www.jtimes.ca/water

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Water Journalism Sustainability Project

Investigators : Janice Paskey and Terry Field

Department of Journalism, Mount Royal University

Correspondence : jpaskey@mtroyal.ca and tfield@mtroyal.ca

Principal Research Assistant : Zoe Choy

The aim of this project was to explore the field of water journalism instruction at the university level, assemble and read research into the area, pilot some student water journalism and develop a WordPress site with resources facing water issues in Alberta. The field is rich and exciting for both journalists and their professors.

Table of Contents

1. Curriculum Review 2. Annotated Bibliography 3. Discussion of Literature 4. Student Water Journalism 5. Project Conclusions 6. WordPress Site 7. Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Institute for Environmental Sustainability at Mount Royal University for a project grant.

June 2015

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1. Curriculum Review: Water Journalism Janice Paskey & Terry Field (jpaskey@mtroyal.ca, tfield@mtroyal.ca) Department of Journalism Mount Royal University Calgary, Alberta, Canada As part of our initiative to introduce water issues to journalism students, we surveyed curriculum at other colleges and universities. We queried ‘environmental journalism’ as we expected this is traditionally where water issues reside. In Canada, 10 post-secondary schools were surveyed: King’s College (Halifax), Ryerson University (Toronto), Algonquin College (Ottawa) Thompson Rivers University (Kamloops), Carleton University (Ottawa), University of British Columbia (Vancouver), Western University (London). In Alberta we queried SAIT (Calgary), Mount Royal University (Calgary) and McEwan University (Edmonton). Of those, four out of 10 universities surveyed offered environmental journalism-related courses. These include: Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec) JOUR 402/2: Science Reporting (This course is taught by Dave Seiko (http://www.csjp.ca/ ) : Science reporting will introduce participants to storytelling about science. We will look for opportunities to cover science while following three reporting beats. This will be complemented with class discussions of the techniques used by science journalists and the constraints that shape science news. Overall, we will trace the process of science reporting from idea to publishable article. Guiding questions include: What makes a science story newsworthy? How do you effectively communicate technical information to a wide audience? What pitfalls can a science journalist fall into and how can they be avoided? No scientific training is required; instead curiosity and a desire to tell scientific tales will be our guide. Contact : David M. Secko, Ph.D. Associate Professor | Diploma Program Director Tel: (514) 848-2424 ext. 5175 Fax: (514) 848-2473 Email: david.secko@concordia.ca

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Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario) – JOUR 4201D: Specialized Reporting, Science Journalism (This course is taught by Kathryn O’Hara): Specialized reporting has topics that vary from year to year. There are other Specialized Reporting courses covering separate issues, but JOUR 4201D covers natural science, medicine and the environment. It is a two semester course, open to fourth year students and if there is enough room, second year masters students. Prof. O’Hara says she also has guests like Andre Picard, Helen Brans well and Ivan Selenium to talk about the challenges of science journalism as well as scientists who are good communicators in physics, epidemiology, toxicology global health, and arctic research. The students publish an online magazine Catalyst at the end of the term - http://www.cusjc.ca/catalyst/. Contact : Kathryn O’Hara School of Journalism and Communications Department: (613) 520-7404 Office: (613) 520-2600 ext. 8072 Email: kathryn_ohara@carleton.ca Thompson Rivers University (Kamloops, B.C.) - JOUR 4150: Popular Science, Nature and Technology Writing (This course taught by Shawn Thompson and is offered in rotation, one year on, one year off): Science and nature writing has been a popular genre with a mainstream audience from the time that Charles Darwin's book The Voyage of the Beagle was a bestseller in Victorian England. This genre increased its appeal with the rise of the magazine and the cheap paperback book, and it was perfected as a popular style with magazines like Discover. This course examines the style and strategy of writing that turns esoteric, technical information from the sciences into an engaging colloquial form with a lively narrative for the non-expert. Students in this course will produce their own science, nature, or technology writing for a typical mainstream publication. Contact: Shawn Thompson Email: prof.shawnthompson@yahoo.ca University of British Columbia (Vancouver, B.C) - Anthropology of Science and Technology (This course taught by Candies Callison): This course will approach science as both a culture and practice, examining how facts are made, how they circulate, and how they come to matter for diverse publics. Such approaches to knowledge production, institutional contexts, and the emergence of new forms of expertise have become increasingly important as complex global problems like climate change present newly configured challenges for both sciences and societies. This course will closely examine and actively discuss ethnographic studies of field sites that range from nuclear weapons laboratories and surgical operating theatres to tech start-ups, activist communities, and responses to recent disasters such as Hurricane Katrina

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and Fukushima. Students are encouraged to research and reflect on the role of science and technology in politics, policy, social movements, and as represented in media. Contact: Candies Callison Email: candis.callison@ubc.ca Twitter: @candiscallison Other courses are offered that have environmental and science aspects. Here are other UBC professors who teach these environmental/science related courses (and projects by UBC are included elsewhere): Contact: Nicola Jones Phone: 604-822-8747 Email: nkjones@gmail.com Contact: Dan McKinney Email: dpmckinney@gmail.com Charles Hays, the acting chair of Thompson Rivers journalism program, also noted several other courses which can include environmental components: JOUR 3160 Online Journalism, JOUR 3230 Beat Reporting, JOUR 3540 Feature Writing, JOUR 4130 Advanced Online Journalism, JOUR 4210 Freelance Writing, JOUR 4270 Investigative Journalism, JOUR 4750 Senior Project, and JOUR 4950 Directed Study. Note that most of these courses are advanced writing or production courses, where students may propose their own projects. Contact: Charles Hays Phone: 250-377-6045 Email: chays@tru.ca Contact: Maxine Ruvinsky Phone: 250-371-5925 Email: mruvinsky@tru.ca

Thompson Rivers and UBC have water components based on students’ interests and projects, while Carleton University includes courses with issues related to water such as climate change, Arctic ice loss and global health. Although we were only able to identify four of 10 Canadian universities offering environmental journalism courses, there are components of environmental journalism laced throughout curricula at others. For instance, in the case of Ryerson University, components of environmental journalism can be found in other journalism courses such as health/science and business journalism. In another case, Visiting professor Jim Handman taught a graduate

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journalism course entitled From Grey Goo to Golden Rice: Emerging Issues in Science and Environmental Journalism at Western University (London, Ontario). In any general reporting courses, students may have opportunity to report on water issues as part of general reporting or municipal or health reporting. Large projects that focused on environmental issues were born from investigative journalism courses. Of note: Boat Harbour from (King’s College, Halifax, Nova Scotia) lead by Fred Vallance Jones via his Investigative Journalism Workshop course. Boat Harbour was published in April 2009 in a Halifax paper, The Coast. The website Toxic Legacy offers the complete menu of investigative stories, information and maps produced during a six-week investigation by King’s College journalism students. Tsuk Ekanam Water Stories was a 2013 University of British Columbia project produced by graduate students in the Reporting in Indigenous Communities course. In partnership with CBC Vancouver, the students produced six investigative pieces regarding water issues faced by indigenous communities within B.C. The website also provides additional details on the aboriginal communities involved with the project. China’s Generation Green was a project produced by graduate students from University of Brtitish Columbia within the International Reporting Program and in partnership with seven Chinese journalism students. The investigative website explores China’s young population trying to make a positive difference on the environment. The site describes the project as: “Five student reporting teams worked across China, focusing on water, food, wildlife preservation, air quality and waste issues. Through a mix of words, sound, video, photos and graphics, the teams tell the stories of these pioneers of the emerging Chinese environmental movement.” The United States We also surveyed five institutions in the United States: the University of Colorado in Boulder, Michigan State University, Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, and George Washington University, and Arizona State University The courses that include water topics include: The George Washington University: SMPA-3195: Multimedia Reporting to Inform, a course offering different specialized topics year to year including environmental journalism, and taught by Frank Sesno. The Michigan State University Knight Centre for Environmental Journalism is found here The University of California, Berkeley: J298 Earth Journalism: International Environmental Reporting

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Stanford University: COMM 177C: Specialized Writing and Reporting: Environmental Journalism. The University of Colorado Boulder website here. The University of Arizona has a special dual degree master’s degree in Journalism and Soil, Water and Environmental Science offered by the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science (SWES) and the School of Journalism comprises an M.S. in Soil, Water and Environmental Science and an M.A. in Journalism.

Rationale: “News reports about issues such as climate change and evolution illustrate

clearly how providing journalists with a cross-disciplinary education in science can affect

decisions about how information about scientific topics is selected and used in news

reports that become part of the global information environment. This coverage, in turn,

has a major impact on discourse about science and science policy in this country and

others.”

Notable Water projects at American Journalism schools include: Water Watch Wisconsin is a project by the Wisconsin Centre for Investigative Journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The series focuses on the area’s water supply and any threats to it. Within this series, a project titled The Confluence: A Live News Experiment Covering Wisconsin Waters won a grant from the Online News Association. “The project — unprecedented in scope — will connect six to seven journalism courses, Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Madison Commons, state newspapers, and public and commercial broadcast outlets, as well as volunteer citizen water monitoring.” Sea Level Rise in South Florida: How are Waters Affecting You? was another journalism project that won a grant from the Online News Association. Four faculty members of Florida International University came up with the project after sharing a vested interest in the sea-level issues surrounding Southern Florida. The project is based off of two the faculty member’s documentary project, South Florida’s Rising Seas and hopes to integrate students through a course, funded by the grant, that will engage the public via mobile and online apps. International Scan Internationally, we surveyed one school in New Zealand (the University of Canterbury) one school in Australia (New York University) two in India, (the Xavier Institute of Communications, and the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media) and three within the UK, (the University of Lincoln, the City University of London and the London School of Economics).

