Green School: The concept and background

 The concept of Green School was introduced in Europe in the 19903 while the Rio Earth Summit of
1992 took cognizance of the need to take action in every area in which human impacts on the
environment.

 The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in 2002 catalyzed the
efforts to bring about a shift in ‘educating about the environment’ to ‘educating for sustainability'.

 Recognizing Education as a critical means to achieve sustainability, the United Nations launched the
“Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD)’ in 2005, to integrate principles, values and
practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning in order to encourage
behavior that will create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability
and a just society for present and future generations (UNESCO, 2005).

Green Schools and ESD.

 The Green School is visualized as a school guided by the principles of environmental sustainability.

 Students’ teaming experiences outside school help them to consolidate and apply knowledge, gain
understanding of environmental processes, interrelationships and issues, acquire life skills and help
foster attitudes, values and sensitivity toward environmental concerns
 Essential aspects of Green School Environment. The ‘greenness’ of a school finds expression in various
aspects of the environment. The Green School has clean, healthy, protective and green surroundings.
 Thus, a Green School is a school that engages the school community, especially children, in critical thinking
and learning by adopting participatory, practical and collaborative approaches to work together and make
the school environment healthier for students and staff by involving the whole community to work towards
a sustainable future.

A Green School adheres to the following precepts:

1. Learning about the environment. it focuses mainly on acquisition of knowledge and understanding of the
surroundings and related issues.

2. Learning through the environment. it refers to the processes of learning while being engaged with environment
inside and outside the classroom.

3. Learning for the environment. It aims at developing an informed response and responsibility towards the
environment beyond acquisition of skills and knowledge.

Understanding Green Curriculum.

For a curriculum to be ‘Green’ must include the following aspects:

1. Environment is encompassing, multidisciplinary and dynamic, has scientific, social, economic, political and
technological dimensions.

2. Being holistic, a Green Curriculum views environment as all that is around and aims to give a better understanding
of the way the world functions its operations, its alteration because of the actions of human race and its
consequences.
3. It holistically addresses sustainability concerns, such as protection and conservation of natural resources,
traditions, culture and heritage, safety and security, physical and emotional assurance, health and sanitation issues,
concern for equity and justice and interconnection between and among natural, social, physical and cultural
environment.

4. This requires a teaching-learning approach where students are provided time and space to explore different facets
of environment and interconnect them.

5. A Green Curriculum is a mutual concern of teachers and students.

Characteristics of a Green School.

 Green, healthy, and high performing are the characteristics of a green school that provides many benefits to
students, teachers, parents and the community, at large.

1. It protects health. Schools, built with more day lighting, better ventilation, and healthy green
building materials and paints are healthier for students and staff.
2. It increases student performance. Student test scores can improve up to 20% when students learn
in green classrooms.
3. It saves energy and money. Operating costs for energy and water in a green school can be reduced
by 20% to 40%.
4. It reduces carbon emissions. Green schools significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
5. It reduces water usage. On an average, a green school reduces water usage by 32% that has direct
savings for the building.
6. It improves teacher retention. A green school can reduce teacher turnover by as much as 5%,
which improves student learning and school community, and can result in financial savings for the
school.
7. It improves daily attendance. It reduces absenteeism by 15%.
8. It provides a unique educational opportunity. Schools can become teaching tools and important
features of science, math, and environmental curriculum when green features, advanced.
9. It creates green jobs. Investing in creating green schools is an investment in green jobs, including
green construction, building product manufacturing, and green architecture.
10. It improves equity. Greening public schools creates an opportunity to improve the health and
educational settings for all students amidst diverse identities and needs.

Dark Green School Program: Philippine Environmental Perspective A Dark Green School (DGS) is a
school that delivers Environmental Education through assimilation of the environmental philosophy by the
students in formal lessons, as well as in activities side the classroom. Accordingly, schools must:

a. be clean and neat as evidence of good management and housekeeping.

b. call for green spaces, appropriate land use, planning, conservation of materials and energy, proper waste
management, segregation, use of appropriate materials and avoidance of harmful ones and respect to others" right
to a smoke-free air.

c. have management policies and guidelines that would create a healthful and ecological campus.

d. have a well-planned environmental curriculum for all levels, adequately oriented and trained faculty, and
administrative library and financial support.

e. have faculty and students who are aware of and appreciate the environmental program of the school.
f. reach out to an outside community to spread concern for Mother Earth and facilitate projects and programs that
Improve the environment.

g. engage in research that adds knowledge in the ways of nature and the impact of

Ecological Living Practices

To assess the impact of our choices and actions we need criteria from studying the, basic facts of life as follows
(Capra, 2003):

(1) Matter cycles continually through the web of life;

(2) Most of the energy that drives the ecological cycles flow from the sun;

(3) Diversity assures resilience;

(4) One species’ waste is another species’ food; and

(5) Life does not take over the planet by combat but by networking.

