Brief Overview
Closing the Achievement Gap: Using the
Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning
Using the
Environment as an Integrating Context for learning (EIC), defines a framework
for education: a framework for interdisciplinary, collaborative,
student-centered, hands-on, and engaged learning. EIC, a term coined by the
State Education and Environment Roundtable, encompasses the educational
practices that the group believes should form the foundation of
environment-based education in America's schools. This framework has begun to
transform curricula in a growing number of schools across the United States
and may have the potential to significantly improve K-12 education in America.
This report,
prepared by the State Education and Environment Roundtable, is the story of
the schools, teachers, and students who are involved in implementing EIC. It
presents the results of a nationwide study; and describes the major concepts
and assumptions underlying EIC; describes a range of successful EIC-based
programs across the United States; identifies the major characteristics of
successful EIC programs; and, analyzes the implications of EIC-based
education for student learning and instruction.
EIC-based
learning is not primarily focused on learning about the environment, nor is
it limited to developing environmental awareness. It is about using a
school's surroundings and community as a framework within which students can
construct their own learning, guided by teachers and administrators using
proven educational practices. EIC-based programs typically employ the
environment as a comprehensive focus and framework for learning in all areas:
general and disciplinary knowledge; thinking and problem-solving skills;
basic life skills, such as cooperation and interpersonal communications; and,
last but not least, understanding of one's
relationship to the environment - community and natural surroundings.
"Closing
the Achievement Gap" reports the evidence gathered from the study of the
40 selected schools, indicates that students learn more effectively within an
environment-based context than within a traditional educational framework.
This evidence comes from site visits, interviews, survey results, and gains
on both standardized test scores and GPAs.
The observed
benefits of EIC-based programs are both broad ranging and encouraging. They
include:
- better performance on standardized measures of
academic achievement in reading, writing, math, science, and social
studies;
- reduced discipline and classroom management problems;
- increased engagement and enthusiasm for learning;
and,
- greater pride and ownership in accomplishments.
By providing
a comprehensive educational framework, instead of traditional compartmentalized
approaches, EIC significantly improves student performance throughout the
curriculum and enriches the overall school experience.
Go to Executive Summary of "Closing the Achievement
Gap"
(copyright permission is
granted to make one copy only, not for reproduction)
Last update 121/2018
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