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Australia’s New York University Sydney offers an undergraduate course, Journalism and Society: Environmental Journalism in Australia which includes water topics; New Zealand’s University of Canterbury has a Journalism Research course in which students are able to pick a subject of their own choosing; India’s Xavier Institute of Communications located in Mumbai offers the graduate elective course, Science & Technology, Environment and Health Journalism, also in India, the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media located in Bangalore offers an elective course Covering Health and Environmental Issues to both graduates and undergraduates as well as three other journalism courses that include environmental components; and lastly London’s City University London offers an elective to third-year undergraduate students on Reporting the Environment and an MA program in Science Journalism, The University of Lincoln in London also offers an MA Science and Environmental Journalism program. Institute Training: Other research and journalism centres offer free online courses pertaining to water. The Poynter Institute, a training institute for journalists based in Florida offers a free online course “Covering Water Quality: What You Need to Know” as well as a climate change reporting. For more information see the NewsU.org website. The Reynolds Centre for Business Journalism has a list of story ideas for journalists including: Environment and Money: The cost of the California Drought. https://businessjournalism.org/2015/04/environment-and-money-the-cost-of-the-california-drought/ It offers a free ebook for journalists covering money stories. In sum, water journalism is likely to fall within the environmental journalism courses or be embedded in other courses. We would also like to look further at business journalism curriculum at Canadian and American universities where water journalism might also reside.

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2. Annotated Bibliography: Water Journalism

This annotated bibliography is divided into five parts: Environmental Journalism (where

studies found on environmental journalism, or environmental education directed at

journalism can be found); K-12 Environmental Education; University Environmental

Education and Water Issues.

Environmental Journalism:

Bourassa, E., Amend, E., & Secko, D. M. (2013). A Thematic Review and Synthesis

of Best Practices in Environmental Journalism. Journal of Professional Communication,

3(1), 39-65.

This article analyzes 58 articles on environmental journalism. It notes that while there

are many critiques of environmental journalism there are not many solutions. “Our

thematic review reveals a stark hole in the theory-practice connections of the 58 studies

analyzed: we have many problems, a few theoretical alternatives but largely no

detailed, practical solutions.” The authors continue: “The literature investigated in this

research largely claims traditional journalistic norms used in environment reporting are

not adequate and it is up to educators and journalism training to respond to the

common criticisms of environment journalism; how exactly to do this, however, remains

largely unanswered.” The article identifies a gap in new story telling methods that allow

audiences to understand environmental stories better and to appreciate their open

endedness. Click here for PDF.

Casey, W. E. (1998). Environmental Journalism and Environmental Communication

Education: Identifying an Educational Model. (Master’s Thesis). University of Nevada,

Reno.

This article attempts to identify an educational model for environmental journalism. It

does this by reviewing the literature on environmental education and journalism as well

as through a few case studies of undergraduate environmental journalism programs.

Two models emerged, one from the syllabi studied and one from the literature review.

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Each had six categories:

Literature Review: Ecology Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources

Sciences, Environmental Studies, Science, and Communication.

Syllabi: Ecology Sciences, Environmental Sciences & Management, Natural Resources

Sciences & Management, Environmental Studies, Science Communication, and

Environmental Communication.

“Generally speaking, the ideal educational model includes courses in three general areas

of study: sciences, environmental studies, and environmental communications. These

general areas are complemented with courses in natural resources sciences and

management, environmental sciences and management, science communication, and

ecology sciences.” (p. 70-71). More details on the “ideal educational model” are found

starting on page 71. Click here for PDF.

Edge, M. (2004). Balancing Academic and Corporate Interests in Canadian Journalism

Education. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 59(2), 172-185.

This article examines the history of Canadian journalism education and the ways in

which it is viewed. It notes a historical lack of interest, and at times disdain for the

academic study of journalism and journalism education, and notes that Canada lags

behind the United States in terms of schools and programs that are dedicated to the

study of journalism. It also looks into the corporate sponsorship of some journalism

schools. The article concludes by arguing that journalism schools must balance

professional training with more academic understandings and must be aware of who is

funding and influencing journalism schools, and how that affects journalism education.

Click here for PDF.

Freedman, E. (2011). Environmental Journalism in Kyrgyzstan and

Kazakhstan: Reporting Scarce Amid Environmental and Media Problems. Applied

Environmental Education and Communication, 10(2), 126-134.

Noting that both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are both facing severe environmental

problems, such as insufficient water supplies and soil erosion and degradation, this

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article asks how news organizations cover environmental issues. It also asks how

domestic environmental NGOs attempt to influence environmental press coverage. The

study finds that media owners and management place little demand or emphasis on

environmental stories, as it is difficult to access the information that is necessary to

conduct an in depth environmental report, and the press itself is often restricted and

censored by the state. A lack of university level environmental journalism courses also

contributes to the two countries’ lack of environmental coverage. The article also argues

that the relationship between the press and environmental NGOs is weaker than it is in

many other countries. Reasons for this include the fact that many NGOs are small and

have relatively little funding, and that some NGOs worry that coverage of controversial

issues may result may upset the government or foreign donors. Click here for PDF.

Freedman, E. (2004). Designing and Implementing the First Environmental and

Science Journalism Course for an Uzbekistan Journalism School. Applied Environmental

Education and Communication, 3(3), 153-161.

This article describes the processes and challenges of designing and establishing the first

environmental journalism course in Uzbekistan. Attention is drawn to the water-related

environmental issues that Uzbekistan faces, such as the shrinking of the Aral Sea, leaks

in its expansive irrigation systems and the expansion of the desert. The article notes that

despite these problems, there is very little environmental reporting in the country,

partially because of the state’s tight control and restriction of the press. The author

taught courses to a group of students on topics that ranged from discussions of the

environmental problems of Central Asia, to environmental science, to more practical

knowledge such as how to search the Internet and how to write in a way that is easy for

those with low scientific literacy to understand. The article ends by discussing the

problems that the project faces, such as a lack of access to scientific and environmental

data, and the restrictions on reporting set up by the government. Click here for PDF.

Galbraith, K. (2004). How Dry I Am. Columbia Journalism Review, 52(6), 50-53.

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This article notes that despite water being an incredibly important resource, water

journalism, and stories on water are quite rare, especially when compared to similar

fields, such as energy. It argues for increased attention for water to not only journalists,

but also the general public. Click here for PDF.

Kolandai-Matchett, K., Spellerberg, I., Buchan, G. D., & Early, N. (2009). Sustainability

in Journalism Education: Assessment of a Trial Module in New Zealand. Applied

Environmental Education & Communication, 8(3-4), 204-215.

This New Zealand study focused on students in a post-grad course in environmental

journalism. The article says that media has a role in environmental education but that

many journalists covering these issues do not have relevant training (Dennis, 1991) or

related tertiary education (Freedman, 2004.). The study used four one-hour guest

lectures followed by one half-hour talk in a special course on environmental journalism.

The hypothesis was that this would increase interest in reporting S&E issues, and

personal ability to achieve sustainability. The authors found that it did increase

journalist interest and knowledge, but when asked if any wanted to specialize in

environmental reporting, only one out of nine said yes. There was low interest because

this was considered a negative space with few career options.

Click here for PDF.

Nelson, P., Krogman, N., Johnston, L., & St. Clair, C. C. (2015). Dead Ducks and Dirty

Oil: Media Representations and Environmental Solutions. Society & Natural Resources:

An International Journal, 28(4), 345-359.

This article looks at the media coverage of the event in 2008 when 1,600 migratory

waterfowl died after landing on a tailings pond produced by the Alberta oil sands

industry. They examined 141 newspaper articles from 2008 to 2011. They found that the

death of the ducks constituted a “focusing event” (when a dramatic or harmful incident

increases attention to a topic), that the articles mostly gave voice to powerful actors in

industry, government and environmental groups and that most solutions to the problem

were short term, or depicted a zero-sum trade-off between economic and

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environmental interests. They propose that media attention in the future to incidents

such as this should attempt to offer sustained attention with a greater diversity of

voices and perspectives. Click here for PDF.

Rademakers, L. (2004). Examining the Handbooks on Environmental Journalism:

A Qualitative Document Analysis and Response to the Literature. (Master’s Thesis).

University of South Florida, Florida.

The author examines the relationship between the academic literature on

environmental journalism and environmental journalism handbooks. She asks if

handbooks written for practicing journalism agree with the findings of academic

environmental journalism scholarship. The thesis begins with a literature review of

environmental journalism and a qualitative analysis of environmental journalism

handbooks. The study finds that the relationship between handbooks and the literature

is healthy and that it tends to support each other.

Click here for PDF.

Takahashi, B., & Tandoc Jr., E. C. (2013). Learning the Beat: What

Influences Environmental Journalists’ Perception of Knowledge? Applied

Environmental Education and Communication, 12(4), 244-253.

A survey was conducted of environmental journalists in order to learn the effects of

journalistic sources, environmental attitudes, organizational factors and individual

characteristics on environmental journalists’ perceptions of their knowledge of

environmental issues. They found that “routine and organizational factors” such as

spending years covering a beat, affiliation to a news organization and orientation to

particular sources (scientific and business in particular) influenced journalists into

believing they knew more about issues relating to the environment.

Click here for PDF.

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Tran, L. S. (2014). Environmental Journalism: A Case Study of the Canadian Bituminous

Sands. (Master’s Thesis). Concordia University, Montreal.

