An analysis of social studies curricula and textbooks (1968-2022) in terms of environmental education

Human beings interact with the environment throughout their lives. In this process, those who are most affected by the natural and human environment are those who have the greatest impact on the environment. In this interaction process, the person is both affected by and affects the environment. This interaction can be positive or negative. In general, people are responsible for maintaining positive interactions between themselves and their environment. In order to fulfill this responsibility effectively, it is important for individuals to be educated about the environment from an early age. In order to leave a healthy natural environment and a pristine living space to future generations, environmental awareness of every individual must be increased. One of the courses in which individuals gain environmental awareness is the social studies course, which includes the emotional and behavioral dimensions of these thoughts for practice, as well as the thought dimension of environmental awareness. The aim of this study is to examine the social studies curriculum and social studies textbooks prepared according to these programs from 1968 to the present in terms of environmental education. The data of this study, designed with a qualitative document analysis approach, was obtained by examining documents from five different textbooks selected with the purposeful sampling approach and the social studies course teaching programs of the years 1968, 1990, 1998, 2005 and 2018. The data obtained in the research were analyzed with descriptive analysis and content analysis approaches. As a result of the research, it was determined that environmental education was included in the general objectives of the social studies course curriculum. It was revealed that the purpose statements related to environmental education in the programs were concentrated in the categories of "environmental knowledge, environmental protection, importance given to the environment". It has been determined that social studies textbooks contain content related to environmental education, and these contents are generally collected in the categories of "environmental knowledge, importance given to the environment, benefiting from the environment, protecting the environment, environmental problems and living-environment interaction". Among these categories, "environmental information" took up more space.