Ecological Literacy

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Ecological literacy refers to the understanding of ecological principles and systems, enabling individuals to comprehend the interconnections between human activities and the environment. It encompasses knowledge of sustainability, biodiversity, and the impact of human behavior on ecological health, fostering informed decision-making and responsible stewardship of natural resources.

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Key research themes

1. How can nature-based literacy frameworks effectively reconnect children and youth with the natural environment to promote health and ecological stewardship?

This research theme investigates conceptualizing and operationalizing nature-based literacy (including ecological literacy) to address the disconnection of children and youth from nature in contemporary urban societies. It focuses on defining key components of nature engagement literacies and their implications for promoting physical health, mental well-being, and ecological awareness among young people. This is a critical area as reduced outdoor activity and contact with nature have been linked empirically to various negative outcomes, necessitating frameworks that motivate and equip youth to re-engage with the natural world.

Defining a nature-based literacy: A research synthesis review of health-promoting literacies to promote nature engagement

by Nevin Harper

2024, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning

Key finding: Synthesized a nature-based literacy framework incorporating four core capability domains—Motivation, Knowledge, Competence, and Confidence—that unify components from physical, media, health, nutrition, and ecological... Read more

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Developing ecological literacy in a forest garden: children’s perspectives

by Helen Avery

2023, Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning

Key finding: Through qualitative engagements with 7- to 9-year-old children visiting a forest garden, the study identified three interrelated aspects of learning beneficial for ecological literacy development: practical competence,... Read more

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Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy

by Catarina Schmidt

2021, Environmental Education Research

Key finding: Demonstrated that critical place-based pedagogy, which emphasizes non-prescriptive, democratic, and situated learning outdoors, enhances children's ecological literacy by fostering student agency, identity formation, and... Read more

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2. What is the impact of Eco-Schools and green education programs on students' environmental literacy outcomes?

This theme centers on empirical evaluation of environmental education programs, notably the Eco-Schools international initiative, and similar green school models, assessing their effectiveness in elevating knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and skills that constitute environmental literacy among students. Given the increasing institutional adoption of Eco-Schools globally, evaluating their measurable impacts on different literacy dimensions helps refine educational practices aimed at fostering responsible environmental stewardship in youth.

Can Eco-Schools Improve Elementary School Students' Environmental Literacy Levels?

by Sibel Balcı

2016

Key finding: Experimental comparison showed that students in Eco-Schools scored significantly higher across all environmental literacy subscales—knowledge, attitudes, uses, and concerns—than those in traditional schools. This empirical... Read more

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Environmental literacy comparison between students taught in eco-schools and ordinary schools in the Madeira Island Region of Portugal

by Hélder Freitas

2022, Science education international

Key finding: Found no statistically significant overall increase in environmental literacy among 9th grade Eco-School students compared to ordinary schools, although marginally better scores were observed in knowledge, attitude, and... Read more

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Student's Environmental Literacy Profile Of Adiwiyata Green School In Surakarta, Indonesia

by hephi meilinda

2021, Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn)

Key finding: In the Adiwiyata Green School context, students displayed a moderate level of environmental literacy in knowledge, attitude, and concern components, but overall categorized as low literacy. The study underscores the... Read more

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3. How can ecological literacy be measured among adults, and what dimensions are critical for valid and reliable assessment tools?

Research on ecological literacy measurement focuses on creating, validating, and refining instruments capable of assessing adults' ecological knowledge, awareness, attitudes, competencies, and behaviors. Developing nuanced, multidimensional assessment tools informs educational interventions by identifying literacy deficits and strengths. This theme emphasizes the psychometric rigor, applicability across diverse adult populations, and the importance of encompassing cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of ecological literacy.

Ecological Literacy Measurement Tool for Adults: Validity and Reliability Study

by Gelengul Haktanır and

2024, Necatibey Eğitim Fakültesi Elektronik Fen ve Matematik Eğitimi Dergisi

Key finding: Developed a 37-item, three-part ecological literacy measurement instrument including an awareness scale and two types of knowledge tests (true/false and multiple-choice). Validation with teacher candidates in Turkey... Read more

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Perception of Ecological Literacy in Education: A Scale Development Study

by IJELS AIAC

2023

Key finding: Constructed a valid and reliable ecological literacy scale for teachers capturing cognitive, affective, and behavioral attitudes. The scale's validation with 879 teachers revealed distinct components of ecological literacy... Read more

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DIGITAL LITERACY, TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY, AND ECOLOGICAL LITERACY AS PREDICTORS OF ATTITUDES TOWARDS ICT G-READINESS [AS RECOMMENDATION TO THE DRAFTING OF THE PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION LAW (PDP

by Himma Dewiyana and

2023, Article

Key finding: Demonstrated through structural equation modeling that ecological literacy, alongside digital and technological literacies, significantly predicts university students' attitudes toward ICT Green-Readiness—an environmentally... Read more

