Main features of ecological education

Environmental education presupposes a continuous process of training, upbringing and personal development aimed at forming a system of scientific and practical knowledge and skills, as well as value orientations, behavior and activities.

The system of environmental education is based on the following principles: humanization, scientific character, integration, continuity, systematic and interconnected disclosure of global, regional and local aspects of ecology.

Environmental education plays an integrative role in the entire system of general secondary education. It performs the following pedagogical functions:

contributes to the formation and development of a single picture of the world in the minds of students;

is an essential component of the humanization of all school education;

forms general educational and universal human abilities to predict one's own activities and the activities of other people;

expands the possibilities of moral education in the learning process.

Most prefer the mixed model, the implementation of which requires the development of the content of the training course "Ecology", the greening of traditional subjects, as well as the development of a series of workshops on environmental research.

From the point of view of psychologists, the attitude to the environment is formed in the process of interaction of the emotional, intellectual and volitional spheres of the human psyche. Only in this case is a system of psychological attitudes of the individual formed. Consequently, the implementation of the tasks of environmental education requires a revision not only of the content of education, but also of the forms and methods of teaching. It is necessary to give preference to such methods, forms and methodological techniques of teaching, which will:

stimulate students to constantly replenish their knowledge about the environment (lessons - business or role-playing games, lessons - conferences, seminars, conversations, student reports, disputes and quizzes).

contribute to the development of creative thinking, the ability to foresee the consequences of nature-forming human activities (these are methods that ensure the formation of intellectual skills: analysis, synthesis, comparison, establishing causal relationships; these are also traditional methods: conversations, observations, experience, laboratory work with a predominance of the heuristic nature of cognitive student activities).

ensure the development of research skills, abilities, teach to make environmentally sound decisions and acquire new knowledge.

involve students in practical activities to solve environmental problems of local and regional importance (identification of rare and endangered species, organization of an ecological path, protection of nature from destruction, identification of risk factors in areas of residence, promotion of environmental knowledge: lectures, conversations, leaflets, drawings, posters ).

The introduction of a system of continuous environmental education requires the formation of practical skills in assessing the quality of the environment. The main contribution to the practical environmental activities of students is made by environmental research and work on assessing the state of the environment, which are an important part of the content of education and are widely introduced into the practice of environmental education of students.

Environmental research allows students to summarize the knowledge gained, apply information acquired in the study of other subjects, express their own point of view and propose solutions to this or another environmental problem.

Thus, today in our country the level of environmental education and environmental culture does not meet the requirements of reality. The tendencies for further development, of course, have been formed, but there are constraining factors that raise doubts about the possibility of large and rapid progress in this direction. In most cases, environmental education is developed by individuals, educational institutions and centers, often with very little financial support from federal education and environmental agencies. In addition, the experience of foreign colleagues is underestimated, primarily in the areas of development of regulatory support and organizational forms of work.

Here I would like to note that in the countries of America and Europe they often talk about education for sustainable development - a concept close to the concept of environmental education, but broader, since it includes related environmental, economic and social problems. It is important to emphasize that in the 1990s, school environmental education in our country followed this path.

In a number of countries, for example in Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark and some others, environmental education is realized through "immersion in nature": classes and games are held outside buildings, certain days and weeks are allocated for projects. The main idea is to awaken a holistic emotional perception of the surrounding nature.

In these countries, two methodological approaches dominate in the system of environmental education, depending on the age of students: play (for children of primary and middle grades) and naturalistic (for high school students).

In fact, a playful approach is used when working with all age groups of the population. On its basis, many natural history courses have been built, textbooks and workbooks have been compiled, board and computer games, and posters have been developed. The positive aspects of this approach include simplicity and clarity, and the negative ones are the slowdown in the development of intelligence and a decrease in the ability to independently acquire knowledge, identified by scientists, that is, the same problems that are caused by the excessive use of tests.

The naturalistic approach in environmental education of the European version of education is very different from Russian practices. On the territories of many schools there are ecological sites, where during the lessons elementary school students study plants and animals. Often there is also a site with meteorological instruments for observing the weather. The purpose of such training is real interaction with objects of the environment and encouraging students to independent research and integrated thinking. Older students study solar installations, water purification devices, artificial reservoirs and their inhabitants, vermicomposters, work in small botanical gardens and go on excursions to nature reserves and national parks.

Extracurricular education is also widely developed in Europe and America. By analogy with Russian leisure centers and organizations of additional education, there are public educational and environmental organizations, the main field of activity of which is field naturalistic education. Children can come to them on their own initiative after lessons. By analogy with Russian circles, there are clubs in which children, uniting in groups, under the guidance of an environmental mentor, collect material and study a specific problem posed by a teacher or scientist.