Abstract:

Education is the key to the formation of global thinking in people, and hence it is a means of overcoming the global problems facing the human community today. The four pillars of lifelong learning - Learning to know; Learning to do; Learning to be; Learning to live together, are becoming more and more relevant. Education for sustainable development is a process that must accompany a person's entire life, from early childhood to primary, secondary and higher education.

The aim of this study is to explore the possibilities for the formation of environmental behavior in students through a training course in sustainable waste management, based on a new-developed and experimentally tested methodological model using an activity approach. This model has been developed and validated through different activities. Here we demonstrate one of the themes entitled “The waste pathway” (for 10-12 years old scholars, lower secondary school).

Our hypothesis: If training in sustainable waste management is implemented through an activity approach, it will increase the environmental culture and environmental competence of students and will form a long-lasting pro-environmental behavior.

Theoretical analysis and didactic experiment are applied as main methods in the present pedagogical research for testing the above-described working hypothesis. Two questionnaires “My ecological footprint” (pre-test and post-test) are developed to account for the effectiveness of the innovative methodological model.

The lesson starts with some videos (5-7 minutes) of polluted ocean, land, forest, etc. and the waste impact on plants and animals. Last video presents a nature without waste and wild life on it. The teacher asks students to express their opinion on videos and to share what and why they think about waste pollution. Finally, the teacher summarizes that the amount of waste generated is huge and must be managed by sustainable way to protect nature.
Next step includes different activities following the Kolb’s cycle, starting with Concrete experience – “How much waste I dumped today at school?”, “Do we separate our waste at home?”, “What is the waste pathway in nature, in mixed container, in color containers?”. At this stage, the method of discussion is applied - students are asked questions and they present their personal observations and impressions.

Some working sheets are constructed for the Reflective observation of students. First task is to choose the correct word and to fulfil into the text proposed. Second task is to watch a short video on recycling process and to construct the recycling cycles of plastics, paper and glass by group working. When the posters are ready, we move on to the Abstract conceptualization. The projects are presented and the results are commented, using brainstorming. As a conclusion, the Active experimentation use the mind map approach – “Everyone can help nature by the sustainable management of its own waste ….”.

In conclusion, we can recommend the training in sustainable waste management through an activity approach to be implemented in all grades of school education. This will enable students to be actively involved in social life, in solving community problems and subsequently this will lead to the formation of sustainable environmental behavior, which is essential for nature conservation for both current and future generations.

Keywords:

Kolb learning cycle, learning by doing, activity approach, constructivism, reflection.