Environmental Education (EE) and Experiential Education:A Promising “Marriage” for Greek Pre-School Teachers

Alexandros Georgopoulos, Maria Birbili, Anastasia Dimitriou

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DOI: 10.4236/ce.2011.22016                

Abstract

Kindergarten teachers tend to combine EE and experiential education in their every day practice as a matter of course. The majority perceive EE as related to sensory awareness and exploration and the concomitant will to act in a pro-environmental direction. They deal with and elaborate their pupils experiences in a way that is remi- niscent of Colb’s learning cycle. It is not clear from the interviews whether they effectively facilitate their child- ren’s reflection upon the acquired experience, although there is some evidence that they accompany and assist their pupils in associating their new knowledge to that previously acquired, integrating it into new wholes and appropriating it. They do not give any information about the elaboration of their pupils emotions developed through the experiential educational approaches. They claim that when EE and experiential education are blended together then this can generate active citizens of the future.

Keywords

Environmental Education, Experiential Education, Preschool, Teachers

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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