Paul Steury Faculty Page

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	Paul Steury K-12 Education Coordinator at Merry Lea B.A. in Sociology, Goshen College, 1988 M.S. in Outdoor Resources Management with emphasis in Environmental Education, Indiana University, 1997 Contact info Office: Merry Lea Phone: (260) 799-5869 E-mail: paulds@goshen.edu
Favorite Quotes I hope I never become so used to the world that it no longer seems wonderful. -Unknown The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but provocation. - Freeman Tilden It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land and a high regard for its value. By value, I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense. -Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac D.H. Lawrence once said that "Water is H2O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one, but there is also a third thing that makes it water and nobody knows what it is." It is magic, the kind that can only be found in nature, life, and human possibilities once we are open to them. [We need] the kind of education that takes young people out of the classroom to encounter the mystery of the third thing. In that encounter they discover what Rachel Carson once called the "sense of wonder." And that is the start of a real education. -David Orr A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against boredom and disenchantment of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength. - Rachel Carson I am in love with this world. I have nestled lovingly in it. I have climbed its mountains, roamed its forests, sailed its waters, crossed its deserts, felt the sting of its frosts, the oppression of its heats, the drench of its rains, the fury of its winds, and always have beauty and joy waited upon my going and comings. - John Burroughs	How I became an environmental educator I was living in Lake Hughes, California, as a case manager for men with autism who lived in the San Fernando Valley. Daily, I would leave my mountain home that had blue skies almost continuously and descend to the brown, smoggy skies of Los Angeles. It would leave me constantly fed up with a society that allowed the environment to degrade so much that you couldn't see the mountains due to pollution. I asked myself, "What can I do to change this life?" My response was, "Teach the children and hopefully that generation can make the change." So I moved to Bloomington, IN, to acquire my degree. Ideas that matter to me Issue investigation Activism / Education and how to wake people up without getting them defensive Stewardship Politics Local Food, Local Economy Slow Food Movement Media and it's power Definitions of Citizenry, Religion, Spirituality The classes I teach and how I teach them I teach an undergraduate course called Field Experience in Environmental Biology (Biol 340), which many elementary education majors take. I like to teach this course as a seminar with lots of discussion. We read about natural history, ecophilosophy and environmental issues and then apply these learnings outdoors. Students gain practical experience teaching the groups who come to us for school field trips. My role in ML's new graduate program in EE I will teach Principles of Environmental Education and History and Issues in Environmental Education. Research Interests Education for Sustainable Development Environmental Justice Pro-Environmental Behavior Change What invigorates learning? Readings I Recommend Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawkin Biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus Earth in Mind by David Orr Beyond Ecophobia by David Sobel Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays by Wendell Berry Orion Magazine Presentation topics Do We Really Need GMOs? Wild Edibles of Northern Indiana Environmental Issues of Northern Indiana Leopold Education Project Project WET Hoosier Riverwatch Sages in the Environmental World

Paul Steury

K-12 Education Coordinator at Merry Lea

B.A. in Sociology, Goshen College, 1988

M.S. in Outdoor Resources Management with emphasis in Environmental Education, Indiana University, 1997

Contact info
Office: Merry Lea
Phone: (260) 799-5869
E-mail: paulds@goshen.edu

Favorite Quotes

I hope I never become so used to the world that it no longer seems wonderful. -Unknown

The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but provocation.

- Freeman Tilden

It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land and a high regard for its value. By value, I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense.

-Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac

D.H. Lawrence once said that "Water is H2O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one, but there is also a third thing that makes it water and nobody knows what it is." It is magic, the kind that can only be found in nature, life, and human possibilities once we are open to them. [We need] the kind of education that takes young people out of the classroom to encounter the mystery of the third thing. In that encounter they discover what Rachel Carson once called the "sense of wonder." And that is the start of a real education.

-David Orr

A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against boredom and disenchantment of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.

- Rachel Carson

I am in love with this world. I have nestled lovingly in it. I have climbed its mountains, roamed its forests, sailed its waters, crossed its deserts, felt the sting of its frosts, the oppression of its heats, the drench of its rains, the fury of its winds, and always have beauty and joy waited upon my going and comings.

- John Burroughs

How I became an environmental educator

I was living in Lake Hughes, California, as a case manager for men with autism who lived in the San Fernando Valley. Daily, I would leave my mountain home that had blue skies almost continuously and descend to the brown, smoggy skies of Los Angeles. It would leave me constantly fed up with a society that allowed the environment to degrade so much that you couldn't see the mountains due to pollution. I asked myself, "What can I do to change this life?"

My response was, "Teach the children and hopefully that generation can make the change." So I moved to Bloomington, IN, to acquire my degree.

Ideas that matter to me

Issue investigation
Activism / Education and how to wake people up without getting them defensive
Stewardship
Politics
Local Food, Local Economy
Slow Food Movement
Media and it's power
Definitions of Citizenry, Religion, Spirituality

The classes I teach and how I teach them

I teach an undergraduate course called Field Experience in Environmental Biology (Biol 340), which many elementary education majors take. I like to teach this course as a seminar with lots of discussion. We read about natural history, ecophilosophy and environmental issues and then apply these learnings outdoors. Students gain practical experience teaching the groups who come to us for school field trips.

My role in ML's new graduate program in EE

I will teach Principles of Environmental Education and History and Issues in Environmental Education.

Research Interests

Education for Sustainable Development
Environmental Justice
Pro-Environmental Behavior Change
What invigorates learning?

Readings I Recommend

Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawkin
Biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus
Earth in Mind by David Orr
Beyond Ecophobia by David Sobel
Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays
by Wendell Berry
Orion Magazine

Presentation topics

Do We Really Need GMOs?
Wild Edibles of Northern Indiana
Environmental Issues of Northern Indiana
Leopold Education Project
Project WET
Hoosier Riverwatch
Sages in the Environmental World