This thesis looks into news coverage of the Alberta oil sands (which she calls bituminous

sands), by examining 409 newspaper articles over three years. Some of its findings

include that coverage of the oil sands has been broad, that coverage favours politicians

and industrial and environmental interests, and that information tended to favour

economic information over other dimensions. She also lists reasons that stories are

likely to be reported such as reaction to a report or study or an event. In regards to

water, it discusses some issues the bituminous sands pose, especially for human health

concerns. Click here for PDF

Way, L. (2011). An Energy Superpower or a Super Sales Pitch? Building the

Case Through an Examination of Canadian Newspaper Coverage of Oil

Sands. Canadian Political Science Review, 5(1), 74-98.

Author Laura Way examines the ways and extent to which Canadian newspapers (The

Globe and Mail, The National Post and The Toronto Star) have embraced and promoted

the narrative that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has established that Canada

is an “energy superpower” because of Alberta’s oil sands. Way finds that while the

newspapers did not frequently use the term themselves, they often mirrored Harper’s

key ideas, particularly the idea that the oil sands are “open for business.” This

simultaneously rejects Harper’s ideas of a more aggressive form of state control over

energy development. (Note: Laura Way also wrote a University of Alberta doctoral

thesis showing most Alberta Oil Sand coverage in four Canadian newspapers appears in

the business sections and is augmentative, or supportive of the business model).

Click here for PDF.

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K-12 Environmental Education:

Chambers, J. M. (2011). Right Time, Wrong Place? Teaching About Climate Change in

Alberta Schools. Alberta Science Education Journal, 42(1), 4-12.

This article explores how climate change, as a broad topic, is difficult to integrate into

science curricula. Chambers explores the challenges of teaching climate change and how

context and physical place influences it. She looks specifically Grade 10 science in

Alberta, Canada. She focuses specifically on the Science 10, Unit D: Energy Flow in

Global Systems, and uses phenomenography. “Phenomenography is a research

perspective which stems from the belief that “in order to make sense of how people

handle problems, situations, the world, we have to understand the way in which they

experience the problems, situations, the world, that they are handling or in relation to

which they are acting” (Marton & Booth, 1997, p. 111).” (p.5).

Chambers’ main goal was to look for variations in teaching throughout Alberta. She

interviewed 12 Grade 10 science teachers and found that AB’s economic, political, and

geographical aspects influenced the curriculum. She then goes on to outline Alberta’s

high school structure. On a more personal level, the teachers she interviewed were

influenced by their mandated curriculum when it came to integrating EE. Time was

stated as the most common barrier, with teachers feeling that while EE is an important

concept that should be taught, Grade 10 students needed the necessary biology,

chemistry and physics concepts in order to successfully move on to the next level of

science. Teacher identity also played a role; those in more rural settings found it easier

to implement climate change into their curriculum, they were more equipped to mold

what they taught and collaborate with other teachers of different subjects to allow for

more time. Those in urban settings in larger schools found this nearly impossible.

Chambers does not believe these concerns are new. She comes to the conclusion that

the current curriculum does not have space for environmental education practices,

especially within the climate change unit. Although science teachers are willing to teach

EE, Chambers says they are not educated thoroughly enough in the subject matter, nor

are they supported enough by the current education mandate. “Climate change is too

important to marginalize.” (p.12). Importantly, she notes that the school board closest

to the Alberta Oil Sands, Fort McMurray, forbid their teachers from talking with her and

participating in the study.

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Meichtry, Y., & Smith, J. (2007). The Impact of a Place-Based Professional

Development Program on Teachers’ Confidence, Attitudes and Classroom Practices.

The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(2), 15-3.

This article describes a study of a professional development program, which measured

the confidence levels, and classroom practices of participants and their attitudes

towards the environment. This program utilized place-based education, as students

were actively working near a watershed, and argues that this system has the benefit of

allowing students to see the relevance of what they learn and the direct impact of

environmental practices, and further argues that this system improves both retention

and engagement of environmental concepts. Based on the results of the study, the

authors conclude that place-based education can be an effective strategy. In order for it

to work, however, teachers must be sufficiently trained in place-based teaching

strategies. Place-based education allows for students to observe the river as part of a

more complex and interconnected system.

Chankook, K., & Fortner, R. W. (2006). Issue-Specific Barriers to Addressing

Environmental Issues in the Classroom: An Exploratory Study. The Journal of

Environmental Education 37(3), 15-22.

This article asks why many teachers are not talking about environmental issues in the

classroom, despite the research agreeing that it benefits students. They sent out 72

questionnaires to teachers, with 49 responding.

The barriers found included lack of time and curriculum concerns, but also internal

barriers such as teacher attitudes, content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge (in

this study, referring to the knowledge of how to teach these issues). The study found if

the teacher has a positive attitude, is knowledgeable about the content and

understands how to teach it, he/she is more likely to educate students on

environmental issues, not only more often but also more properly. Other findings

included: current abilities were much lower than preferred, the knowledge of

environmental concepts was significantly higher than the ability to provide actual

experience in resolving issues as well as involving students in resolutions, of the 23

environmental issues looked at, air pollution, energy consumption and acid rain were

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the most taught, and teachers believed external issues (lack of time and curriculum

demands) were more important than internal issues.

The article ends recommending well-developed courses with thorough and concrete

research on specific issues, due to environmental issues being so versatile and unique

within themselves, as well as pedagogical knowledge training so teachers are able to

easier understand how to teach certain issues.

Gayford, C. (2002). Controversial Environmental Issues: A Case Study for the

Professional Development of Science Teachers. International Journal of Science

Education, 24(11), 1191-1200.

This article examines the attitudes of science teachers towards teaching controversial

environmental issues, global climate change (GCC), in school curriculums. It explores

their preferred methods of teaching and what they think about teaching this specific

topic. First, the article gives a brief background on GCC and explains how scientists are

not entirely in agreement to what has caused it and then continues to formal education.

“For science teachers, the issue of GCC is interesting from an educational point of view

since it presents a number of challenges, first, because of the controversial nature of the

science involved, both in relation to the status of our scientific knowledge and the

scientific aspects of the issues; and second, because it raises wide-ranging social,

economic, cultural, ethical and other non-scientific issues over which there is

considerable disagreement amongst experts about how these can be most effectively

addressed.” (p.1193).

The study conducted included focus groups of science teachers discussing the possibility

of how to implement GCC into their curriculum(s). The challenges voiced were coming

up with a reason for including the topic at all, and fitting the topic into an already

structured curriculum. Rather than looking to create a new curriculum, the focus groups

looked at already existing ones. They agreed that personal opinions should be kept out

of lessons, but still struggled with this in regards to topics such as GCC. The focus groups

came up with topics already being taught in science courses that were most relative to

GCC (p.1196), and argued for a more broadly based approach with an emphasis on

critical thinking. Initially concerned about how scientific content related to the topic, the

focus groups ended up exploring how the topic could relate to the content.

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Moore, C. J., & Huber, R. A. (2001). Support for EE from the National Science Education

Standards and the Internet. The Journal of Environmental Education, 23(3), 21-25.

This article discusses the impact of two developments that the authors believe have had

a substantial effect on EE: reform initiative based on the National Science Education

Standards and increased interest on applying the Internet to EE.

May, T. S. (2000). Elements of Success in Environmental Education Through

Practitioner Eyes. The Journal of Environmental Education, 31(3), 4-11.

This article presents an “elements-of-success” framework for EE. By utilizing interviews

with 18 EE teachers, the framework involves 42 elements arranged into three

categories: teaching conditions, teacher competencies and teaching practices. This

framework was then sent to environmental educators across the United States to garner

their opinions. Educators mostly responded positively to the framework. The article

ends with stating that although “The Elements of Success in EE framework provides an

inventory of the conditions, competencies and practices that can help teachers and

teacher educators chart personal and collective paths to greater efficacy in EE teaching

and learning,” “... additional research should be conducted to broaden its educational

validity and utility.”

Short, P. C. (2010). Responsible Environmental Action: Its Role and Status in

Environmental Education and Environmental Quality. The Journal of Environmental

Education 41(1), 7-21.

This article begins by arguing that environmental education must aim to inspire action

for the environment. The author contends that these actions and their impact on the

environment should be the goal of environmental education, as well as the primary

metric in which success is measured. Environmental education should aim to create

students who are actively and critically engaged in practices and behaviours, which

facilitate environmental change. Short also describes many of the challenges that

environmental educators face, such as administrative barriers that teachers may face if

they move their students towards more active or controversial projects.

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Marcinkowski, T. J. (2010). Contemporary Challenges and Opportunities in

Environmental Education: Where are We Headed and What Deserves Our Attention?.

The Journal of Environmental Education, 41(1), 34-54.

This article attempts to address several emergent challenges or opportunities that have

presented themselves to the field of EE. Marcinkowski first explores how the field of EE

has been, and continues to be professionalized. He then comments on the interface

between EE and Education for Social Development, and finally writes of climate change,

and the challenges and opportunities that EE faces in relation to it.

Venkataraman, B. (2009). Education for Sustainable Development. Environment 52(2),

8-10.

This article briefly defines the concept of education for sustainable development.

Education for sustainable development is different from environmental education in

that it aims to be more holistic by contextualizing environmental education within a

broader discussion concerning social, cultural, political and economic factors. The article

then outlines some of the challenges that people may face in trying to implement it. The

traditional structure of education is a problem in itself. Its tendency to cover multiple

subjects is problematic in a system where knowledge is often confined to specific

disciplines. The article then describes some steps that have been taken to implement

ESD into school curricula.

Stevenson, R. B. (2007). Schooling and Environmental Education: Contradictions in

Purpose and Practice. Environmental Education Research, 13(2), 139-153.

