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SUCCESSFUL APPLY IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS
OF AZERBAIJAN THE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION TEACHING &
LEARNING METHODS TOWARDS ECO-SCHOOLS AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.
Ehmedova Bahar Vidadi Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Republican Center for the Development of Children and Youth. [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Modern education cannot be imagined without humanistic approach, oriented towards respect for the human dignity, to create the necessary conditions for the development of the individual. This approach in education is aimed at the formation of humane relations between participants in the process, their respect to each other. At the same time, humanism implies a humane attitude to the nature that is most productive can be realized through ecological education and upbringing. Ensuring sustainable development of the country involves the implementation of policies aimed at ensuring environmental safety and rational use of natural resources for present and future generations. Ecology is now defined as one of the priorities of the country's development. This article discusses the main problems related with applying to all secondary schools in Azerbaijan methods of environmental education (EE), effective teaching and learning process in EE. The article includes the aims of environmental education, teaching approaches and basic organizational ideas that constitute a progressive environmental education model, which helps to achieve sustainable development goals in future. Basic learning strategies are outlined and basic methods are briefly explained. Key words: Environmental education, Successful teaching and learning, Sustainable development, Eco-school
Education has a very important role in environment protection. The main purpose of environmental education is to enable an individual at an informative level to gain an ability to set a healthy communication including behaviors which do not give harm to the environment based on mutual respect between human beings and nature. That is, the aim is not only being informed about environment but also causing the individual to acquire the attitudes and behaviors that protect and develop environment, and the ability to be able to solve problems about environment [4]. Environmental education increases public awareness and knowledge about environmental issues or problems. In doing so, it provides the public with the necessary skills to make informed decisions and take responsible action. In order to create best model of environmental education teaching & learning method, here necessary to analyze main topics of EE, international and national political framework, it’s representing in sustainable development goals, current trends in country, information about organizations involved in environmental education experience of Azerbaijan’s secondary schools. Environmental education (EE) teaches children and adults how to learn about and investigate their environment, and to make intelligent, informed decisions about how they can take care of it. Environmental education does not advocate a particular viewpoint or course of action. Rather, environmental education teaches individuals how to weigh various sides of an issue through critical thinking and it enhances their own problem-solving and decision-making skills. (U.S. EPA, Environmental Education and Literacy) Thus, the relevance of the research topic is conditioned by:
- the importance for the domestic and international community of the problem of preparing an environmentally literate younger generation;
- the peculiarity of the current stage of the state of Azerbaijan education - the stage of transformation and long-term development;
- the need to develop uniform theoretical and methodological bases for teaching the ecology to primary and secondary school students, based on the latest achievements of pedagogical science;
- the current state and perspective of the development of the theory and practice of teaching ecology in the secondary school, which is ripe for the need for a theoretical generalization of the diverse and rich experience of EE; Ecological education due to the peculiarities of its content, conditioned by the worldview and cultural character of the science of ecology, has a powerful developmental and educational potential. It plays an integrative role in the entire system of general secondary education.
The functions of environmental education, which involves environmentally friendly content of education, are the following:
- An integrative function that fosters the synthesis of natural science and humanities knowledge, provides students with an understanding of the environmental aspects of natural science and humanities, which contributes to their awareness of the integral scientific picture of the world.
