and in broad offer of EE programmes in the field of non-formal education. They learn the basic methodical documents and how they can apply them for evaluating visited programmes.
    A. Grounding of EE in formal education, goals of EE, Free-time institutions, EE centers, environmental counselling.
    B. Case studies: annual reports of EE centers, EE programme Butterfly Day, Challenge summer camp in Karpaty, Ecoschool.
  • Goals of EE and strategies for their achievement
    Goal: Students compare recommencations for programmes for development selected goals of EE with visited EE programmes.
    A. Affinity with nature, sense of place, ecological principles, inquiry skills, environmental problems and issues, action competence: what are supposed initial competence of pupils, what strategies are probably effective, examples of evaluated programmes.
    B. Case studies: NaZemi: Supermarket World, GLOBE, Explorers.cz
  • EE programme theory
    Goal: Students reflect basic procedure for programme designing and apply them for evaluating of visited EE programes.
    A. Impact theory and proccess theory, designing of logic model. Selected proccess models based in constructivism or experiential education (Kolb's cycle, E-U-R, 4MAT). Motivational means, theme, organizer. Guidelines for designing of a new programme.
    B. Case studies: Earthkeepers, Koreny (Roots)
  • Presentation of evaluated programmes Goal: students present visited EE programmes and evaluate their strong and week aspects.

  • The course is taught in cooperation of Ass. Prof. Jan Činčera, Ph.D. and Michal Medek MA, MSc.
Literature
    required literature
  • ČINČERA, Jan. Environmentální výchova: efektivní strategie (Environmental education: effective strategies). 1st ed. Praha: BEZK, Agentura Koniklec a Masarykova univerzita, 2013, 132 pp. ISBN 978-80-904141-0-5. info
  • The failure of environmental education (and how we can fix it). Edited by Charles Saylan - Daniel T. Blumstein. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011, xii, 241 p. ISBN 9780520948723. info
    recommended literature
  • ČINČERA, Jan. Environmentální výchova : od cílů k prostředkům. Brno: Paido, 2007, 116 s. ISBN 9788073151478. info
  • BRAUS, Judy A. and David WOOD. Environmental education in the schools : creating a program that works! Washington: Peace corps, 1993, viii, 499. info
  • ČINČERA, Jan. Střediska ekologické výchovy mezi teorií a praxí (Environmental education centers between theory and practice). Praha: BEZK, Agentura Koniklec a Masarykova univerzita, 2013, 273 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-6525-3. info
  • PALMER, Joy. Environmental education in the 21st century : theory, practice, progress and promise. 1st pub. London: Routledge Falmer, 1998, xiv, 284. ISBN 0415131979. info
  • Environmental education teacher resource handbook : a practical guide for K-12 environmental education. Edited by Richard J. Wilke. 1st print. Thousand Oaks: Corwin press, Inc., 1993, xi, 448 s. ISBN 0-8039-6370-X. info
  • LEBLOVÁ, Eliška. Environmentální výchova v mateřské škole. Vydání první. Praha: Portál, 2012, 175 stran. ISBN 9788026200949. info
    not specified
  • MATĚJČEK, Tomáš. Ekologická a environmentální výchova : učební text k průřezovému tématu Environmentální výchova podle Rámcového vzdělávacího programu pro základní vzdělávání. 1. vyd. Praha: Nakladatelství České geografické společnosti, 2007, 50 s. ISBN 9788086034720. info
  • DANIŠ, Petr. Děti venku v přírodě : ohrožený druh? : proč naše děti potřebují přírodu pro své zdraví a učení. 1. tištěné vydání. [Praha]: Ministerstvo životního prostředí, 2016, 73 stran. ISBN 9788072126101. info
Teaching methods
Interactive lectures with demonstrations of environmental education activities; assessment of an environmental education program, mandatory reading, assignment, residential course, program analysis, teamwork.
Assessment methods
Evaluation will be carried as a sum of points from students' on-going and final assessment. For the on-going work, students may get points for their participation on regular lessons, an outdoor workshop, and for on-going assignments. For the final work, students prepare analysis of environmental education programmes and/or or a monography review.
A 45 and more
B 40-44
C 35-39
D 30-34
E 26-29
F 0-25
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every other week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2025/ENSb1203