DIGITAL LIBRARY
ENVIRONMENTALLY SIGNIFICANT LIFE EXPERIENCES: WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?
University of Navarra (SPAIN)
About this paper:
Appears in: ICERI2016 Proceedings
Publication year: 2016
Pages: 6401-6407
ISBN: 978-84-617-5895-1
ISSN: 2340-1095
doi: 10.21125/iceri.2016.0046
Conference name: 9th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Dates: 14-16 November, 2016
Location: Seville, Spain
Abstract:
A primary aim of Environmental Education (EE) is to promote respect for environmental values. Environmental Education needs to explore new approaches that encourage a deeper, more powerful process of environmental consciousness-raising that is both long-lasting and far-reaching. Significant learning experiences (SLE) about the environment are a powerful, fast and long-lasting way to achieve this objective. SLE are regarded as a useful means to this end, which can lead people to make decisions and take actions to protect the environment. Although their mechanism is not understood in depth and they cannot be reproduced at will, it is worth paying serious attention to them on the grounds that they have great potential as consciousness-raising events. Although SLE have so far received little scholarly attention, EE needs a deeper exploration in this interesting field. This article analyses 14 cases of SLE with a view to conceptualizing, understanding and clarifying these experiences, identifying some characteristics that they have in common, and explaining some of the ways in which they influence people’s lives.
Keywords:
Environmental education, environmental epiphanies, environmentally responsible behaviour, human-nature interactions, significant learning experiences.