This article begins with a history of environmental education and conservation. It goes

on to explain the evolution of environmental concerns and community involvement

leading to the creation of environmental education courses. Stevenson speaks about

debates on what actually is causing environmental degradation (developed vs.

developing countries) and then moves into the contemporary goals of environmental

education. He argues that students of environmental education should not only be

educated on the issues, but about how to resolve them. “I would argue that to be

consistent with democratic principles students should be exposed to the plurality of

environmental ideologies, and that through a process of inquiry, critique and reflection

they can be assisted to develop and defend their own set of environmental beliefs and

20

values.” (p.143). However, this active and critical approach, Stevenson says is difficult

for a structured school system, especially when their main purpose was simply to inform

and provide students with a basic knowledge of certain issues. “...schools were not

intended to develop critical thinkers, social inquirers and problem solvers, or active

participants in environmental and political (or even educational) decision making. Put

simply, their intended function was not to promote social change or reconstruction.”

(p.145).

He goes on to argue how environmental education can be beneficial to the world as

whole because it “focuses on improving the quality of life of all humankind on our

planet by finding ‘ways to ensure that no nation should grow or develop at the expense

of another nation and that the consumption of no individual should be increased at the

expense of other individuals’.” (p.145). In regards to the curriculum, Stevenson argues

that teachers need more education and support on the topic as well the structural

organization of schools should be examined. “Introducing environmental education into

a school challenges the dominant conception, organization and transmission of

knowledge, creating for most teachers a conflict with their approach to teaching and

learning.” (p.151). Stevenson believes once this issue is addressed, environmental

education can be better implemented.

Cole, A. G. (2007). Expanding the Field: Revisiting Environmental Education Principles

through Multidisciplinary Frameworks. The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(2),

35-44.

In this article, Cole calls for a broadening of what should be included in environmental

education (EE). Taking influence from the fields of critical pedagogy, the environmental

justice movement, and moving toward place-based education, Cole argues that EE must

integrate socio-cultural issues and ideas into its scope, recognizing the effects of culture,

class, history, gender and the power relations that inform and influence them. These

sociocultural factors have a significant effect on the environment and how people

interact with and understand it. EE’s focus on scientific knowledge may obscure other

perspectives.

Pruneau, D., Doyon, A., Langis, J., Vasseur, L., Ouellet, E., McLaughlin, E.,... Martin, G.

(2006). When Teachers Adopt Environmental Behaviours in the Aim of Protecting the

Climate. The Journal of Environmental Education, 37(3), 3-12.

21

This article begins by defining “environmental behaviours” as “a behaviour adopted by

an individual consciously attempting to minimize his or her negative impacts on natural

and constructed environments.” It then discusses how environmental educators can

further develop this by looking at three factors: cognitive, situational and affective.

Next, teachers who participated in a climate change education course were invited to

demonstrate new environmental behaviours. Fifty-two Canadian teachers participated

in this professional development program and afterwards, they were interviewed and

asked to describe their experiences, how it affected them and how successful they

were. The article goes into detail the techniques the study used, including interviews

conducted and a qualitative data analysis approach. Results are shared within the study

as well as what the participants believed to have either helped them during the program

or limited them.

Dillon, J., & Teamey, K. (2002). Reconceptualizing Environmental Education: Taking

Account of Reality. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics, and Technology

Education, 2(4), 467-483.

This article argues for a reconceptualization of the purpose of environmental education.

They argue that EE can be empowering for people to change their circumstances, rather

environmental, social or economic, and that EE must not only transmit knowledge skills

and values, but must also simultaneously “aim to affect the social context in which

those being educated live and work.” EE must not be viewed in isolation from its social

and political contexts. In order to achieve these goals, this sort of education must be

mainstreamed within the discourses of education and development, and EE must be

applied to all areas, not just those directly concerned with education. They also write

more specifically about the relationship between EE and science education.

Hart, P., & Nolan, K. (1999). A Critical Analysis of Research in Environmental

Education. Studies in Science Education, 34(1), 1-69.

This review of environmental education looks at how it has developed and changed

throughout the years. The authors look at literature and research already done on the

topic and review it extensively through reading, discourse, classifying and writing. They

create a collaborative discourse and critique of the research, admitting that it holds

biases associated with their outlooks. They find that environmental issues from the past

22

are still relevant today and are not simply going to disappear, but rather face the issue

of growing as the population expands. They believe that in order to address these

issues, we need to look at different ways of resolutions.

“This leads many environmental education researchers to question the efficacy of the

current organization structure of schools and teacher education and to suggest changes

which are difficult to manifest in the current climate of educational administration and

structure.”. (p. 42). Like other papers, they argue that education systems need to be

restructured in order to accommodate the very important issues surrounding the

environment.

University Environmental Education:

Pinter, N., Baer, S., Chevalier, L., Kowalchuk, R., Lant, C., & Whiles, M. (2013). An

“IGERT” Model for Interdisciplinary Doctoral Education in Water-Related Science and

Policy. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education 150(1), 126-134.

This article examines the IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education, Research and Training)

model as applied to water-related education. This interdisciplinary model is run by the

US National Science Foundation and has been applied to several doctoral programs,

which are designed to train students in a way that does not confine their studies to a

single discipline, and to actively integrate the various approaches that they learn

together. The article argues that watershed science is in particular need for this kind of

program and examines the IGERT program in “Watershed Science and Policy” at

Southern Illinois University where a diverse group of students work together on a

particular watershed.

Missingham, B. (2013). Participatory Learning and Popular Education Strategies for

Water Education. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, 150(1), 34-

40.

This article argues for the incorporation of critical pedagogy and participatory learning

into postgraduate university classrooms when teaching about water and sustainable

development. The author then discusses four elements of participatory learning that he

finds useful for teaching water in higher education. These are asset-based teaching and

23

learning, participatory learning to enable deliberative processes and collective learning,

problem-posing pedagogy, and involving students in construction of knowledge.

Camkin, J., & Neto, S. (2013). New Learning Foundations for Learning Water

Knowledge Bridges. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, 150(1),

72-79.

This article begins by noting the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of water

management, as terms, concepts and ideas have been borrowed from other disciplines,

such as economics, ecology and social science, and researchers are more willing to

permeate disciplinary boundaries which used to be more rigid. Research has also been

globalized, as recognition of the global nature of water issues has led researchers to

look for problems and solutions to water-related issues around the world. Tensions still

exist, however, between the disciplines, as desires for trans disciplinary water

professionals can be hampered by preexisting structures and identities. The article then

presents new co-learning methodologies being applied as part of the Erasmus Mundus

Master Course (EMMC) in Ecohydrology, in collaboration with the UNESCO International

Centre for Coastal Ecohydrology (UNESCO-ICCE) and the HELP and Ecohydrology

networks. This course aims to be trans disciplinary, meaning that it both covers multiple

disciplines, combines scientific knowledge with stakeholder knowledge, and recognizes

the importance of non-scientific knowledge.

Chapman, D. J. (2011). Environmental Education and the Politics of

Curriculum: A National Case Study. The Journal of Environmental Education, 42(3),

193-202.

This article begins by explaining how political outcomes influenced the education

system of New Zealand. He speaks about the development of a general curriculum, the

introduction of environmental education into the model, and then the sudden exclusion

of the environment after economic influences. The article discusses how, despite there

being environmental topics intertwined within courses, environmental education itself

was not a priority. Chapman details this issue through discussing why he believes the

environment was not a priority, but still technically included in the curriculum as a

means for New Zealand to meet the requirements for the Earth Summit at Rio, but still

benefit the political party in power. Chapman argues environmental education is being

24

pushed aside for curriculums heavily influenced by the government’s concerns on

raising literacy and numeracy achievement in order to prioritize a strong economic

climate. Chapman ends the article by discussing how politics play such a crucial role

within deciding the curriculum and without a push or support from politics (inherently

lacking as seen from the rest of his article), environmental education will never be seen

as a priority, but rather as a luxury. He pushes for not only the education and political

community to become more engaged in environmental education, but also to open up

the range of perspectives taken when considering teaching about the environment.

Eilam, E., & Trop, T. (2011). ESD Pedagogy: A Guide for the Perplexed. The Journal of

Environmental Education, 42(2), 43-63.

This article addresses several issues regarding the implementation of Education for

Sustainable Development (ESD) within formal education systems, and attempts to

identify the essential components of ESD pedagogy. It begins by noting that although

curricular practices regarding the environment have changed, as curriculums

increasingly include environmental education, the prevailing pedagogy that informs

those curriculums has largely remained the same. The authors provide four essential

elements to ESD pedagogy. First, ESD should include “natural learning.” Educators

should try to move away from teaching methods, which are based on ideas, and

abstractions that are happening far away from the learner’s actual relevant world, and

where teaching happens primarily through lectures and other verbal education at the

expense of more experiential practices. ESD should also be multidisciplinary. This

means that not only will students have access to a broader range of data and

perspectives, but it also encourages “systemic thinking” in which the

interconnectedness of various social, scientific, economic, and cultural elements and

how they are all parts of larger environmental systems is acknowledged. ESD should also

be multidimensional, meaning that students should be able to understand

environmental systems from a multitude of perspectives, taking into account changes or

differences in time and space. Lastly, ESD should strive for “emotional learning” where

feelings are understood to be important and are managed in ways, which teach

students to understand their feelings and how they relate to the given topic.

25

McFarlane, D. A., & Ogazon, A. G. (2011). The Challenges of Sustainability Education.

Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 3(3), 81-107.

This article attempts to examine the challenges that sustainability education faces. This

is accomplished by asking how education institutions have responded to the challenges

of modern global society as related to issues of global justice, environment, survival,

human rights, and citizenship, which are understood to be the central ideas on which

education for sustainable development is based. A primary challenge that the authors

identified was the difficulty in defining sustainability itself. There is no single agreed

upon meaning of sustainability, and this has led to a fracturing of what the concept

means and how it is expressed. How sustainability is defined can greatly affect the

underlying philosophy of organizations that seek to achieve sustainability goals.

