The speed of water pollution has accelerated considerably in the recent decades, affecting not only the ecological environment but also harming the wellbeing of people. This problem has long since been raised in society and the schooling of the topic ...
The speed of water pollution has accelerated considerably in the recent decades, affecting not only the ecological environment but also harming the wellbeing of people. This problem has long since been raised in society and the schooling of the topic had also been discussed, yet its action had not taken place until recent years.This study offers water pollution related education, as a part of its ‘Ecology and Environment’ selective course for 11th and 12 graders. However, the rate of the selective course being chosen was proven low and environmental education was found to be included as a formality in many cases. This indicated that practical environmental education was seldom taking place.This research is aimed at clarifying the attitudes of highschool students regarding the topic of water pollutionand in researching the ways in which such education can be done in a more effective manner.Research methods include, analyzing the contents of Ecology and Environment textbooks in terms of the amount and the details it explores water pollution. High school students were also surveyed in order to find out their awareness of water pollution and how they were taught regarding the subject.The following conclusions were drawn.First, all three Ecology and Environment textbooks had included water pollution as a subpart under ‘environmental pollution’. Moreover, they failed to explain the precaution and prevention that students could perform in real life, only focusing on the causes and effects of the pollution.Second, students were found to be interested in the subject of water pollution and also knowledgeable of its defective state. However, schools were not providing enough information. There is a dire need for schools to tutor basic definitions and processes, at intellectual levels appropriate for students. Furthermore, as some schools are not providing environmental studies as a mandatory course, a change or integration into the syllabus of other subjects may be taken into consideration.Lastly, students had little field experiences related to water pollution and were taking in most of their knowledge through textbook and internet. For a schooling that will actually prove useful for the environment, practical data inquiring programs should be made available to teachers and field activities must be enforced on students. Moreover, by cohesion with other subject areas, such as science and social studies, environmental studies should be enforced as a broad and applicable subject. Furthermore, case studies showed that ecology lessons were taught by teachers of other subjects, substituted for individual study time, replaced by other classes or used for times of video showings. Schools and ministries of education should, therefore, become actively responsible and concern themselves with schools in regards to environmental education.