AN ORGANIZING THEME
-- To Develop Integrated Thinking
"We need people who think broadly and who understand systems, connections, patterns, and root causes."
David Orr, Earth in Mind
Sustainability education helps tie curricula--subject areas and processes-- together rather than developing new curricula. Sustainability education helps students learn how to think in whole systems and how to find connections. It teaches students how and when to ask the "big questions," and how to separate the trivial from the important. (Gagnon, The Atlantic Monthly). Sustainability education brings a variety of processes to develop thinking skills by:
demonstrating interconnections among disciplines;
focusing on real-world issues addressed from various perspectives;
examining the complexity of issues that are viewed in terms of ecological systems, economic structure, and community dynamics;
addressing crucial missing components in state education frameworks by demonstrating how all components fit with
what students should know and why.
