Inclusion of outdoor environmental settings in formal education system: a study of the elementary level in Delhi and Connecticut
Student name: Ms Supriya Gulati
Guide: Dr Mala Narang Reddy
Year of completion: 2010
Host Organisation: School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, Connecticut, USA
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Carol Carpenter
Abstract: Rapid urbanisation and change in land use pattern around the world not only affects the natural
systems of these areas but is also leading to change in relationship between people and nature.
People, especially children, now spend far lesser time in natural environmental settings and are
therefore, becoming less aware and disconnected from it. There is a need to develop awareness,
knowledge, attitude, skills, proenvironmental behaviour, evaluation ability and participation in
children towards environment. This lack of direct experiences with nature is also causing rise to
some of the most disturbing childhood trends as obesity, attention disorders and depressions,
termed as “nature-deficit disordersâ€. It has been found that an Environmental Education based
school curriculum is an effective way to solve these issues. Teaching-learning strategies focussed
on providing direct firsthand experience by the utilization of diverse outdoor environmental
settings have been endorsed as one of the guiding principles of Environmental Education. Keeping
this in consideration, this study explored the use and inclusion of different outdoor environmental
settings into the school curriculum at the elementary level of grade sixth in the state of Delhi,
India and Connecticut, USA. It was found that, where an integrated and interdisciplinary
approach to Environmental Education has been adopted in USA; in India attempts have also been
made to bring it as a separate compulsory subject at all levels of formal school system along with
this integrated approach. Schools in the state of Connecticut were found to provide more direct
experiences to children through use of natural outdoor environmental settings, whereas, schools in
Delhi were found to provide lesser direct and some indirect experiences by use of both natural and
man-made outdoor environmental settings. The constraint faced by schools and suggestions for
inclusion of outdoor environmental settings has also been discussed.
KEY WORDS: Environmental Education, experience, outdoor environmental settings, schools,
school curriculum
