Opinions of Social Studies Teachers on Environmental Education Through Social Studies Curriculum and Textbooks

Abstract

As the number of global environmental problems is increasing day by day, one of the courses given in environmental education, which is gaining importance, is social studies. In this context, environmental education in social studies gains importance, as well. From this point of view, this research aims to determine the views of social studies teachers about environmental education given through social studies curriculum and textbooks. The research was conducted with a phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research designs. The study group of the research consisted of 8 social studies teachers working in schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education of Türkiye (MoNE) in the fall semester of 2021-2022. The study data were collected with a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. The obtained data were analysed by the descriptive analysis method. According to the research findings, social studies teachers are of the opinions below: the emphasis on the sustainability principle of environmental education in the curriculum is low, it is insufficient in terms of achievements and is not suitable for the level, however, it is sufficient in terms of skills. In addition, the textbooks are far from actuality, and especially at the 5th-grade level, the visualization is insufficient. While the applied-based education approach is mostly adopted in environmental education, it has been emphasized that the most important problem in the realization of environmental education is the procedure. Teachers suggested the practice and activity-based education approach and environmentalist content.