Tuesday, December 4, 2007

4th ICEE Concludes with Ahmedabad Declaration

The 4th International Conference on Environmental Education for Sustainable Development concluded last week with a dynamic Declaration that was painstakingly crafted by a core team that worked very hard, spending sleepless nights, crafting the draft. You can read the Ahmedabad Declaration here at http://www.tbilisiplus30.org/Declaration.pdf.

The participants from different working sessions got together to draft a set of recommendations. All the recommendations made by different working groups will be published as a book.

Presentations made by some of the speakers during the plenary sessions and other sessions are available here at: http://www.tbilisiplus30.org/Speaker%20ppt.html.

The conference had nearly 1200 participants from 80 countries.

Eco-Informatics Centre carries out a study on biodiversity awareness in Bangalore Schools

The Eco-Informatics Centre carried out a study on Biodiversity awareness in Bangalore schools and presented the findings at the 4th International Conference on Environmental Education for Sustainable Development. The presentation was made in the Working Session titled, 'Teacher Education: A Crucial Contribution to the UNDESD' that was jointly coordinated by Prof Charles Hopkins and Dr M J Ravindranath.

The study had 118 teachers and 223 students participating

The Study revealed that:
50% of teachers were interested in learning & using creative techniques for EE

75% of teachers not familiar with India specific EE & biodiversity related resources online

53% of students found environment science interesting but 47% of students found EVS boring, difficult or not fun to learn