- The worldview function contributes to the formation in the schoolchildren of a scientific globally oriented worldview. This function is based on the theory of knowledge: the world is a complex system of connections and interactions, the change in the elements of the system is mutually conditioned, man and society are the result of the evolution of nature and therefore they are inseparable from nature. The effectiveness of environmental education is largely determined by the willingness of environmental educators to activities, which means the ability to solve professional real tasks and problems arising in real conditions. The theory of environmental education includes the laws and principles of selecting the content and choice of teaching methods, the theory of forms, methods and means of teaching ecology, the theory of the development of ecological concepts. The regularities established in the theory of environmental education are manifested as the dependence of the selection of content on the aims of biological education, the selection of the content of the lesson from the tasks of the lesson, the dependence of the choice of methods on the content of the concepts developed, the dependence of the choice of the means of instruction on the methods and stages of the lesson [5]. At the methodical level, effective methods and means for the development of concepts or skills are determined, an optimal combination of these methods and means of instruction is revealed, as well as conditions that contribute to the successful solution of teaching and educational tasks in ecology. The methodology of teaching ecology can be considered as creativity, in which the teacher's personality, his pedagogical culture, professionalism, erudition, tact plays a huge role. The transition to the personal model of pedagogical education determines the new quality of the training of future educators-ecologists, which means the transition from knowledge to personal and author's model of pedagogical activity. The value-oriented orientation of methodological training contributes to the creation of author's methodologies in the field of environmental education of schoolchildren. The uniqueness of environmental education is that it sets the goals of education in a new way. The most important goal of environmental education is the formation of an ecological culture of the individual and society. At present, ecological culture is becoming not something
In pedagogical science, the following levels of the content of education are distinguished: the level of the general theoretical representation; the level of the academic subject; level of educational material; the level of pedagogical reality; level of personality. The level of the general theoretical representation captures the content of environmental education in the form of a generalized systemic idea of the structure and composition of ecological knowledge, methods and types of environmental activity, the experience of creative activity and the emotional value attitude to nature and the world as a whole. Exactly at this level of presentation the content of environmental education can be viewed as a system of interrelated components: epistemological, activity, creative, axiological. The form of implementation of the content of environmental education at the level of the general theoretical presentation – academic plan, which defines a set of subjects that must include environmental knowledge, methods of activity, etc. First of all, such subjects as biology, geography, chemistry, physics, as well as history, literature, etc. In this case, a multi-objective model of ecological education is realized in school practice. If the curriculum (its school component) includes the subject "ecology", then the content of environmental education will be most fully represented in this subject (one-subject model of ecological education) [7]. The methodology for teaching ecology is a relatively young discipline and some theoretical grounds for determining and classifying forms and methods of instruction. It derives from the methodology of teaching biology, which has long been formed as a field of scientific knowledge, and as a teaching discipline in a pedagogical college. In the methodology of teaching ecology, as well as in the methodology of teaching biology, the form of instruction is viewed as an external expression of the educational process. Forms of instruction regulate the joint activity of the teacher and students, determine the ratio of individual and collective work, activity, independence of cognitive activity of students and the degree of leadership role of the teacher. In the methodology and practice of teaching ecology in the school, a system of organizational forms of instruction has developed, including a lesson, excursion, elective courses, after-hours, extracurricular work, homework. The diversity of forms of environmental education makes it possible to make the teaching and educational process richer, to make fuller use of the natural environment in solving the problems of environmental education. The use of all forms of learning in their interrelationships makes it possible to improve the effectiveness of the process of teaching ecology. The choice of this or that form of education is determined by specific educational and educational tasks, the content of the topic; the possibilities of the material base (technical equipment and equipment of the ecology class, the wildlife corner and
the ecological department on the school site, etc.), the peculiarities of the natural environment of the school. The lesson is the basic form of teaching ecology. The lessons consistently reveal the content of the course of ecology, organize the activity of students in the assimilation of environmental knowledge and mastering the methods of environmental activity. At the same time, various methods of teaching, methodical methods and teaching aids are used. In the process of preparation, they relied on the following pedagogical principles of teaching: an individual approach to the participants of the gaming session (distribution of duties and roles), scientific (self-preparation on the discussed problem with the use of special literature), clarity (preparation of schemes, cards, emblems, etc.), as well as principles competitiveness and activity. The role of the teacher is to motivate students to achieve goals, control, adjust joint action, stimulation to achieve success. For example, during the process is used "Disput" method in the which helps to solve the following problems:
- development of logical thinking,
- the formation of the ability to ask questions,
- formation of the ability to respond in an emotionally tense situation,
- training respectful attitude to the opponent at different points of view. For the successful implementation of this technology, game goals and tasks that involve presentation by teams participating in the game are set up by representatives of virtual ecological movements, their concepts for the successful solution of the problems of ecological education and upbringing students and the general public. The functional significance of the lesson of ecology can be considered in various aspects [8]:
- lesson as a certain stage in the process of teaching, nurturing and developing the personality of the student;
- lesson as a structural unit for studying the content of the course of ecology;
- lesson as a means of integrating natural and humanitarian concepts, as a means establishment of intersubject and intrasubject communication between knowledge;
- lesson as a stage of control, verification and evaluation of students' achievements in mastering the content of the subject;
- lesson as an indicator of the creativity and pedagogical skill of the teacher. Another important form of environmental education is excursion. A school excursion is a form of organizing an educational process with a class or group of students, conducted with a cognitive purpose outside the school. Excursions to nature, to production, to a museum, to a
- the ability to implement projects is environmentally-friendly oriented social activities related to environmental safety environment, human health and the enhancement of their ecological culture. Today, in the field of education, there is a need to improve the learning process. Beginning in the 1980s, researchers in foreign psychology (D. Kolb, L. Curry, J. Kagan, P. Honey, A. Mumford) began to pay attention to the study of individual characteristics intellectual processes. Models were created, based on which, the learning process can be improved. One of such models of learning and development is the Kolb cycle. David Kolb, a specialist in the psychology of adult learning, the author of the model. Kolb’s teaching practice consists of four inseparable parts such as, accommodator. assimilator, diverter, converter. The learning process is presented in the form of a cycle of accumulation of one's own experience, reflection and, as a consequence, of action[5]. The basic stages of the model (or cycle) of D. Kolb:
- A direct experience (concrete experience) - everyone already has experience in that area or sphere, which he wants to learn.