Secondary challenges include “national-cultural disposition towards sustainability,” the

idea that some cultures, such as that of the United States are not currently suited for

the development or support of sustainability ideals; low levels of understanding of the

philosophy of science and the nature of science, which the authors view as important to

the application and support of sustainability; the “nature of technology” which the

authors understand to mean the ability to understand the relationship between science

and technology and how technology is connected to other systems; “Awareness of

science and sustainability” and “the role of business schools and colleges in

sustainability education,” which are currently not doing enough to teach the importance

of sustainability. The article then gives some examples of sustainability education and

offer some recommendations and ideas regarding how to go about incorporating

sustainability into the classroom.

Hungerford, H. R. (2010). Environmental Education (EE) for the 21st Century: Where

have We Been? Where Are We Now? Where Are We Headed?. The Journal of

Environmental Education, 41(1), 1-6.

This is the introductory article for the 41st edition of The Journal of Environmental

Education. Nevertheless, it discusses valuable arguments and perspectives in regards to

environmental education (EE). The article begins by discussing the past push by

educators and environmental scientists for EE. It examines the Tbilisi Declaration, a

document published in the UNESCO/UNEP EE Newsletter in 1978. The author inserts

himself by explaining how this document was “the foundation of my efforts over the

years to promote EE as an interdisciplinary effort aimed at helping learners gain the

knowledge and skills that would allow them to understand the complex environmental

26

issues facing society…” (p.2) and continues to give examples of other individuals with

the same viewpoint. Hungerford discusses the differences seen between

environmentalists as opposed to environmental educators, the latter being (or

supposed to be) objective and informative, helping citizens combat environmental

issues without advocating for a specific viewpoint. Hungerford goes on to view this

argument from the critics’ viewpoint – how EE could never be truly objective, educators

would always slant their lessons towards their own values, and how EE should really be

about the environment rather than teaching citizens how to make responsible decisions.

He includes the criticism of a lack of resources for educators, considering all materials

are unbalanced and the difficulty for teachers to present them as such.

Teisl, M. F., Anderson, M. W., Noblet, C. L., Criner, G. K., Rubin, J., & Dalton, T. (2010).

Are Environmental Professors Unbalanced? Evidence from the Field. The Journal of

Environmental Education, 42(2), 67-83.

This article examines the use of attitudinal change as an outcome of EE courses. It

tackles the ethics of using courses to change students’ attitudes and values, and asks

whether or not value changes are something that EE should endeavour to do. It argues

that professor opinions should have the same rigor as published work because of

potential for bias. The article also presents a study about changes in student values after

EE courses, and concludes that student environmental attitudes changed significantly

after partaking in environmental courses, but their attitudes were altered in different

directions depending on who taught the course.

Sherren, K., Robin, L., Kanowski, P., & Dovers, S. (2010). Escaping the Disciplinary

Straitjacket: Curriculum Design as University Adaptation to Sustainability. Journal of

Global Responsibility 1(2), 260-278.

This article highlights some of the issues faced when designing curriculum about

sustainability. The authors note that sustainability does not fit neatly into current

discipline-bound educational structures, partially due to how it relates to many different

factors (social, economic, biological etc.) They also note that sustainability is a “crisis”

field, meaning that its practitioners are compelled to act more quickly, before knowing

all the facts. It then provides a study of the curriculums of two Australian universities.

Participants were interviewed, and the data they provided was used to generate four

recommendations for creating interdisciplinary sustainability curricula. These were 1)

27

that they should “manage for meaning as well as cash flow” meaning that economic and

symbolic goals should be achieved; 2) “establish transparent and inclusive project

rules,” where all stakeholders are engaged and all participants understand how the

process works; 3) “apply academic principles robustly” where academic ideals of

evidence and debate are supported; and 4) “tackle the structural barriers first” such as

the position of teachers and the structure of universities.

Matthews, J. (2011). Hybrid Pedagogies for Sustainability Education. The Review of

Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 33(3), 260-277.

This article begins by noting that despite beliefs in the important role of education in

creating a sustainable future, current pedagogies have not been successful in creating

sustainable behaviours, and, in fact, “it appears that everyday cultural pedagogies are

an extremely efficient means of educating for unsustainability; we most effectively learn

ways of living that threaten to destroy ourselves and other life forms.” Recognizing this,

Matthews argues that moves toward cultural practices of sustainability require a

reconsideration of the concept of pedagogy itself. Specifically, Matthews argues for

increased attention to globalization and postcolonial theory. Matthews notes that while

environmental education does grapple with the environmental impacts of globalization,

it does so in a way, which neglects to include or emphasize experiences of colonial

subjugation. She notes that EE and Education for Sustainability often overtly or

inadvertently “endorse a capitalist model of economic growth, which assumes that

economic development is necessary to close the gap between the rich and the poor and

that development can be sustainable.” EE mostly looks to raise awareness of the

responsibilities of individuals towards the environment, and thus may obscure broader

social, cultural and political factors. EE’s scientific rationale also views the earth as an

instrument to be utilized by humans to meet their needs, and this has made it difficult

for EE to deal with other cross-disciplinary concerns. Matthews looks towards other

pedagogies, such as critical pedagogy, indigenous pedagogies and hybrid pedagogies,

which are informed by a multitude of perspectives.

Eflin, J., & Sheaffer, A. L. (2006). Service-Learning in Watershed-Based Initiatives: Keys

to Education for Sustainability in Geography?. Journal of Geography, 105(1), 33-44.

This article begins by noting the relative absence of talk of sustainability in geographic

literature. The authors argue that geographic education could contribute much to

28

environmental education, especially within the field of human-environment relations. It

argues that the two disciplines can work together to produce education for

sustainability. This education must focus on “service-learning,” initiatives that take

education beyond the classroom and into place-based initiatives where students learn

and are encouraged to become actively involved in local projects and communities, so

that they can bridge their theoretical knowledge with real-world happenings. The article

discusses watershed-based initiative as particularly well suited to this sort of merger of

disciplines and perspectives. The article then provides a case study of a project in the

White River Watershed where a service-learning approach was utilized, and analyzes its

effects from the perspective of students, teachers and clients.

Meyer, N. J., & Munson, B. H. (2005).Personalizing and Empowering Environmental

Education Through Expressive Writing. The Journal of Environmental Education, 36(3),

6-14.

This article examines a study where preservice teachers used expressive writing, a multi-

genre form of writing where participants attempt to express their personal

subjectivities. This was done in an attempt to foster a personal connection to EE and the

issues that it is informed by. Those who took part in the project largely found it

enjoyable and expressed a belief that it allowed them to personalize their writing. They

also reported that it was empowering, as it offered them insights in the ways that they

can affect environmental change through changes in their own personal habits and

behaviours.

Heimlich, J. E., Braus, J., & Olivolo, B., McKeown-Ice, R., & Barringer-Smith, L. (2004).

Environmental Education and Preservice Teacher Preparation: A National Study. The

Journal of Environmental Education, 35(2), 17-21.

This study attempted to ascertain how to incorporate EE into teacher preparation

programs. The study consisted of six questions:

1. How does EE fit with the current program offerings and how satisfactory is that

fit?

2. What environmental issues are required or should be concluded in the curricula?

3. What are perceived barriers to EE in the curricula?

4. What is the awareness of EE resources in teacher-preparation programs?

5. What are the perceived resource needs for EE in preservice classrooms?

29

6. What are the relationships between perceived barriers and EE course concepts?

Some conclusions that the study reaches are that that the greatest challenge

facing the incorporation of EE into teacher-preparation programs is political, as

there is still considerable resistance. The authors suggest that Methods courses

may be the best place to add EE to teacher-preparation, and that EE needs to be

an explicit component of existing programs, rather than an “add-on” to existing

programs.

Shepardson, D. P., Harbor, J., Cooper, B., & McDonald, J. (2002). The Impact of a

Professional Development Program on Teachers’ Understandings about Watersheds,

Water Quality, and Stream Monitoring. The Journal of Environmental Education, 33(3),

34-40.

This article describes a professional development program where teachers were

encouraged to design and conduct local environmental science research projects, such

as monitoring the water quality of streams. The researchers conclude that this sort of

professional development program allows teachers to more easily “use the local

environment as a classroom” as well as train them in environmental monitoring

techniques and new pedagogical approaches.

Ewing, M. S., & Mills, T. J. (1994). Water Literacy in College Freshmen: Could a

Cognitive Imagery Strategy Improve Understanding?. The Journal of Environmental

Education, 25(4), 36-40.

The article starts off reviewing water literacy in Oklahoma of college-bound high school

seniors, and finds it to be quite low. Due to this, the state required an additional year of

science in order to graduate, and this study aims to find out if that had any effect on

college freshman’s knowledge of water issues.

It asks whether water literacy differs between college freshmen who do not major in

science and those who have one or two years of high school science coursework, and

finds that there is no significant difference. The article then looks at teaching techniques

and reflects on what works and what doesn’t. It asks if visual imagery exercises could

improve understanding of evaporation and condensation, as well as other patterns in

the water cycle, finding that visual imagery did improve comprehension.

