Some say that a habit can be developed or changed in 21 days, others say it takes 40 days, and still others contend that once repeated seven times any activity will become habit. Experts agree that whatever the duration, behavior change follows a predictable curve, rising quickly at first, reaching a plateau, and then rising more slowly with further plateaus. Pollution prevention (P2) education is an attempt to sow a thought and reap a lifelong habit by challenging students to evaluate, compare, and integrate new ideas with their own previous understandings and experiences.

Action Research: Community Problem Solving is an environmental education approach that was developed by William B. Stapp, in his pioneering effort to foster environmental literacy. It provides a framework in which an environmental education curriculum can be constructed, rather than specifying curriculum content. Important features of this process are:

• Identification of a concern in the local community,
• Information gathering,
• Communication,
• Cooperation,
• Development of useful skills,
• Problem-solving,
• Action, and
• Constant evaluation and reflection.

This approach facilitates going beyond the fact-by-fact, piece-by-piece examination of the environment to think in terms of inexorably bound together systems. It encourages learners to consider environmental and social systems as well as to develop core skills citizens need for responsible action. (NAAEE Conference, Dr. Bora Simons.)

An excellent source of information for developing environmental education teaching strategies is the network of state-based environmental education associations. These professional, grassroots organizations (existing in 47 states) have done much to promote the goals of environmental education through:

1. environmental education grants programs (reported in 27 states),
2. environmental education master plans and K-12 requirements (15 states),
3. environmental education curriculum guides that offer instructional strategies, resource listings and suggestions for developing curriculum (21 states), and
4. state environmental learning objectives intended to assist educators in developing specific instructional plans (30 states).

Source: National Environmental Education Advancement Project, originally conducted in 1995 and updated in 1998.

Links in this section give more details on current educational theories and teaching strategies.