Environmental Education and Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum

The aim of technology education is to enable students to achieve technological literacy through the development of:

• technological knowledge and understanding;
• technological capability;
• understanding and awareness of the relationship between technology and society.

Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 8

Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1995) contains a range of achievement objectives that provide opportunities for integrating the aims, key concepts, and key dimensions of environmental education with technology programmes.

The following sections, organised by level and by strand, identify strands and achievement objectives in Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum and suggests some associated study topics that could be used to meet the aims of environmental education and explore its concepts and dimensions. (This is the online version of the table on page 31 of Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand Schools.)

Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum outlines a number of technological areas in which students are expected to carry out their technological activities. These are described on page 12 and include Biotechnology, Food technology, Information and Communication technology, Materials technology, and Production and Process technology. A range of contexts in which these technological activities are carried out is described on page 13 of the curriculum document. These include environmental, recreational, school, energy, industrial, and community contexts. All of these areas and contexts provide opportunities for considering how technological activities impact on environments and how technology can reduce these impacts. Learning opportunities in these areas will help to meet Aim 2 of environmental education, which is to develop "knowledge and understanding of the environment and the impact of people on it", Aim 4, which is to develop the "skills involved in identifying, investigating, and problem solving associated with environmental issues", and Aim 5, which is to develop "a sense of responsibility through participation and action as individuals, or members of groups, whānau, or iwi, in addressing environmental issues".

The key environmental education concepts of interdependence, sustainability, biodiversity, and personal and social responsibility for action, as well as such Māori concepts as whenua, mauri, rangatiratanga, taonga, hauora, rāhui tapu, and kaitiakitanga, can be developed through technology education. Students can consider how technology assists in resource management, the importance of technology in saving endangered species, and the interaction of technology and environmental management.

Technology education provides opportunities for students to explore the key dimensions of environmental education. Learning in technology can be undertaken through education in the environment, for example, through visits to organic farms or regenerating forests. Education about the environment can be pursued through a range of learning experiences, such as a study of the use made by Māori weavers of natural fibres and dyes or of traditional methods of storing food in Māori society. Such experiences will assist students to understand features of the environment and the effects people have on these features. Education for the environment will occur when students act on their learning in ways that maintain and improve the quality of the environment, such as by evaluating current waste-disposal options and making recommendations for the future.

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