Environmental education: A hands-on approach to explore environmental issues in Puerto Rico with emphasis on endangered species

• Main Author: Martinez Rivera, Carmen M
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 1997
• Subjects: Elementary education|Curricula|Teaching|Environmental science; Arctic; Enano; Falco peregrinus; peregrine falcon
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9737560

The purpose of this work was to create a framework for the design of a hands-on approach to explore environmental issues in Puerto Rico with emphasis on endangered species. The product of the action research is a curriculum for children, ages seven to eleven consisting of fourteen formal lessons and twenty-three informal lessons that focus on ten chosen endangered species of Puerto Rico. The framework created in this study is based on the Environmental Education Goal developed in the Belgrade Workshop that took place in Yugoslavia in 1975. A theoretical framework for the curriculum design was presented as Chapter III of the dissertation. It included a description of the historical background of the island of Puerto Rico. It also presents a general historical review that identified specific moments in the history of education in Puerto Rico and general information about the science curriculum on the Island. The hands-on curriculum in Spanish for Puerto Rican children, ages seven to eleven, was developed as part of the study and was presented as Chapter IV. The chapter addressed environmental issues pertaining to ten specific endangered species from Puerto Rico and included fourteen formal lessons and twenty-three informal. The ten endangered species included in the study are the following:(UNFORMATTED TABLE OR EQUATION FOLLOWS)$$\vbox{\halign{#\hfil&&\quad#\hfil\cr$\underline{\rm Scientific\ Name}$&$\underline{\rm Common\ Name}$\cr\cr Amphiphous:\cr {\it Eleutherodactylus jasperi}& Golden Coqu\'\i\cr\cr Birds:\cr {\it Falco peregrinus tundrius}& Arctic Peregrine Falcon\cr\cr {\it Pelecanus o. occidentalis}& Brown Pelican\cr\cr {\it Charadrius alexandrinus-}\cr {\it tenuirostris} & Piping Plover\cr\cr Plants:\cr {\it Cyathea dryopteroides} (Fern)& Helecho Arb\'oreo del Bosque\cr & Enano\cr\cr {\it Stahlia monosperma} (Tree)& C\'obana Negra\cr\cr {\it Ternstroemia luquillensis} (Tree) & Palo Colorado\cr\cr {\it Cassia mirabilis} (Shrub)& $\surd$\cr\cr Reptiles:\cr {\it Chelonia mydas} & Green Sea Turtle\cr\cr {\it Cyclura stejnegeri} & Mona Ground Iguana\cr}}$$(TABLE/EQUATION ENDS) ftn$\surd$ = Some species do not have common name.