Conservation Education Curriculum
Introduction
Back in 1975, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convened in a series of meeting to produce the Belgrade Charter, a framework for environmental education. The purpose of environmental education was laid out as follows:
The goal of environmental education is to develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about, the environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations, and commitment to work individually and collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones.
As Robert continues in his conservation efforts in the future, he can leverage on the environmental education initiative pioneered by UNESCO as an area where he can promote and educate more people on the importance of conservation. Today, environmental education is practised in numerous formal and informal ways (Volk & McBeth 1998). In formal school systems, diverse methods include traditional courses, field trips and supplementary materials whereas informally, it involves the usage of zoos, aquariums, wilderness learning and responsible eco-tourism among the many. The informal setting leans more towards learning that is learner-directed or “free-choice learning” which involves the voluntary use of informative media such as radio, television and other digital technologies. According to Wals (2007), the move from education to social learning also include different forms of social interaction where people, such as the teacher and learner, form and exchange ideas.