30

Gough, A. G., & Robottom, I. (1993). Towards a Socially Critical Environmental

Education: Water Quality Studies in a Coastal School. Journal of Curriculum Studies,

25(4), 301-316. *Link to study: http://tinyurl.com/knmtgu2

This article considers the practices of a school in Australia through a framework of

socially critical pedagogy. Students at the school conducted water quality tests and then

published their findings when they discovered unhealthy levels of bacteria in the ocean

that may have been related to a new water treatment plant’s waste disposal. This

disclosure helped to trigger the mobilization of the community towards addressing

these issues, and ultimately the water board made improvements to its facilities. The

article then discusses and defines socially critical pedagogy and applies it as a

framework to the aforementioned case. The school practiced socially critical pedagogy

in many ways, such as “treating society as problematic,” and maintained a form of

schooling and social critique that was “action based” and embedded within the social

context of its community.

Water Issues Literature

Camkin, J., & Neto, S. (2013). New Learning Foundations for Learning Water

Knowledge Bridges. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, 150(1),

72-79.

This article begins by noting the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of water

management, as terms, concepts and ideas have been borrowed from other disciplines,

such as economics, ecology and social science, and researchers are more willing to

permeate disciplinary boundaries which used to be more rigid. Research has also been

globalized, as recognition of the global nature of water issues has led researchers to

look for problems and solutions to water-related issues around the world. Tensions still

exist, however, between the disciplines, as desires for trans disciplinary water

professionals can be hampered by preexisting structures and identities. The article then

presents new co-learning methodologies being applied as part of the Erasmus Mundus

Master Course (EMMC) in Ecohydrology, in collaboration with the UNESCO International

Centre for Coastal Ecohydrology (UNESCO-ICCE) and the HELP and Ecohydrology

networks. This course aims to be trans disciplinary, meaning that it both covers multiple

disciplines, combines scientific knowledge with stakeholder knowledge, and recognizes

the importance of non-scientific knowledge.

31

Cockerill, K. (2010). Communicating How Water Works: Results From a

Community Water Education Program. The Journal of Environmental Education, 41(3),

151-164.

This article starts off by stating how uninformed the majority of the US population,

regardless of age are in regards to water. Due to this, after a summit in 2005 hosted by

the nonprofit group MountainKeepers in North Carolina, their application for an

environmental education grant was accepted. They developed a community education

program centred on water-related issues and topics. The article outlines the main goals

of the program, research that went into it and the execution/outcomes. Cockerill

explores the techniques used, what worked, what didn’t and ultimately how much those

part of the program learned. She details the development and presentations the

program went through and argues it is a valuable example to others looking to

implement a successful water education program.

Ewing, M. S., & Mills, T. J. (1994). Water Literacy in College Freshmen: Could a

Cognitive Imagery Strategy Improve Understanding?. The Journal of Environmental

Education, 25(4), 36-40.

The article starts off reviewing water literacy in Oklahoma of college-bound high school

seniors, and finds it to be quite low. Due to this, the state required an additional year of

science in order to graduate, and this study aims to find out if that had any effect on

college freshman’s knowledge of water issues.

It asks whether water literacy differs between college freshmen who do not major in

science and those who have one or two years of high school science coursework, and

finds that there is no significant difference. The article then looks at teaching techniques

and reflects on what works and what doesn’t. It asks if visual imagery exercises could

improve understanding of evaporation and condensation, as well as other patterns in

the water cycle, finding that visual imagery did improve comprehension.

Gough, A. G., & Robottom, I. (1993). Towards a Socially Critical Environmental

Education: Water Quality Studies in a Coastal School. Journal of Curriculum Studies,

25(4), 301-316. *Link to study: http://tinyurl.com/knmtgu2

This article considers the practices of a school in Australia through a framework of

socially critical pedagogy. Students at the school conducted water quality tests and then

published their findings when they discovered unhealthy levels of bacteria in the ocean

32

that may have been related to a new water treatment plant’s waste disposal. This

disclosure helped to trigger the mobilization of the community towards addressing

these issues, and ultimately the water board made improvements to its facilities. The

article then discusses and defines socially critical pedagogy and applies it as a

framework to the aforementioned case. The school practiced socially critical pedagogy

in many ways, such as “treating society as problematic,” and maintained a form of

schooling and social critique that was “action based” and embedded within the social

context of its community.

DeLorme, D. E., Hagen, S. C., & Stout, I. J. (2003). Consumer Perspectives on Water

Issues: Directions for Educational Campaigns. The Journal of Environmental Education,

34(2), 28-35.

This article examines environmental education campaigns that were designed to

promote public understanding and adaptation of long-term water management

strategies. Six focus groups were set up in order to understand the views of water

consumers regarding population growth, development, and water resources as they

relate to the state of Florida’s water supply. Through these focus groups, the

researchers discovered that consumers were highly aware and moderately concerned

about population growth and development, dissatisfied with the quality and quantity of

their water resources and reported varied water management strategies. They were

also reluctant to admit that their own actions may be connected to problems regarding

Florida’s water supply. The article ends by discussing the implication of the focus

groups’ responses, and argues that their findings could be of particular importance to

the social marketing of environmental water management practices.

Dennison, W., & Oliver, P. Studying Nature In Situ: Immersive Education for Better

Integrated Water Management. (2013). Journal of Contemporary Water Research and

Management, 150(1), 26-33.

This article argues for the use of immersive education - where students are actively

engaged within their environment rather than studying texts in a book - when teaching

marine studies and coastal zone management. The authors compare this model of

education to traditional classroom teaching and how the latter is content-based, while

the former is process-based. The article goes on to discuss the benefits of this model, as

well as a few of the challenges that one may face in implementing it. It also gives

33

concrete examples of immersive education being used - through actual programs that

follow the model. Lastly, the authors end the article with the outcomes of immersive

education, and their thoughts on how it could greatly benefit water education.

Eflin, J., & Sheaffer, A. L. (2006). Service-Learning in Watershed-Based Initiatives: Keys

to Education for Sustainability in Geography?. Journal of Geography, 105(1), 33-44.

This article begins by noting the relative absence of talk of sustainability in geographic

literature. The authors argue that geographic education could contribute much to

environmental education, especially within the field of human-environment relations. It

argues that the two disciplines can work together to produce education for

sustainability. This education must focus on “service-learning,” initiatives that take

education beyond the classroom and into place-based initiatives where students learn

and are encouraged to become actively involved in local projects and communities, so

that they can bridge their theoretical knowledge with real-world happenings. The article

discusses watershed-based initiative as particularly well suited to this sort of merger of

disciplines and perspectives. The article then provides a case study of a project in the

White River Watershed where a service-learning approach was utilized, and analyzes its

effects from the perspective of students, teachers and clients.

Larson, K. L., & Redman, E. N. (2014). Water Education for Sustainability: Criteria and

Recommendations. Society and Natural Resources, 27(11), 1213-1222.

This article presents a framework for sustainability education that is based in

behavioural research and theory. They use this in order to forward three criteria for

education programs aimed at sustainable behaviour change. Educators should

incorporate diverse domains of knowledge, utilizing not only technical “declarative”

knowledge, but procedural “action-related” knowledge and social knowledge (among

others) as well. Educators should make use of interactive approaches, moving away

from a reliance on one-way lectures towards methods that are problem based, system

oriented, experiential and reflexive. Finally, educators should target particular groups

for behavioural change, particularly those who have a larger effect on desired

environmental outcomes. The article then applies these criteria to a case study: a water

education program in Phoenix, Arizona.

Oliver, P., & Dennison, W. C. (2013). Popular Education for Water Sustainability: Three

Lessons from Reflective Practice. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and

Education, 150(1), 18-25.

34

The authors of this article discuss how the use of education - whether formal, or

Informal - can be used to inform and empower the public of water issues.

It focuses on three main arguments developed through lessons learned by the authors

on their experiences in water education. They argue that water educators must know

their participants and what is important to them, what they already know and whether

they have the resources to take action. On page 22 a table of key questions to ask

participants is provided. The second lesson/argument is that their participants must be

given the opportunity to share with others what they have learned, to be both the

teacher and the learner at one time during the study. Lastly, water educators must

endeavour to utilize an approach that uses and relates to knowledge, emotion and

action, or “head, heart and hands.”

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Section 3 : Discussion of Literature The purpose of this section is to consider the literature as it pertains to teaching journalism students about water-related issues By Janice Paskey & Terry Field So many stories come down to water. Many journalists are writing about water through municipal stories, business stories, and consumer stories. In Alberta, water supply and quality is a driving issue. Most notably, the South Saskatchewan River Basin (where most Albertans live) is under stress. Climate change has made the province’s climate drier, and reduced mountain snowpack threatens our water supply. A faster melting snowpack is an issue too in terms of flood threat. « All Global Climate Models are projecting future increases of summer continental interior drying and associated risk of droughts» (Threats to Water Availability in Canada, Environment Canada) Alberta has significant demands for crop irrigation, and irrigates more than anywhere else in the country. (Source : Alberta Environment). As well, the province has an unique system of water licensing which means water must be factored into any business decision, especially in the South Saskatchewan River Basin where there is a moratorium on water licenses. While most of the water in the Alberta is in the northern part of the province, most of the demand is in the south. Fresh water quality is also an issue owing to industrial use (fracking, tailings ponds, herbicide run off, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products). There is no doubt that water management is already a significant social and economic issue. With the province’s population projected to grow by 2.2 million to more than six million people by 2041 (Alberta Treasury Board), water related issues will be even more significant in the years ahead. The question is not whether journalism students should be engaged in researching and presenting reports on water issues, but how they might be encouraged and supported in doing so.

Journalism Hallmarks and Implications for Water Journalism Education

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Journalism is a method of communication that has strengths and weaknesses.

