Using the topic "Water management in Umtata" to promote the use of an environmental approach in the teaching of geography

Abstract

This study first offers a critique of some conventional approaches to environmental education and geography. The critique is followed by an analysis of current learning theories which underpin environmental and geographical thinking. On the basis of this analysis an environmental approach to the teaching of geography is identified. Within the broad theoretical context provided by debates on the importance of environmental education for the solution of environmental problems, the study promotes student teachers' understanding of an environmental approach in the teaching of geography at Transkei College of Education. Water management, a section of the geography syllabus, is selected to illustrate the process and implementation of such an approach in geography. The educational effectiveness of an environmental approach with regard to the students' conceptual understanding of water management is evaluated. The study as a whole is set within the general literature of environmental education, and particularly that of education for the environment.