Environmental education from the perspective of Serbian primary school geography teachers

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyse trends regarding the implementation of environmental education in teaching geography and to determine the existing correlation between the elements of the teaching process such as: the presence of environmental topics in teaching of geography, dominant teaching methods, levels of students knowledge, and teachers' attitudes towards the importance of environmental education. The results show that environmental content is not present enough in practical work of geography teachers in elementary schools, that environmental topics are usually considered only declaratively, and that in those circumstances the possibility for students to form any kind of conceptual and procedural knowledge has been reduced to minimum. Most commonly applied approach is the transmission approach, while the student-directed methods are used less often. More frequent application of active learning strategies in the classroom shows significant linear correlation with the intensity of study of environmental topics, as well as the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach that leads to formation of conceptual and procedural knowledge of students. Linear regression analysis also confirms that the positive attitudes of teachers towards the educational importance of environmental education do not have significant influence on the change in their usual way of teaching.