Therefore, ecological living means to live in a way that it: (1) respects and replenishes the carrying capacity of our
planet; (2) honors our interrelatedness with all expressions of life; (3) enhances the qualitative aspects of our
relationships; and (4) brings forth the best of our human capacities for the co-creation of an ecologically sustainable
and caring world.

A. Inner ecology (Smitsman, 2014).

1. Become a catalyst of change to help co-create a better world and future.

2. Care for and relate with non-human beings while spending time with nature.

3. Make the most of sustainability crisis that forces us to learn, dream, think, design, act and relate in new ways.

4. Join the rest around the world in becoming agents of sustainability.

5. Nurture nature by taking care of our body and become aware of our natural body rhythms.

6. Become more energy efficient and learn to recycle our own energy.

7. Learn to compost our own waste and no need to dump this unto others.

8. Become aware of rights, needs and well-being of future generations and explore how we can support this in our
actions.

B. Outer ecology (Smitsman, 2014).

1. Educate ourselves about the resources that we, our family and/or organizations utilize to fulfill and sustain our
needs.

2. Reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle.

3. Be aware of the real price of goods and services that we use. Cheap products often have hidden costs (e.g. the
cost of child labor, animal cruelty, or degradation of ecosystems).

4. Find out any child labor practices or natural resources that were sacrificed in the process of producing products
and services.
5. Recycle grey-water.

6. Collect and use rainwater.

7. Create an organic vegetable garden.

8. Compost organic waste and use the compost in the garden.

9. Create a garden (with a balance of endemic/indigenous plants) to support local wildlife (animals, insects, trees and
plants).

10. Create a roof garden (green roof) as a natural air-conditioning alternative to increase garden space.

11. Buy organic and local products as much as possible.

12. Support local businesses and organizations that care for our planet.

Integrating Ecological Literacy into the Curriculum

The Center for Ecoliteracy (2015) promotes a variety of teaching strategies based on practices that are
developmentally appropriate to students' level and are brain-based to foster knowledge, skills and Values essential
to sustainable living (Sly, 2015).

1. Place-based Learning. It is an experiential teaming that engages students in their own environments and a
strategy that captures their imagination and advances environmental stewardship and civic engagement.

Research reveals the benefits of place-based learning, such as: (1) higher test scores; (2) better grade-point
averages; (3) improved classroom behavior; (4) increased self-esteem and problem-solving abilities; and (5) higher-
level thinking skills (Sly, 2015)

2. Project-based Learning. It is a strategy that involves students in projects that use a variety of resources, including
the community, technology, outside experts, written resources, and the Web, while the teacher usually serves as
facilitator of learning.

Using this strategy, research shows its impact on learners, such as: (1) increased critical thinking skills of students; (2)
fostered positive attitudes toward subjects (such as mathematics) 'and exemplary performance with conceptual
questions and applied problems; and (3) Improved positive study and work habits, problem-solving capabilities and
self-esteem.

3. Socratic Inquiry. This is named after the Greek philosopher Socrates, who believed that questions (not answers)
stimulate learning.

Through skilled questioning, the teacher asks students to clarify their statements, identify weaknesses in their
arguments and provide evidence for their reasoning. In return, this strategy impacts student learning as evidenced
by the following outcomes. (1) Students reveal their beliefs, misconceptions and values and eventually, clarify their
thoughts related to the topic being discussed. (2) Students become more adept in critical thinking. (3) Students
improve their listening skills and learn to better articulate their thoughts and ideas and become more tolerant of
diverse opinions.

4. Experiential Learning. It promotes students’ involvement in the real world and defines the teacher’s role as a
facilitator of learning.

It goes along with principles of learning associated with 1 environmental literacy. 4.1 Experiential learning is vital to
schooling for sustainability
4.2 Only through direct. Contact with the natural world will students develops an in depth understanding of
fundamental ecological principles.

4. 3 By working with others to solve real-world problems, they also develop skills at the heart of sustainable living.

4.4 When students participate in experiential learning. They frequently follow the learning cycle.

4.5 This is a process that starts with unstructured exploration' followed by concept formation and application.

5. Interdisciplinary Learning. It emphasizes connections between traditionally discrete disciplines, such as math,
science, history, and language arts; rather than limiting learning to one content area at a time. The following are
advantages of interdisciplinary learning:

5.1 When teaching and learning are organized around themes, problems, or issues, students seek knowledge and
skills from a variety of disciplines to provide an expanded and more complex understanding of the topics.

5.2 When done well, interdisciplinary approach eliminates fragmentation and learning of isolated skills.

5.3 It allows students to access a particular theme from different entry points as they work with a range of sources
of information and perspectives.

5.4 It also allows teachers to better differentiate instruction and create more interesting and rich methods of
assessment.

5.5 It increases students’ motivation for learning, as well as their level of active engagement. 5.6 Students recognize
the value of their learning and become more involved in it.

5.7 Students learn more when they apply a variety 0f skills to what they are studying and when they interact with
their classmates, teachers, and members of the community. .

5.8 Interdisciplinary teaching and learning adheres to the principles that help define sustainable living.