AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightThe conclusion of the article shows that in the early 20th century, primary school education paid attention and made efforts on environmental literacy and environmental awareness, and Lectures on Morality has made a contribution to the foundation of environmental education in Turkey.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Abstract
Environmental education has been given in various primary school courses in Turkey, predominantly in Life Sciences, Social Sciences, and Science and Technology courses. This study, while focusing on the relationship between environment and child education, aims to decipher the roots of environmental education in Turkey. In order to accomplish this task at hand, the article focuses on the early 20th century, in the late Ottoman period, and investigates the topics on environment and environmental ethics in the civics course Lectures on Morality [Musâhabât-ı Ahlâkiye] by analyzing the course curriculum and textbooks. The documents of this research are the primary school curriculum of 1913 and 1914 prepared by the Ministry of Education, and the five textbooks of Lectures on Morality. This study is structured with document analysis technique based on quantitative research model. The data gathered from documents were evaluated with content analysis and interpreted accordingly. The article concludes that the education system in the Ottoman Empire of the early 20th century played a crucial role in the development of the idea of ‘conserving the environment’ and the curriculum and the textbooks of the Lectures of Morality course include for environmental topics. These topics are divided into four main categories in the textbooks of Lectures on Morality: the existence of different livelihoods in the environment and protection of species, raising environmental awareness, utilizing nature and loving animals. The research found out that the environment as a concept has been understood or perceived with a focus on knowing and protecting the environment. Furthermore, the research noticed that even though the textbook’s view on environmental education fits mainly to an anthropocentric ethics perspective, traces of biocentric and ecocentric ethics perspectives are also evident. That said, a theocentric ethics perspective, which values and pays attention to all species as creations of God, has stood out. The conclusion of the article shows that in the early 20th century, primary school education paid attention and made efforts on environmental literacy and environmental awareness, and Lectures on Morality has made a contribution to the foundation of environmental education in Turkey.