For this project, it’s important to note that journalism works according to journalistic norms including news values (Gatlung and Ruge, 1973, Shoemaimker et al., 1987) that include impact, relevance, proximity, tension, celebrity, human interest and sensationalism. It’s often these news values that lead journalists and editors to decide if they have « a story » or if a story is worth pursuing. Journalism is a form of communication noted for number of hallmarks such as attribution of sources, verification, balance of opinion, and evidence or facts. At its best ‘quality journalism is independent, accurate, open to appraisal, edited and uncensored; the best journalism is ambitious, undaunted, contextual, engaging and original’ (Shapiro 2009). But journalism can also suffer from an overly simplified communication style, focus on persons over processes, emotion over facts and game over substance. (Entmann 1996). The beat system is well established in journalism with reporters covering a certain area. Water journalism is multi dimensional and falls under a number of « beats » : municipal reporting, business reporting and environmental reporting. As (Secko 2011) notes there is substantial critique of environmental reporting but very little practical advice about how to remedy the criticisms. As journalism professors, we deal not only with these tensions in journalism, but also with teaching students the very basics of journalism practice and engaging and exciting them about important subjects such as the environment, and water. Making the argument for the Need for Water Journalism In 2004, Kate Galbraith questioned why American newsrooms weren’t covering water. She discussed how the water usually falls under the environmental or energy beat and she managed to track down the nation’s only water reporter. Like many authors, she argued that urbanites took water for granted and noted that water was covered usually in a crisis situation. (How Dry Am I? Columbia Journalism Review. Gailbraith 2004). This article notes that despite water being an incredibly important resource, water journalism, and stories on water are quite rare, especially when compared to similar fields, such as energy. It argues for increased attention for water to not only journalists, but also the general public. (Since this article, coverage of the the California water scarcity and Brazilian water scarcity issues are prominent.) The issues that Galbraith notes face Texas, also face Alberta. Similarly, drought is a significant climate change threat for Alberta. (Marchildon et al 2006) looked at historical financial impacts of drought in Alberta and called for governments to plan and re-assess agricultural activities.) The need that Galbraith noted is relevant to journalism today.

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Alberta Teaching Challenges There are specific challenges to instructing journalism students on environmental issues in Alberta notwithstanding the change of provincial government in May 2015. Water can be seen as an environmental issue but the mere word ‘environmentalist’ can be interpreted as negative or polarizing. The families of many students rely on the oil and gas industry for their livelihoods. The pro industry messages come from from industry but from government as well. Research notes that there’s been a clear move from government’s role as regulator of the Alberta Oil Sands to a promoter of the resource. (Paskey Steward Williams 2013). The conflict in the mind of many of our students is reflected in the writings of MRU Matt Sutton, encapsulated his confictual feelings about being an ‘oil kid’ in the The Son of an Oil Man (The Common Sense Canadian, March 14, 2014).

“On one side, I am being shown the horrific damage to the environment caused by these

companies taking oil from the ground, the ecosystems they have destroyed and the way

they are jeopardizing the future of our planet.

On the other side, I see an industry responsible for my Dad always having work and for

my life’s privileges.

Does opposing the oil and gas industry’s actions make me ungrateful?

Does agreeing with the oil and gas industry’s actions make me ignorant?

I am constantly unsure. In Alberta, it feels like I’m not supposed to question what’s

going on. I’m supposed to be appreciative of the ways it makes my life and my cities

economy better.” (Sutton 2014)

We teach in this context of Alberta to primarily Albertans and for that reason our cultural challenges are worthwhile to note. The cultural difficulties of environmental education in the province were noted by Joan M. Chambers (as a post doctoral fellow at the University of Alberta) who conducted a teacher study of Grade 10 Science Curriculum (Right Time, Wrong Place? Teaching about Climate Change in Alberta Schools 2011). She noted that Climate Change is barely taught as part of the curriculum—and firm attitudes towards oil and gas by students and structures.

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Her final footnote reflects some of the issues that we face too in pursuit of teaching and learning: “Unfortunately, I was not able to speak with any teachers in the region of the province most involved in oil sands mining and development; I was denied approval by the school board – perhaps telling in and of itself. Though given district approval, I also did not have any teachers from the natural parks areas volunteer to participate in this study.” We theorized that teaching water journalism in Alberta could present interesting challenges given the highly polarized views toward the Alberta Oil Sands debate (Gosselin 2010) leaving people wondering « what to believe » and the labelling of those who question its environmental impact as those who oppose jobs (Paskey, Steward, Williams 2013). The environmental and business journalism beats are loaded ones in Alberta. Consider that the owners of Post Media News instructed its media outlets in Alberta to write editorials supporting the Progressive Conservative Party in the 2015 provincial election as the NDP, a party whose environmental platform was seen as less friendly to industry, gained momentum. Companies extracting bitumen in the Alberta Oil Sands use large amounts of fresh water allocated via water license to the oil industry for by the provincial government. Water is free to corporations, a fact that is criticized by Edmonton-based journalist Ed Struzik in his report on groundwater (Underground Intelligence 2013) written while he was a fellow at the University of Toronto. Much of his journalism work is now viewed via Yale Environment 360, a service out of Yale University, New Haven, Conn. He is one of several leading journalists who publish out of province on environmental issues. Andrew Nikiforuk who writes for BC-based The Tyee is another. It would be hard to discuss journalism and water issues in Alberta without considering tailings ponds. The end product of oil sands development, the toxic sludgy tailings ponds, are visual reminders of the level of water use and pollution that occurs with this extractive resource. In 2008, the visual images of dying ducks on an industry tailings pond brought a spike of worldwide media attention and brought water use into disrepute. Yet, this is a difficult topic to cover with students in some ways. In our findings we argue for the importance of place-based learning but tailings ponds are far away and inaccessible to the public and the media as they are considered private property. This is why we often see aerial views of them. Another issue that confronts working and student journalists is access to information. One study out of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan (Freedman 2011) illustrated the problems of reporting on environmental issues in a state where there is much government control. « Given the hazards of retaliatory sanctions, steep barriers to obtaining information, lack of management interest, and inadequate professional preparation, are the scarcity and shallowness of environmental coverage surprising?” (Environmental

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Journalism in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan: Reporting Scarce Amid Environmental and Media Problems, Freedman 2011) These concerns are similar to those in Alberta where legislated public access to government information has broad exclusions, is often expensive to access, and there are few serious repercussions for government agencies that fail to abide by provincial access legislation. Routine govt. requests can be diverted to formal public access process meaning that a barrier of time and money is erected for student journalists who might need government documents to do their reporting. We need to recognize our special environment and theorized that using a business journalism approach and looking at water from a consumer and strategic business perspective might be a good approach for our students in addition to an environmental one. Environmental Journalism Water issues often fall under the category of sustainability and environmental journalism. The word sustainability is confusing one for the discipline in that ‘sustainable journalism’ also refers to an economic model of industry sustainability. Perhaps this is why the literature does not show broad usage. “Detjen (2002) highlighted the need for a new type of environmental reporting termed sustainable journalism, a review of literature for this article did not find other instances where this term was used. Hence, it may be assumed that sustainability journalism has not yet emerged with prominence as a specialty field in journalism at this point in time.” (Kolandai-Matchett 2009) “Environment journalism was assumed to be the most appropriate terminology to adopt in this article, and the reader should assume that it includes the reporting of both environmental and sustainability issues. (Kolandai-Matchett 2004) Water is one of the more difficult subjects to cover because it has science and technology components. (For instance at MRU, journalism students are not required to formally study science or management as part of their degree program. Many journalists do not have science backgrounds either. ) Building subject expertise is the area is recommended. For instance, Casey (1998) recommends four modules necessary : ecology, environmental science or management and communication. So far the literature on environmental journalism has found many criticisms but ‘no detailed practical solutions‘. (Secko 2011). His Concordia team reviewed 58 pieces of literature on environmental journalism and notes: “Since the 1990s, much scholarship has concentrated on topics including the relationships between journalists and scientists (Maillé, Saint-Charles, & Lucotte, 2010;

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Nelkin, 1995; Nisbet & Scheufele, 2009); the accuracy of environment reporting (Dunwoody, 1982; Palen, 1999; Singer, 1990; Valenti, 1998); and critical analysis of journalistic norms like objectivity and newsworthiness (Allan, Adam & Carter, 2000; Dennis & LaMay, 1991; Goodman et al. 2008; Nisbet, 2011). Yet 50 years after the birth of the environment beat, there is no clear consensus on how environment journalism should be done.” The authors conclude: “While there is a body of literature that offers suggestions on how to produce environment journalism, the literature investigated in this research largely claims traditional journalistic norms used in environment reporting are not adequate and it is up to educators and journalism training to respond to the common criticisms of environment journalism; how exactly to do this, however, remains largely unanswered.” They do note four authors who propose alternate forms of story telling but these have not been translated to practice. “We support the assertion of Sovacool (2008, 357–358) that media coverage must support an ‘‘integrated and enhanced understanding of the various facets... of environmental science among the public.’’ In particular, coverage must avoid simplistic dichotomies of environmental focusing events that promote reliance on technological solutions and expert voices and, instead, support broad public dialogue about comprehensive, Neslon et al) balanced, and lasting solutions for complex environmental problems.” In New Zealand, researchers undertook a study of environmental journalism education with 19 graduate diploma students by introducing a series of environmental modules (Sustainability in Journalism Education: Assessment of a Trial Module in New Zealand, Kolandai-Matchett Spellerberg Buchan 2009). After introducing the lessons and guest speakers, researchers found students had an increased knowledge base about sustainability and environmental issues but did not think they would pursue this career for lack of jobs. “Although the modules did not motivate students to take on environment journalism as a specialization, an immediate impact was their realization that sustainability was an angle that could be incorporated in other areas of reporting. The impact assessment conducted in this study illustrated that even a trial-level introductory module on sustainability can advance students’ understanding of sustainability and their interest in reporting related issues, strengthening the argument that its inclusion in journalism curricula would be beneficial.” (Kolandai-Matchett 2009) Freedman (2004) suggests that when proposing and designing curriculum for environment journalism, educators need to show how it might strengthen students’ career prospects as well as the institution’s repute. Journalism educators could link their

