Environmental Education is widely considered to be indispensable for realizing behaviour which supports sustainable life. Several international declarations and South African policy documents plead for the inclusion of environmental education processes at all levels of formal education. The White Paper for Education and Training (1995) stipulates that environmental education should be presented in accordance with an interdisciplinary, integrated and active approach to learning. The aim of this study was to investigate the role a learner activity plays in the decisions learners make to live more in the interest of the sustainability of the environment. Three schools that are engaged in the project Build capacity for life were selected. The project aims at implementing an environment management system at the schools by means of which the environment forms an integral part of school management and of the curriculum. The study is performed as a qualitative case study in which data was collected by means of observation, focus group sessions and interviews. The learner involvement in the staging of an activity that dealt with energy consumption and the influence thereof on the environment was investigated. Firstly, the collected data was organised by means of matrixes and brain charts and then analysed with the help of plotting charts. The findings indicate that learners are capable of recognising the relationship between electric energy, littering and air pollution. Learners are aware of the impact they as energy consumers have on the environment and could list methods according to which they creatively save energy on the school grounds and at their homes. Their performance is testament to a responsible attitude towards the environment and to the fact that they are convinced of the value of making people aware of environmental issues. From this, it can be inferred that, should channels and structures exist at schools by means of which learners can gain access to the management of their schools, they would be able to make contributions to promoting the sustainability of the environment. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Environmental Education is widely considered to be indispensable for realizing behaviour which supports sustainable life. Several international declarations and South African policy documents plead for the inclusion of environmental education processes at all levels of formal education. The White Paper for Education and Training (1995) stipulates that environmental education should be presented in accordance with an interdisciplinary, integrated and active approach to learning. The aim of this study was to investigate the role a learner activity plays in the decisions learners make to live more in the interest of the sustainability of the environment. Three schools that are engaged in the project Build capacity for life were selected. The project aims at implementing an environment management system at the schools by means of which the environment forms an integral part of school management and of the curriculum. The study is performed as a qualitative case study in which data was collected by means of observation, focus group sessions and interviews. The learner involvement in the staging of an activity that dealt with energy consumption and the influence thereof on the environment was investigated. Firstly, the collected data was organised by means of matrixes and brain charts and then analysed with the help of plotting charts. The findings indicate that learners are capable of recognising the relationship between electric energy, littering and air pollution. Learners are aware of the impact they as energy consumers have on the environment and could list methods according to which they creatively save energy on the school grounds and at their homes. Their performance is testament to a responsible attitude towards the environment and to the fact that they are convinced of the value of making people aware of environmental issues. From this, it can be inferred that, should channels and structures exist at schools by means of which learners can gain access to the management of their schools, they would be able to make contributions to promoting the sustainability of the environment. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This study aims to analyze and evaluate how cross-curricular activities could be used with the science-program in the ESL-classroom in order to raise and nurture students’ motivation. The study also aims to identify the determining motivational factor(s) in the ESL-classroom. Finally, the study aims to analyze and evaluate how teachers can make use of Dörnyei’s motivational taxonomy in order to conduct motivation based teaching. This study is divided into three different parts. The first part is analyzation of three different lessons by using a thematic logbook. The first lesson was conducted through a ”traditional” approach, while the second and third lesson was conducted through a creative approach which involved a cross-curricular activity. The second part is the carrying out of student surveys to compare the lesson observations with students’ responses in order to find possible factors that improve motivation and interest. The third part is analyzing the result by Dörnyei’s taxonomy in order to investigate the impact of the teaching on students’ motivation. The results of this study show that cross-curricular teaching has a positive impact on students’ motivation towards the subject of English, and it is also one of the determining motivational factors. The second factor is the active participation and encouragement from the teacher. A cross-curricular assignment was created and carried out in order to demonstrate how cross-curricular activities can be used in the ESL-classroom. Finally, the results from the application of Dörnyei’s taxonomy shows that teachers can make use of the taxonomy to reflect on previous lessons in order to identify if the right conditions for motivation were created and protected.