Content Analysis of Elementary School Textbooks Based on Sustainable Environmental Components

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate professor of Educational sciences department, Faculty of Humanity and Social Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran.

2 M.A. in educational administration, Education Supervisor, Babolsar Education Department, Mazandaran, Iran

3 PhD student. in higher education planning and Development, Department of Education, department of Educational sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

10.22080/jsn.2024.5022

Abstract

Extended Abstract
1.         Introduction
Environmental education is vital for the perspective of sustainable development (Paviotti-Fischer et al., 2023) because problems in this area threaten the sustainability and survival of our planet. It is a way to increase awareness of the current environmental situation among future citizens and to instill preventive behaviors in education in the form of lesson concepts in this field. Learning environmental concepts will not only increase students' understanding of the natural world but also develop a sense of empathy and responsibility towards all living beings (Smith et al., 2023). In this regard, most experts and teachers agree that it is important to integrate environmental education into the learning process of primary school students. They considered childhood as the most appropriate age for learning environmental concepts (Sukma et al., 2020).

2.        Research Methodology
The method used in the content analysis of the current research was Shannon entropy, and the unit of analysis was pages (text, questions, exercises, and images). The statistical society included all the basic textbooks of the elementary course in the academic year 2019-2020, and the statistical sample of this research included Persian courses, mathematics, experimental sciences, heavenly gifts, social studies, information technology, thinking, and research.

3.        Research Findings
The findings from the data analysis show that while paying attention to the components of sustainable environment in the textbooks, each of the indicators of the aforementioned components has been given unbalanced attention, and the textbooks have not covered the components of the sustainable environment to a certain extent. According to the findings of the study, the share of each environmental component in the total number of books in the elementary school was, in order of points, the environmental component of soil (7823), water (2731), and air (2006), and sound (1471). But according to the resulting data of entropy (Ej), importance coefficient (wj), and the rating of sustainable environment components in textbooks, the entropy index of water is equal to 0.82, air index is equal to 0.85, soil index is equal to 0.75, and sound index is equal to 0.52. Taking into account the importance coefficient and rank, it can be said that air, water, soil, and sound indicators have received the most to least attention in the content of textbooks, respectively.

4.       Conclusion
Environment is one of the hot topics of world politics. It is only the necessity of survival that forces man to emphasize this word in order to be the savior of the earth and its creatures by preventing the disruption of the harmony of the natural system ruling the earth. Earth, water, and humans are three connected arms of life that must be kept in balance and harmony. The collapse of one of these arms destroys the entire framework of the philosophy of life on earth. Environmental education is one of the knowledge, tendencies, values, and skills through which students can individually and collectively solve environmental problems. In fact, environmental education is a permanent process during which students acquire the necessary awareness, values, tendencies, skills, and experiences about the environment around them, and through it, they can solve problems related to the current and future environment as they will be able to meet their current needs without threatening and jeopardizing the interests of future generations. Accompanying the content of textbooks with environmental and educational theoretical and practical issues and components of these concepts will help students maintain and achieve the concept of survival. Therefore, in this regard, we can use new methods in education in the primary period, such as memorization and learning through cooperation, drama methods, group discussion methods, innovation model, inductive thinking model, and brainstorming method. Therefore, the presentation of projects such as environmental assistants, which means choosing primary school students as environmental guardians, will strongly accompany them in the direction of preserving the environment, which is a useful and efficient idea.

Funding
There is no funding support.

Authors’ Contribution
The authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved of the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work.

Conflict of Interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the persons for scientific consulting in this paper.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Society and the Environment
Volume 1, Issue 2
December 2024
Pages 117-142

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