Environmental Education and Active Citizenship

Abstract

Now at the 21^st Century, education needs to be adapted to youth and children of our time. Learners are requesting active education into concrete situations of pedagogy. The model of «Action Research for the Community Problem Solving» (AR:CPS) responds to this need perfectly. As an example, in his last speech, former President of USA Barack Obama has raised the importance for active citizenship to engage people into the «problem solving process». This is what the Program in Environmental Education and Citizenship (PEEC) has developed as an expertise in the last 20 years. This approach can be applied in any situation, technical as educational. The program has been shown to build critical, reflective and empowering democratic skills and to inspire its participants to engage fully in problem-solving within their communities. Evaluation of the outcomes since 1993 suggest that this is a method that is considered beneficial by participants, by their communities as by educational institutions at all levels, and that it may provide a more effective mode of education for environmental citizenship.