Ecoliteracy- an explainer

Ecoliteracy: A Systems Theory Approach to Educational Transformation Ecoliteracy proposes a transformational process for our schools based upon substantive research in the last twenty years in the areas of human potential, intelligence, cybernetics, living systems, and physics. It addresses the fundamental issue of how we can use education to create a sustainable and fulfilling future for ourselves, our communities, and for our life support system: Earth.

The proposal states why we feel change is desirable, what processes we propose, and of course how, when, and by whom these processes will be implemented. Finally, there are important appendices which clarify the principles of systems theory and how they apply to the pedagogical considerations as specifically addressed by ecoliteracy.

As systems theory illustrating, information, including the information in this proposal, can be assimilated, resisted, or ignored. Most information, by far, is ignored. We feel that ecoliteracy is a vital and attainable opportunity to transform our schools, our society, and our world, and we would hope, that after careful consideration, you will join in a partnership to implement it.

Why Change?

Organisms and organizations, whether the human body or a school curriculum, seek to maintain their own integrity, that is, they either integrate new elements appearing in their environment, ignore, or resist them. Our school systems have maintained their own integrity in the face of dynamic environmental and societal challenges since the end of the 19th century. By adaptation, resistance, and sometimes repression, the system has functioned virtually intact for over a hundred years and has brought us a high degree of literacy and social integration. Despite its limitations and weaknesses, the system has achieved remarkable results with only incremental adjustments. Every system strives to achieve homeostasis by evolving an internal form of governance — an autonomic nervous or immune system in the body — a curriculum or administrative function in an organization. This internal governance monitors the internal and external environments for irrelevancies, nourishment or threat. The more creative and flexible it is in negotiating this information, the better its chances of survival. When we say an organism or organization resists change, what we are saying is that a highly evolved and integrated system has a precise ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright Š GLOBAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES 2000 All material on this site is for personal use only. Reproduction or on-sending of any material held under Global Learning Communities or Integral Learning Futures is strictly prohibited ACN089 544 730

sense of its own identity and a keen perception of what constitutes comfort or danger.

But just as there are times in the life of an organism of high integration, flexibility, and creativity (such as childhood), and other times of disintegration, rigidity, and death (such as old age), so too societal organizations and systems have appropriate life cycles. There are times for replication and times for innovation.

Times for evolutionary adjustment and times for visionary transformation.

Nature has no dysfunction, no disturbances, no pollution, no waste. What it does have is informational feedback loops that suggest a response. Some of the feedback we are receiving form our educational and social activities are: From School System — Deteriorating facilities High drop-out rates Poor mastery of basic skills High degree of adult illiteracy Lack of funding and public confidence Social class and racial conflicts High levels of violence and addictive behaviors From Society — Wholesale ecological destruction Economies in recession Citizen apathy or despondency Disintegration of the family Racism, social injustice, widening gaps between rich and poor Failing health care systems Violence and addictive behaviors Given this type of feedback, we seem to be arriving at a general consensus that it is now time to begin the process of genuinely transforming our educational systems. Conservatives and liberals alike see that this is so. Indeed, educational reform is seen in many countries as "the most pressing challenge before this nation," and various leaders have encouraged school districts throughout America "to sweep aside assumptions commonly held" and move forward to create "break-the-mold schools."

How Do We Institute Effective Change?

An understanding of relationship seems to be essential for the orderly functioning of the human mind…(and) provides the basic framework for perceiving and understanding the universe. — Jonas Salk ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © GLOBAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES 2000 All material on this site is for personal use only. Reproduction or on-sending of any material held under Global Learning Communities or Integral Learning Futures is strictly prohibited ACN089 544 730

Our current educational system is derived from an industrial model which values replication and comprehends knowledge as an objective substance, a series of pertinent facts, that can be moved from one brain to another. In the same way that factories accumulate raw materials and fashion them into predesigned products, our educational systems place a high priority on memorization, tasks repetition, and the execution of precise assignments for a predetermined outcome. Our success in doing this has altered our social and natural environments so radically that this method has not only rendered itself obsolete but has, in fact, become a threat to our survival. We have learned from many of the unsuccessful reforms of the 1960's and 70's that methods which attempt to impose their strategies from preordained agendas often encounter the resistance of homeostasis (the tendency for any highly evolved system to maintain its own integrity). These imposed strategies have been ignored, resisted, or even assimilated into the very structure they are trying to reform. But no profound transformations have occurred, and that is because we have attempted to renovate our educational system as though it were a machine, and it is resisting those changes by responding as a living organism.

