Environmental Issues in the Didactic Materials in Schools in Republic of Serbia

Abstract

Providing environmental knowledge was one of the objective components in implementing Environmental Education other than enhancing awareness, attitude, skills and behaviour towards environmental among students. According to Tanaka (2000), environmental knowledge can be defined as individual understanding on how environment functioning; how human interact with the environment; how environmental problems arise; and in what

Water education and water culture in curricula for Primary, Middle and upper Secondary school levels

“…For the Middle school curricula, water education criteria were prominent in Life and Earth Sciences, Physics and Religious education. These findings corroborate those previously reported in the Australian curricula, with the most prominent being Sciences counting 49.6% of water references, and geography 39.1%; in line with other reports from Singapore (Smith et al, 2012), Hong Kong (Curriculum Development Council, 2011 and Serbia (Maravic, Ivkovic, Segedinac, & Adamov, 2014).…”

The curricula revision in the context of education for sustainable development: From the perspective of two primary school subjects’ curricula

“…For instance, the science subjects can and should be oriented towards better knowledge of the nature and its laws, dependence of human beings upon nature, man-made problems, their causes and effects. Some research papers also show that in Serbia the above mentioned areas are represented in primary and secondary school curricula and didactic materials for subjects like biology, chemistry, physics and geography (Maravić, Ivković, Segedinac & Adamov, 2014;Stanišić & Maksić, 2014). However, when teaching social sciences and humanities related subjects, it is also possible and necessary to focus on implementation of the goals of ESD related to a good quality social relations and characteristics of a good quality lifestyle irrespective of its material dimension.…”

“…The claim is based on an interdisciplinary approach to natural and social phenomena in these subjects, the orientation of the subjects towards scientific literacy of students, as well as the fact that the goals are realized at the age 7-11, when children develop intensively and are receptive to the formation of adequate competencies and acceptance of the value system in the field of sustainability (Ibid). The results of the recent research (Maravić et al, 2014;Stanišić & Maksić, 2014) show representation of the environmental education goals and contents in curricula of primary school subjects in Serbia, including the World Around Us and Science and Social Studies. Yet, environmental education is a concept that is narrower than the concept of education for sustainability.…”

Environmental Education in the Science Curriculum in Different Countries: Turkey, Australia, Singapore, Ireland, and Canada

“…Environmental education is included in only a limited number of courses in teacher training programs; therefore, teachers are not gaining increased competence in environmental education. (Abdullah, Halim, & Shahali, 2011;Adedayo & Olawepo, 1997;Alım, 2006;Bakırcı & Artun, 2011;Bodlalo, Sabbaghan, & Jome, 2013;Cebesoy & Şahin, 2010;Eames, Cowie, & Bolstad, 2008;Hamalosmanoğlu, 2012;Jóhannesson, Norðdahl, Óskarsdóttir, Pálsdóttir, & Pétursdóttir, 2011;Maravic, İvkovic, Segedinac, & Adamov, 2014;Srbinovski, Erdoğan, & Ismaili, 2010;Tanrıverdi, 2009;Taylor, 1998). Previous studies made comparisons based on listing the objectives in the curricula mostly of a single country or several countries; there is no detailed study on the curricula of a single subject or comparing the curricula of many countries.…”