From learning to communicating: Biocultural education through philosophical dialogue

To assess whether ecological education is effective, often educators focus on how much students learn about the environment as a central criterion of good education. However, is a good ecological education merely a matter of how much data students retain? We suggest that important criteria should not simply include how much was learned by students, but also how the students communicated. Communication is an inquisitive and dialogical, rather than closed and monological process. We propose Philosophy for Children (P4C), with its focus on caring, critical, and creative inquiry, as a model for such communicative environmental education.