Making the Connection Between Character Education & EarthCARE

By Veronica Ford of the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board
May 12, 2006

The Choices Into Action: Guidance and Career Education Program Policy for Ontario Elementary and Secondary Schools (1999) describes the approaches that principals and teachers are expected to take when teaching students how to develop their learning skills and interpersonal skills.

The rationale states that students will require the ability to make sound decisions, solve problems, plan effectively, work independently, communicate well, research, and evaluate themselves realistically in order to be successful in the twenty-first century. Students must learn and develop skills at school that will help them become more independent and responsible individuals. They must be able to apply what they learn in school to other areas of their lives. They must learn to work cooperatively and productively with a wide range of people in order to assume their roles as responsible citizens. The Choices Into Action program will allow students to learn from their experiences and accomplishments and to apply their skills and knowledge in the classroom, in the school with their peers and teachers, and in the community.

The goals of the Choices Into Action program are strongly related to the goals of the EarthCARE project and environmental stewardship.

• Understanding the concepts related to lifelong learning, interpersonal relationships (including responsible citizenship)
• Developing learning skills, social skills and a sense of social responsibility and
• Applying this learning to their lives and work in the school and the community.

The area of learning most impacted by a project such as EarthCARE is Social Responsibility. In Grades 1-6, students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of being a responsible citizen: in the classroom and in the school. In Grades 7 & 8, students are required to demonstrate social responsibility both at school and in the community. And in Grades 9 to 12, students are expected to demonstrate social responsibility in the community. They will also be expected to describe how changes taking place in the economy, environment and society affect the job market.

EarthCARE is a vehicle for the learning activities and requirements of the Choices Into Action program. Working cooperatively and productively with others and assuming the role of a responsible citizen are directly linked to caring for our environment. Working on this project at the school level with peers and teachers and then broadening into the larger community with projects that will impact our environment will assist in the application of this learning. EarthCARE projects will also, provide a concrete approach to skills of time management, completion of tasks, goal setting, resolution of conflicts, volunteering, collaborating and cooperating with the outcome of responsible citizenship highlighting social responsibility and respect for others.