Engaging a grade six teacher and her students in educating for sustainability: A teacher-researcher collaborative study

Educating for Sustainability (EfS) requires a fundamental shift in thinking from an anthropocentric to an eco-centric worldview. EfS requires an ecological approach so that children may develop a way of knowing to live sustainably. To realize these goals, teachers need to understand students' views of human-nature relationships and how these influence curriculum decision-making when adopting the principles of ecology. This study, therefore, focuses on a Grade six teacher who collaborates with the researcher to design an ecology-oriented EfS curriculum. The study also explores her students' views of human-nature relationships and how she translates the intended EfS curriculum into classroom practice.;The study uses an ethnographic design to understand the EfS curriculum development process; phenomenography to identify categories of students' views of human-nature relations and to develop case studies; and an ethnographic design to capture a holistic picture of the classroom culture.;Means of data collection over eight months include: tape recordings of on-going conversations between a teacher and a researcher as they collaboratively develop an EfS curriculum unit; face-to-face individual interviews with the teacher and her students; photo-interviews with students; video- and audio-recordings of classroom observations; and content analysis of documents and artifacts.;The teacher (Rachel) characterizes herself as a "real Enviro Freak"---with an eco-centric human/nature relation. She values practical process-oriented approaches to teaching and learning. Rachel identifies a number of issues during curriculum development: missing partners for an interdisciplinary approach, time commitments for collaborative effort, previous experience with collaborative work, acknowledgement and support at home, teacher responsibilities, and non-existent EfS curricula. Rachel's support system includes: the school structure in place to implement an EfS unit, positive working climate with colleagues, her principal's support and her pre-service Early Years education.;Grade six students' views of human/nature relations are: action, life-based intrinsic value experiential appreciation, self-centered, non-reciprocal view, basic need, safekeeping, biocentric, reciprocal, personal, and technical. Two case studies reveal that students develop more sophisticated meanings about the eco-centric world view. While teaching the EfS unit, Rachel displays five character traits: raising student awareness of human/nature relations; interpreting student values and positions; leading students from within; inspiring students by story-telling; and empowering students in making decisions and taking actions. She dissolves the classroom walls and reaches out to the community to bring the EfS unit to life.;The missing link in the EfS curriculum involves the conscious and systematic incorporation of student views and the connection of these views to the principles of ecology. Thus, the study implies that teachers need to learn how to incorporate students' human/nature relations into the curriculum that uses the principles of ecology. For successful teaching, the curriculum needs to adopt a transformative process, which involves, inquiry, reflection, and dialogue within a community of learning.