neilmac (asker) Oct 12, 2016:

"Knowledge" ... is a bit of a buzzword nowadays (knowledge economy, knowledge management, etc.) and they seem to have fallen for it in a big way in Spain.

Andy Watkinson Oct 12, 2016:

I think Dariusz is absolutely on the right track. "Environmental, Social and Cultural Studies"

Rebecca Watford Oct 12, 2016:

Being that this is for a class, I like the word "studies" instead of "knowledge" better as well.

Darius Saczuk Oct 12, 2016:

How about STUDIES in place of KNOWLEDGE? N, S, and C E Studies.

neilmac (asker) Oct 12, 2016:

Yeah I've read the course contents - they certainly aim to cover a lot. I agree that the literal translation is probably the best way to go. Cheers all for chipping in :-)

Charles Davis Oct 12, 2016:

Conocimiento del Medio I remember the first time I heard of this subject and wondered what it was. If you ask any Spanish teacher or pupil, they will almost certainly answer "biología". Which is not entirely true, but is true to a first approximation. The bulk of what it includes is what we did in "Science", so although that's very brief it's not altogether misleading. There's an awful lot of the natural world (biology, ecology, bit of geology, bit of astronomy) and a little bit of culture and society (public transport systems and so on). If I had to invent a name for it is English it might be "The World About Us". Simon's literal approach is probably the wisest here.