THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN TURKISH ELEMENTARY SCIENCE CURRICULUM

Year 2017, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 54 - 61, 30.12.2017

Sinem Demirci

Abstract

Ministry of Education introduced the notion of
Sustainable Development (SD) into the revised curricula in 2013. Moreover, SD
included as a chapter for 8th graders. In the current study, national
elementary science textbooks were examined by means of the integrating SD into
the contents. Moreover, the objectives of the SD chapter were analysed. The
context of curriculum stated that students develop awareness about benefits of
efficient use of natural resources by means of society, individual, and
economy. However, when the chapters were explored, no special emphasis or
integrations were attributed to SD. Rather, a chapter for the 8th graders was
added into the curriculum and it was related to the recycling and SD. When the
objectives of the chapter were examined, some objectives were too general that
4 lecture hours might not be enough to attain the objectives. Besides the
written objectives, no objectives were found for promoting competencies
reported by UNESCO. The content and the objectives of the SD lecture in science
are too general and need some revisions. Moreover, it could be better to
integrate the context of SD into the whole curriculum rather than having one chapter
in grade level 8.The objectives may be simplified and retrofitted in order to
construct meaningful learning. Besides, teaching the concept of SD via recycling
may not be sufficient to embrace the notion of SD. The national science
curriculum should also include some other SD issues.

Keywords

Education for Sustainability, Curriculum and Instruction, Elementary

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