Adaptive Approaches of Primary School Teachers Facilitating Environmental Studies

This paper examines teachers' adaptive approaches with regard to Environmental Studies (EVS) within primary classrooms of government schools located in suburban Mumbai in India. 'Environmental Studies' (EVS), is a significant aspect of school curricula; integrating concepts and issues of science, social studies and environment education. While the effectiveness of curricular activities and materials for EVS in fostering student learning is often examined, teachers' implementation of these resources have received relatively inadequate attention in scholarly research. The local conditions in government schools, as well as the nature of reform curriculum and teacher training form the background to the complexities involved in adaptive teaching. We find that different adaptive methods are developed by some teachers over time in response to their documentation of local concerns and resources. We also find that the teachers' strong sense of professional agency is reflected in their explorations with curriculum-adaptation possibilities. Additionally, teachers' varying levels of trust in the design of existing textbook activities may affect their pedagogical decisions. We propose that delving into teachers' local knowledge provides insights into their perspectives and practices regarding student learning. Studying teachers' adaptive approaches is therefore imperative, and has critical implications for curriculum design and teacher professional development efforts. [For the full proceedings, see ED654100.]