Georgia Liarakou

Environmental volunteers: factors influencing their involvement in environmental action

The aim of the present study was to investigate the factors that influence volunteers to become involved in environmental action. The research focused on volunteers undertaking action in summer camps organised by an environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Greece. The results suggest that the environmental issues addressed in volunteer programmes and the standards of volunteer organisations constitute critical predictors of a volunteer’s personal commitment to participation in an organisation. Learning and contact with nature clearly emerged as the most important factors in volunteer motivation. Furthermore, although the participants considered their environmental knowledge was sufficient to stimulate their action, they also recognised the importance of continuing to deepen that knowledge. Most of the volunteers had participated previously in environmental education (EE), but only a few considered this experience to have influenced their intention to undertake action. Finally, volunteers seemed to believe in the power of citizenship and expressed a high internal locus of control. The findings of this study could enhance NGOs’ understanding of what motivates volunteers and help them improve the quality and effectiveness of their volunteer programmes. EE practitioners could also use these findings to provide people with the proper capabilities to become consciously involved in voluntary environmental action.

Mentoring as a strategy for empowering Education for Sustainable Development in schools

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a demanding new field in terms of content and context and requires whole-school approaches and changes in educational structures. The field’s implementation constitutes a great challenge for teachers, novice in the field of ESD. Teacher education for ESD needs to effectively transfer knowledge and skills related to the concepts of sustainable development and reflect the relation of ESD to values education, systemic thinking and an interdisciplinary approach. The teaching methods employed by teacher education need to be in accordance with ESD methods and to empower teachers for integrating ESD in the teaching–learning process. For this purpose, we used a mentoring system to introduce experienced and newly appointed teachers, all novice in the field of ESD, to planning and implementing ESD and evaluated the potential of mentoring as a form of education for empowering teachers for ESD. Results highlight the value of mentoring since it encompasses all of the attributes that ESD teacher education requires in an experiential and practical form, it promotes teacher interaction and the formation of professional learning communities for ESD and it increases teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of the subject.

Exploring pupil participation within a sustainable school

This research aimed to explore the factors having an effect on enhanced active pupil participation in the context of the sustainable school. The research was applied during a school year to a primary school in Lavrion (Greece), with the participation of two teachers and pupils from two classes of the upper two grades. Action Research was the method selected to organise the research conducted in the framework of a school programme focusing on sustainable waste management. It involved activities both at school and within the local community. An analysis of research results showed that specific perceptions of both pupils and teachers, some of the features of the learning processes adopted, and the current school culture were the determining factors, either facilitating, or inhibiting active pupil participation. The action research enabled teachers not only to identify factors inhibiting active pupil participation, but also to intervene to manage them.

Action Research to Encourage Pupils' Active Participation in the Sustainable School.

This article aims to explore the contribution of action research to the development of active participation of pupils in the context of the sustainable school. Action research is looked at not simply as a methodological tool for the exploration of participation, but as a key element of the educational actions that promote the active participation of pupils. Educational research was conducted during a school year at a primary school in Lavrio, Greece, with the participation of two teachers and the pupils of two classes (the upper grades—fifth and sixth). Action research methodology facilitated the critical, reflective, and, at the same time, organized a systematic exploration of the active participation of pupils. Its contribution to the objective of the research, that is, enhancing active participation of pupils, was also fundamental. As is clearly reflected in the research data, action research helped pupils participate actively and improve their participation, addressing the difficulties they identified.

Education for Sustainable Development through the Use of the Second Life: The Case of a Virtual Museum for Sharks

The present work investigates the virtual world “Second Life” as an educational tool. The work commences with the very first steps of using the software and it ends up at the construction of a virtual building for the study of a subject in the context of Education for Sustainable Development. The subject is the pedagogical treatment of sharks due to the danger of extinction. The use of the term “Virtual Museum” is the proper term to describe the entire effort. Further than the constructional process, the paper focuses on the investigation of how easy it is for any educator to use this software and how likely it is to be used in a modern classroom in an effective way. In order to achieve that, a few internet sites were developed, a number of on line questionnaires were published and a series of virtual meetings were held. The entire effort was attempted through Internet exclusively.