Volunteerism and Experiential Learning in the Environmental Education Curriculum of the Province of Ontario

Environmental education curriculum is framed as the foundation for the successful achievement of goals and objectives related to solving current environmental problems of the planet. While environmental education curriculum can be conceptualized from different theories, research that frames the curriculum simultaneously from Elliot Eisner's and Benjamin Bloom's perspectives is less prevalent. This research explores the environmental education curriculum of the province of Ontario in the context of Eisner's critical framework and Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. In so doing the research answers four questions: - What does/does not Ontario's provincial environmental education curriculum teach pertaining to Environment? - Is there any contradiction, harmony and complementary domains embedded in the provincial Environmental education curriculum? - How does the provincial environmental education curriculum (explicit curriculum) fit to the school culture (implicit curriculum)? Is there a missing link between the two (null curriculum)? Which of the educational domains (knowledge, attitude or skill) is dominant in the implicit or explicit or null curriculum? In conclusion, the research argues there is a dire need to intensify skill and attitudinal based environmental educational objectives in Ontario's provincial environmental education curriculum. Apart from reviewing and analyzing the curriculum the research helpfully shows the missing links in the provincial environmental education.