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All papers in Ecological Literacy

Conservation Photography as environmental education: Focus on the pedagogues

by Bruce E Farnsworth

This research examines the genre of conservation photography as a legitimate and highly relevant pedagogical enterprise well poised amid the proliferation of digital media and environmental crises. This small-scale qualitative study... more

Figure 1. Mock cemetery created by a homeowner near Grand Isle, Louisiana, in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. © 2010 Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Figure 2. Photograph of a wild logperch (Percina spp.) made during a freshwater stream population survey in the southeastern United States. The fish was later released unharmed. © 2009 Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Figure 3. Brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) mired in petroleum in the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The bird was cleaned at a wildlife rehabilitation centre and later released after observation. © 2010 Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Figure 4. Volunteer rescue worker from Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, lifts a brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) from petroleum in the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The bird was cleaned at a wildlife rehabilitation centre and later released after observation. © 2010 Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

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Environmental literacy, ecological literacy, ecoliteracy: What do we mean and how did we get here?

by Bill Borrie

Citation: McBride, B. B., C. A. Brewer, A. R. Berkowitz, and W. T. Borrie. 2013. Environmental literacy, ecological literacy, ecoliteracy: What do we mean and how did we get here? Ecosphere 4(5):67. http://dx.

Table 1. Components of environmental literacy, adapted from Simmons (1995). of protagonists with respect to a given environ- mental issue, but also is able to clarify his or her own values in connection with action. considered first and foremost to comprise a set of problems and issues. As reflected in nearly all frameworks, an environmentally literate citizen is an individual who is, most importantly, informed about environmental issues and prob- lems and possesses the attitudes and skills for solving them. While some frameworks prescribe a code of socially desirable attitudes and values, others focus on the construction of one’s own values system; in either case, the environmentally literate individual has a well-developed set of environmental values or morals. The individual also takes action in terms of changing his or her own behavior in order to remediate or prevent further environmental problems. The individual is not only able to identify and analyze the values

Notes: Framework terminology reflects authors’ usage. Frameworks are arranged in chronological order based on initia publication date to reflect progression within the field. Abbreviations are: ASTM, American Society for Testing and Materials NSTA, National Science Teachers Association; NAAEE, North American Association for Environmental Education; EL environmental literacy; ERB, environmentally responsible behaviors; UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Table 2. Continued.

Note: Abbreviations are: ASTM, American Society for Testing and Materials; NSTA, National Science Teachers Association; NAAEE, North American Association for Environmental Education; EE, environmental education; EL, environmental literacy; ERB, environmentally responsible behaviors; UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Table 3. Comparison of environmental literacy frameworks advanced within the field of environmenta education.

Notes: Authors marked with an asterisk suggest that ecological literacy is a subset of environmental literacy. The abbreviation “ERB” stands for “environmentally responsible behaviors.” Table 5. Comparison of ecological literacy frameworks advanced within the field of ecology.

Note: Terminology reflects authors’ usage. Table 6. Frameworks for ecoliteracy.

Note: Abbreviations are CfE, Center for Ecoliteracy; C.M. and S., Cutter-Mackenzie and Smith; ERB, environmentally responsible behaviors. Table 7. Comparison of ecoliteracy frameworks.

Table 8. Characterizations of environmental literacy, ecological literacy, and ecoliteracy, including questions for further discussion.

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The Role of Ecological Literacy Education with Academic Support in Raising Environmental Awareness for High School Students “Enka Ecological Literacy Summer Camp Project Case Study”

by Cagdas YUKSEL and

Table 1. ENKA Ecological Literacy Summer CampDay-time Activities. Table 2. ENKA Ecological Literacy Summer CampNight-time Activities.

Information about nature intelligence, which is explained in Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theorem, is given during the project and because of the necessary studies to reveal students’ nature intelligence, camp planning is hence organized (Demirkaya, 2006).

Table 3. ENKA Ecological Literacy Summer Camp Program Following the night presentation about Meteorites and Panspermia (Cosmic Hypothesis), a night observation was made and some participants had the chance to observe the moon, twin stars and planets with the astronomical telescope.

