Environmental education in 2002 and 2006 early childhood curriculum

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze comparatively 2002 (previous) and 2006 (current) Early Childhood Curricula with regard to concepts and attainments associated with environmental education (EE). 2002 and 2006 preschool curricula were firstly retrieved from the web-site of Board of Education and then subjected to content analysis across 41 sub-components of environmental literacy (EL) which is the ultimate aim of EE. This comparative analysis of both curricula showed how much 2002 and 2006 curricula paid attention to environmental related concepts and attainments. The attainments related with knowledge were given more emphasis in both curricula compared with the attainments addressing to skills, affect and behavior. There is observable shift from knowledge to skills and behavior over 2002 to 2006. At the end of the study, suggestions are provided to curriculum developers and pre-service teachers for achieving the aims of EE.