Environmental Education for Sustainable Development through Collaborative Learning Approach

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of collaborative learning approach on teaching Environmental education of class VII for sustainable development. A sample of 80 class VII students and class VII science teachers of five schools of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Odisha were selected. One group pretest and posttest experimental design was followed. After three months students who have been undergone varieties of instructional activities like experience sharing, group discussion , observation, awareness campaign in and outside the school and taught with three collaborative strategies- Think pair share, three step interview and jigsaw achieved significantly higher score on posttest. The mean difference between pretest and posttest scores was computed and found that the mean had increased from 13.48 to 19.58, a mean gain of 6.10 score points. This improvement in learning Environmental education for sustainable development was due to impact of the treatment. It was revealed from the study, dimensions on perception of teachers on environmental education for sustainable development that four teachers out of five felt, teachers were the change agent for education of sustainable development. It further revealed that 80% students had shown interest in protecting and conserving environment on certain selected areas as mentioned in the study. This approach had a significant impact in creating knowledge, skill and competency among students for sustainable development of the environment as well as helped in bringing positive attitude among students.