It has been shown that according to the results of students’ answers, participants who adopted egocentric attitudes before the camp completed the camp with developed environment-based perception. Table 4. ENKA Ecological Literacy Summer Camp Day-time Activities Satisfaction Rating

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Taking a broad view of literacy: Lessons from the Appalachian Trail thru-hiking community

by Leslie Rush

2003, Reading Online

... Walking the dream. Cookeville, TN: One Step. Back. Back to menu. About the Author. Leslie Rush is an assistant professor of English education at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, WY, USA. She teaches courses in secondary English... more

Reproduced with permission of Potomac Appalachian Trail Club; log book of shelter

Within the existing multiliteracies framework, texts are visual, as in art and multimedia texts; spatial, as in the architecture or use of space in buildings and landscaping; linguistic, as in written and spoken texts; or audio, as in sound effects and music. Data from this study illustrate the need for an additional element that broadens multiliteracies to include texts that are part of our ecological context. Making this context part of the framework provides a place for reading the world around us in both natural and social ways.

For a printer-ready version of this article, click here. Wolfe, E. (1998). Wa/king the dream. Cookeville, TN: One Step. Back Citation: Rush, L.S. (2003, April). Taking a broad view of literacy: Lessons from the Appalachian Trail thru-hiking community. Reading Online, 6(7). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=rush/ Taylor, D., & Dorsey-Gaines, C. (1988). Growing up literate: Learning from inner-city families Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Back

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Eco-Literate Music Pedagogy

by Dan Shevock

2017

2017 Pre-publication proof of "Prelude" ... Link: https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/0415792576 On Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/Eco-Literate-Music-Pedagogy/Shevock/p/book/9780415792578 On Amazon.com:... more

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Bridging the ecological knowledge and knowledge-action gaps: a utopian vision for education in Manitoba

by Matt Henderson

This thesis seeks to advance a curriculum which provides learners with educative experiences required to promote an ecological literacy. This particular type of literacy enables individuals and communities to understand their... more

that both Shell Canada and Manitoba Education use the same
Figure 1. Image taken from and used
with permission from Manitoba
Education:
http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/esd/

emerge, we need to allow learners to see the world from their perspective and then take the
Venn diagram to illustrate the concept of sustainable

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The Symbolic Quest Behind Today’s Cities of Light — and its Unintended Ecological Consequences

by Geoff Berry

2013, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture

The symbol of light has commonly represented human desires for goodness, order, truth, perpetual abundance, and the transcendence of earthly limits. Modern practices of artificial light cultivation remain associated with a symbolic... more

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Thoughts on the Law, Gatekeepers, and Rerooting

by Dan Shevock

2017, Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education

2017 This essay extends an open philosophy with a philosophy of music education on soil. An open philosophy emerges from analysis of Kafka's parable " Before the Law. " I explore what " the law " might be, what it could mean for how... more

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The school environment as a teacher: The role of space and place in enhancing ecological literacy and social competence development in children and young people

by Alessandro Rigolon

2012

Possono gli spazi e i luoghi facilitare lo sviluppo personale e in particolare la coscienza ecologica e la competenza sociale? In caso di risposta positiva, in che modo gli spazi e i luoghi sono in grado di fare la differenza? Questa tesi... more

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The educational leader as keystone species for ecological literacy and sustainability education

by Peter D Buck

2015, Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice

Currently, institutions in all sectors face so-called "wicked" and "super wicked problems" like anthropogenic climate change, problems of remarkable ecological, economic, and social complexity that lack obvious solutions. These problems... more

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The Ecological Literacy of Prospective Teacher at Sebelas Maret University

by Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn)

2018, Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn)

The aim of this study is to determine the ecological literacy ability of prospective teachers at Sebelas Maret University (UNS). This research was conducted on students at the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (FKIP) UNS... more

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Types of Intelligence. The Ecological Intelligence and Sustainability

by Sergiu Bălan

2018, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference Competitiveness of Agro-Food and Environmental Economy – CAFEE 2018

The concept of intelligence is strongly debated among theoreticians, one of the main difficulties being that of deciding whether intelligence is a single-or multi-dimensional human ability. Regardless of its specific meaning or content,... more

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Herkes İçin Ekolojik Okuryazarlık Seminerleri

by Dr. Pınar Börü and

2019, Meltem İzmir Akdeniz Akademisi Dergisi

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SYSTEMS THINKING AS THE BASIS FOR AN ECOLOGICAL DESIGN EDUCATION

by Mark DeKay

1996, Proceedings of the 21st National Passive Solar Conference

Design education is built on a combination of historical models that have little to do with ecological design or contemporary understandings of whole systems. In order to educate designers for ecologically and socially responsible... more

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Ecological Literacy

Key research themes

1. How can nature-based literacy frameworks effectively reconnect children and youth with the natural environment to promote health and ecological stewardship?

2. What is the impact of Eco-Schools and green education programs on students' environmental literacy outcomes?

3. How can ecological literacy be measured among adults, and what dimensions are critical for valid and reliable assessment tools?

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All papers in Ecological Literacy