Page 37 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10: The Arts, 2010

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND THE ARTS
Ontario’s education system will prepare students with the knowledge, skills, perspectives, and practices they need to be environmentally responsible citizens. Students will understand our fundamental connections to each other and to the world around us through our relationship to food, water, energy, air, and land, and our interaction with all living things. The education system will provide opportunities within the classroom and the community for students to engage in actions that deepen this understanding.
Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow: A Policy Framework for Environmental Education in Ontario Schools (2009), p. 6
Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow: A Policy Framework for Environmental Education in Ontario Schools outlines an approach to environmental education that recognizes the needs of all Ontario students and promotes environmental responsibility in the opera- tions of all levels of the education system.
The three goals outlined in Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow are organized around the themes of teaching and learning, student engagement and community connections, and environmental leadership. The first goal is to promote learning about environmental issues and solutions. The second is to engage students in practising and promoting environmental stewardship, both in the school and in the community. The third stresses the importance of providing leadership by implementing and promoting responsible environmental practices throughout the education system so that staff, parents, community members, and students become dedicated to living more sustainably.
There are many opportunities to integrate environmental education into the teaching of the arts. Nature often provides an inspirational starting point for creativity in both repre- sentational and more abstract art forms. Indeed, a sense of connection to the immediate environment and the natural world is frequently reflected in the arts – from Paleolithic cave paintings of animals and traditional dances and performances that evoke aspects
of nature to landscape painting and Impressionist music. To facilitate these connections, arts teachers are encouraged to take students out of the classroom and into the world beyond the school to help students observe, explore, and investigate nature, and to design activities that allow students to integrate natural materials into their creative works. Performances and installations that take place in the natural environment can also provide students with unique insights into environmental issues, as well as stimulate creative opportunities.
The arts can also be powerful forms of expression for students to use to explore and articulate the social and political impact of issues related to the environment. Art works can also be used to advocate protection of and respect for the environment. As well, the actual use of arts materials can be related to environmental education. Many safety guidelines are followed to reduce harmful effects arising from the interaction of potentially hazardous substances with the environment. As students learn about the safe handling and disposal of substances used in the arts, they have opportunities to explore how everyday human interactions with the environment can have significant consequences.
SOME CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROGRAM PLANNING IN THE ARTS
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