Ecoliteracy Abandoning our role as social and environmental engineers is the first step in adopting a responsible approach to change. It is a shift from manipulation to relationship.

Ecoliteracy is unique in that it recognizes the educational system for what it is: a living subsystem of the larger ecosystem of the earth. As such, our model for change, and for the design of K-12 learning processes, is derived from the principle of ecology, i.e., the study of relationships among living organisms and their environments. In its simplest form Ecoliteracy is an integrated and experiential understanding of the connectedness of things.

Ecoliteracy recognizes the earth as a single living system, and that this system, as well as its subsystems (including human systems, i.e., school systems) is characterized by precise organizing principles. One of the most essential of which, given the continual energy/information flux between organism and environment, is that ecological systems are, by their very nature, learning communities. By using ecological systems as our models, we can transform our schools into viable, comprehensive, and integrated learning communities which support the ever-changing needs and aspirations of individuals, society, and the local and global environment.

The Mission of Ecoliteracy ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright Š GLOBAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES 2000 All material on this site is for personal use only. Reproduction or on-sending of any material held under Global Learning Communities or Integral Learning Futures is strictly prohibited ACN089 544 730

Our mission is creating a flexible self-sustaining, self-perpetuating learning process which is fully integrated into its local community and environment, meets the needs and aspirations of all its members, and which interacts with conscious awareness and harmony in the broader ecosystems of society and nature.

Our four-year process for realizing our mission includes: Identifying and understanding the relationships and structures as they currently exist in their unique, local environment. Although systems theory does have global operating principles, it recognizes that the health or sickness of any system is not generic, and that just as problems are endemic to a particular set of circumstances, so too are cures. In other words, the feedback loops in a particular school or school district are keys to the life of the system. The particular facilities, budgets, skill levels, communities, students, teachers, and administrators have together created their current situation with all its social and environmental consequences. The system is alive and creative. Whether it creates violence, illiteracy, drug addiction or cooperation, mastery, and selfreliance, it still lives and creates. Finding the keys to this life and creativity is the first step, therefore, in shaping more affirming learning outcomes.

Fostering an awareness of ecological principles. As we identify each structure and relationship in the system, we will simultaneously be learning and teaching the principles of ecology as they relate to a unique, local environment. At this stage, processes and programs will emerge. For some schools this may be designing new curricula, for others this may be developing community support or renovating facilities. The purpose, mission, and desired outcomes in any particular school or school district will be derived from and designed in accordance with that system's unique needs, abilities, and resources.

Designing assessment procedures. The success of any organism or organization depends on its ability to clarify its needs and aspirations (defining it outcomes), and to know when its responses and actions are appropriate to achieving those ends (receiving accurate feedback and knowing what to do with it). We are accustomed to measuring objects, not assessing relationships. How does one assess love of learning, understanding or concepts, integration of experience, cooperation skills, perseverance, or any other of the elements of relationship-learning? Again, in cooperation with the other members of the school, community, and environmental system, Ecoliteracy will assist in designing precise processes of assessment.

Ecoliteracy design may be a mutually agreed upon system of collaborative learning which enhances skills performance for both groups and illustrates how both are important to the healthy functioning of the entire school community. the project may then include presentations to similar elements in the community at ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright Š GLOBAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES 2000 All material on this site is for personal use only. Reproduction or on-sending of any material held under Global Learning Communities or Integral Learning Futures is strictly prohibited ACN089 544 730

large as an experiential demonstration of how class or racial tensions occur and how they are resolved. Assessment procedures might then monitor a number of outcomes; 1) Are the skill levels of both high and low achievers enhanced; 2) is social integration more harmonious; 3) Is there a greater understanding among students and in the community at large of how disparities of learning and social tensions are created and resolved. This is only a hypothetical example, but it does illustrate how the systems theory of Ecoliteracy facilitates change. What is important to realize is that the design and implementation of any process of outcomes and assessments should arise from the elements, members, and relationships of the system itself, and, to be effective, be based on the principles of systems theory. The processes of living systems, and in particular the system of the local social and natural environments, will be used as models to implement and assess desired transformations in the learning community.

________________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright Š GLOBAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES 2000 All material on this site is for personal use only. Reproduction or on-sending of any material held under Global Learning Communities or Integral Learning Futures is strictly prohibited ACN089 544 730