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education proposals to international initiatives such as the UNDESD (UNESCO, 2005) and the Talloires Declaration. Students may also be made aware of the existence of special environmental journalism awards that publicly recognize the significance of the job of these reporters (Leal & Borner, 2005). We support the assertion of Sovacool (2008, 357–358) that media coverage must support an ‘‘integrated and enhanced understanding of the various facets... of environmental science among the public.’’ In particular, coverage must avoid simplistic dichotomies of environmental focusing events that promote reliance on technological solutions and expert voices and, instead, support broad public dialogue about comprehensive, Neslon et al) balanced, and lasting solutions for complex environmental problems. As you can see the list of demands and hopes for environmental education of journalism students is high. The implications for professors is important too. One study queried whether environmental professors in general were biased and called for evidence based teaching the same as evidence-based research. The researchers studied student response to the New Ecological Paradigm after instruction. “We also found student environmental attitudes changed significantly after attending these courses but these attitudinal changes differed substantially depending upon who taught the course. Notably, student attitudes became either: “greener,” “browner” or “more unsure’ depending on instructor. (Teisl et al 2010) There is substantial discussion in the literature about the end result of environmental education. Should it be to create activists, for instance, and attitudinal change that gives rise to action? For journalism education, we would aspire that students have an interest in the subject, are curious enough to explore it, find evidence and fulfill journalistic norms of quality including accuracy, good sourcing, engaging presentation and relevance to readership.

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4. Water Journalism: Pilot Project Student Journalism Summary: Part of our project was to pilot student journalism related to water issues. This was done in a senior Public Affairs Reporting class with undergraduate journalism students pursuing a Bachelor of Communication-Journalism degree. After showing students a short presentation about the basics of water in Alberta, they were asked to choose a water topic of their choice to write about. Many of these stories were published and some ran into problems for lack of sources willing to speak.

Calgary Journal Water Stories (calgaryjournal.ca)

1. “Calgary’s fluoride debate erupts again”

Published on Sunday, 14 December 2014 14:14

WRITTEN BY KAITY BROWN

Low-income kids and seniors are paying the price for taking fluoride out of Calgary's drinking: say some dentists, agencies

Key Terms: Water Quality, Public Health, Water Politics

2. “Snowbirds' boats targeted at borders to prevent invasive species from reaching Alberta waterways”

Published on Monday, 17 November 2014 20:38

WRITTEN BY JEFF MEDHURST

Government thinking of mandatory boat stops for next year

Key Terms: Water Quality, Ecology

3. “Water trends flow through Calgary restaurants”

Published on Saturday, 20 December 2014 21:18

WRITTEN BY JORDAN KROSCHINSKY

Calgary restaurants move to filter their own water for better taste, and to manage their ecological footprint

Key Terms: Water Quality, Water Pricing, Business of Water

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4. “Southwest Ring Road detrimental to water systems”

Published on Saturday, 20 December 2014 21:41

WRITTEN BY CAITLIN CLOW

Weaselhead Preservation Society to host open house with expert panel to suggest alternative routes for ring road that will divert the Elbow River

Key Terms: Water Diversion, Preservation, Water Quality.

5. “How the disappearing wetlands affect our water supply”

Published on Sunday, 07 December 2014 17:50

WRITTEN BY JOCELYN DOLL

Pascal Badiou, researcher for Ducks Unlimited tells us about the value of wetlands

Key Terms: Water Conservation

Unpublished 6. Campaign out of New York against Suncor’s Water Use

Story dropped owing to lack of sources

Key Terms: Water Quality, Water and Business, Water Law.

7. Plumbers and developers who install conservation hardware

Story dropped owing to lack of sources

Key Terms: Water Conservation

8. Tsuu T’iina and other bands sue Fed. Government over water issues

Story dropped owing to lack of sources

Key Terms: Aboriginal Water Supply, Water Quality

9. Why everyone drinks bottled water in Nanton (community couldn’t afford piece of equipment that makes water taste better)

Story dropped owing to lack of sources Key Terms: Municipal Water, Water Taste, Water Quality, Water Pricing

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Sustainability Supplement for Calgary Journal, May 2015. 10. Water Business Cases: Balzac Mall and Castle Mountain Ski Resort WRITTEN BY ZOE CHOY Key Terms: Water Shortages, Water Licenses, Water Pricing

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5. Water Journalism Project Conclusions Finding 1 : Most journalism programs in Canada teach broad-based journalism courses but there are opportunities to undertake environmental, political or water investigations within many of them. We found four specific environmental journalism courses. Finding 2 : Water journalism, water sustainability and environmental education is an important field. The literature shows a need to produce have better educated journalists in the sustainability and environmental field. To this end we developed Water Journalism : a WordPress site with resources geared to educating and covering Water in Alberta. Finding 3 : When given minimal water instruction, Mount Royal journalism students were able to identify and cover simple water stories. Many chose stories related to conservation issues or water quality issues. Finding 4 : There is a desire to have environmental journalism that focuses on long term solutions. The presentation by professors can bias students in terms of their approach to the material. Finding 5 : The literature offered ideas about how we could approach introducing water journalism to our students. They are listed below :

1. Personal Water Connection to Fact. The literature showed that developing a personal connection to the theme of water helped with engagement. It is one that resonates with us. We seek build on the research of (Oliver and Dennison 2103) that argues education about Water Sustainability must use an approach that relates to « knowledge, emotion and action » or « head, heart, and hands. » The authors argue that water educators must know their participants and what is important to them, what they already know and whether they have the resources to take action. This is highly relevant to our approach to journalism students. We suggest general lessons on key water points followed by discussion and then some personal assignments such as :

a.) Water Foot Print Calculator Have students work through the Water Footprint Calculator that is on our WordPress site. This will give them an idea of their own impact and relations to water

c.) Evaluate Water Demands of Food. Similarly students can look at their fruit and vegetable consumption and see the water demand that each takes.

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http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/21/us/your-contribution-to-the-california-drought.html

c.) Encourage Expressive Writing. Many journalism students come to the discipline because, quite simply, they like to write. Meyer and Munson (2005) found that expressive writing (when students were able to express personal subjectivities) enabled them to foster a personal connection to environmental education. Students found that they felt empowered and that expressive writing was an enjoyable exercise. (This was undertaken in a university science and society course for preservice teachers). From a journalism point of view, an introductory assignment asking about a student’s personal relationship to water might be an approach adapted for our discipline. Secondly, this might fit into areas we already teach such as opinion writing, or personal journalism.

2. Participatory Education Part of student engagement is ensuring students participate in the creation of knowledge. From Australia, Bruce Missingham (2013) argues for for four new approaches. One is the notion of asset-based education or looking at a community from its strengths rather than deficits. This resonated in that many of our students find it difficult to go into a ‘negative place’ with their reporting. By focussing on the journalist tenet of ‘balance’ and recognizing there are perhaps positive aspects aspects of a water story, we hypothesized that we might be better able to engage the students. Missingham argued for participatory learning and noted that many of his master’s level students were more expert than he, ‘the expert.’ He argued for beginning participatory learning and a democratic process from the onset. For instance, he had students draw the river basins they knew personally and discussed those areas. This might apply to our undergraduate journalism students as they could begin their inquiry too by drawing familiar waterways then discussing both personal experiences and gaps in knowledge that might inform their reporting. This article argues for the incorporation of critical pedagogy and participatory learning into postgraduate university classrooms when teaching about water and sustainable development. He then discusses four elements of participatory learning that he finds useful for teaching water in higher education. These are: asset-based teaching and learning, participatory learning to enable deliberative processes and collective learning, problem-posing pedagogy, and involving students in construction of knowledge. For journalism students, this works well as the problem-posing can be a question that drives an investigation or a story.

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3. Place-Based Education A review of community water projects, environmental education, and school level instruction found a strong appeal for ‘place-based education’ or getting students out on site. Meichtry and Smith (2007) cite Powers (2004) arguing that education grounded in the local community helps students see the relevance of what they are learning. This sense of engagement speaks to us as teachers of student journalists. If their assignments had them on the grounds they might see some of the ‘increase in engagement, enthusiasm for learning, greater pride in accomplishments’ (cited in p.16 in Meichtry & Smith). Their study brought K-12 students to headwaters of a river. None of the students had seen or were aware of the impact of a river on the health of the rest of the river. (p. 26) Based on the results of the study, the authors conclude that place-based education can be an effective strategy. In order for it to work, however, teachers must be sufficiently trained in place-based teaching strategies. Place-based education allows for students to observe the river as part of a more complex and interconnected system. This notion of upfront basic education spoke to us in terms of the need to provide journalism students more basic training in water facts and called us to do so on site, if possible, rather than in the classroom. This is a challenge in Alberta as much of the water is frozen for much of the year. For journalism education, we would aspire that students have an interest in the subject, are curious enough to explore it, find evidence and fulfill journalistic norms of quality including accuracy, good sourcing and relevant to readership.

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Section 6 : WordPress Site : Water Journalism

This site is dedicated to providing sources and perspective to journalism students or journalists covering water in Alberta. It can be accessed at : jtimes.ca/water Thank you to Kerri Martin in the Faculty of Communication Studies for creating the template for the site.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Institute for Environmental Sustainability at Mount Royal University (Mike Quinn, Connie Van der Byl, Parish Ashfordy) as well as staff members Kerri Martin, Brad Simm, as well as project research assistants Zoe Choy and Alex Werier.