- Observation and reflection or mental observation (Observation and reflection) - implementation and analysis of the existing experience, knowledge.
- Formation of abstract concepts and models or abstract conceptualization (forming abstract concepts) - models are constructed that describe received information and experience. Ideas are created and new information is added, how everything works.
- Active testing (testing in new situations) is based on experimenting and testing the created model or concept. The result of the is a direct new experience. D. Kolb noticed that different people give a clear preference for different behavior - practical actions or theorization. Most of the time a person learns one of four methods: direct experience, observation and reflection, the formation of abstract concepts of models or active experimentation. This training method assumes that the teacher and students become not only equal participants, but also partners that influence each other and performing the roles assigned to them. It can be assumed that trainees are characterized by varying degrees of willingness to actively participate in the learning process and different degrees of motivation to improve their own abilities. It should be noted that this method of teaching changes the requirements for programs that should be aimed at creating conditions in which each student will be able to fully open his potential. Today all over the world the most recognized program of teaching environmental education is Kolb’s theory.
Now we need:
- Combining the efforts of leading scientists, specialists, experts, practical teachers in environmental education for lobbying environmental education at the governmental level;
- updating the content of general and supplementary education on the basis of ideas environmental education for sustainable development;
- Creation of a unified developing ecological and educational environment for coordination activities on environmental education.
- In the prevailing circumstances, the introduction of a generalizing worldview course at each level of training (by analogy with the course Azerbaijan Ecology and Sustainable development, preservation and support of additional education in ecological and biological orientation, development and implementation of the education environmental module (grades 1-11) to update the content of school disciplines and after-hour activities, saturation ecological content of off-hour activities (socialization of students; educational, research and project activities; culture and health; In general education; cultural and moral development, education). All this work should be organized in the system taking into account the accumulated experience [2]. EE creates conditions for students to master such competences (universal abilities), as:
- responsibility for the present and future;
- the desire for knowledge, creativity, design, research;
- the ability to navigate in the latest technologies and the ability to use them;
- information literacy;
- ability to productive creative work and development of new types of activity;
- inclination and ability to collective activity (labor and cognitive);
- aspiration and readiness for the conscious choice of a profession and continuous education;
- the ability to critically treat their activities and adjust it;
- ability to make a decision and implement it;
- the ability to self-knowledge and self-development;
- readiness for effective communication and organization. Most schools don’t include to their academic plan this course (it is not obligatory!), so at the present time a smaller part of Azerbaijani schoolchildren receive a more or less complete environmental education. New textbooks for modern standards are unlikely to include environmental modules, thought-out environmental themes embedded in the content of the
References 1.Sauve, L. Environmental Education: Possibilities and Constraints. UNESCO, 2002. 2.Schmieder, A.A. The Nature and Philosophy of Environmental Education: Goals and Objectives. In Trends in Environmental Education, UNESCO, 2007. 3..Самкова В.А. Природа. Человек. Культура. Экологическое образование школьников: концепция и комплект программ для учащихся III(IV)–(XI) классов. – М.: Некоммерческое партнерство «Содействие экологическому и химическому образованию», 2001. 4.Технологии экологического воспитания детей и молодежи: методическое пособие / Под ред. Клемяшовой Е.М. – Ярославль: «Аппарель-Полиграфия», 2007. 5.Экологическая культура школьников. Учебно-методическое пособие. Электронный научнообразовательныйресурс.http://libweb.ksu.ru/ebooks/02_128_000418.pdf. 6.https://www.epa.gov/education 7.https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/environmental-education-and-its-components.php 8.http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/special-themes/science-education/ environment/ 9.https://cjee.lakeheadu.ca/article/view/
