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Environmental Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Conceptual Framework for Teacher Knowledge and Development

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Book cover Educating Science Teachers for Sustainability

Part of the book series: ASTE Series in Science Education ((ASTE))

Abstract

Most schools do not offer a standalone environmental course. It is the subject teachers’ responsibility to integrate environmental education into their teaching. School teachers therefore need to develop environment-related pedagogical content knowledge. This chapter proposes a conceptual framework for teacher knowledge: Environmental Pedagogical Content Knowledge (EPACK) and uses it to shed light on pre-service teacher education. Currently, most teacher education programs offer a series of workshops or an elective course to respond to the call for environmental education. However, given its hybrid nature, EPACK cannot be effectively developed solely through such a quick fix approach. Teacher education programs need to consider an integrated approach from Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) perspective within methods courses because these courses provide a meaningful context to teach ESD that is pedagogically situated in the teaching of subject matter. This argument leads to a blended model of teacher development for environmental and ESD proficiency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

    George Zhou

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  1. George Zhou
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Correspondence to George Zhou .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Childhood and Early Childhood Education, State University of New York at Cortland, Cortland, New York, USA

    Susan K. Stratton

  2. Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Pembroke, North Carolina, USA

    Rita Hagevik

  3. Department of Teaching and Learning, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Allan Feldman

  4. Department of Biology, Dallas Baptist University, Dallas, Texas, USA

    Mark Bloom

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Zhou, G. (2015). Environmental Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Conceptual Framework for Teacher Knowledge and Development. In: Stratton, S., Hagevik, R., Feldman, A., Bloom, M. (eds) Educating Science Teachers for Sustainability. ASTE Series in Science Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16411-3_11

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