2013 Volume 53 Issue 4 Pages 176-189
This research analyzed educational contents, primarily at the curriculum level, from the perspective of environmental ethics as described in the American BSCS high school textbook “Biology: A Human Approach First Edition.” As a result of this analysis, the following four characteristics were identified: (1) In addition to being based on National Science Education Standards, curriculum content have introduced environmental ethics clearly rather than the Excellence in Environmental Education: Guidelines for Learning (K–12). (2) Content concerning the field of ecological science was broadly divided between “Interdependence among Organisms in the Biosphere” and “Decision Making in a Complex World” and comprised learning content based on processes in keeping with the 5Es instructional model ; programs including content based on an environmental ethics perspective have been incorporated into the curriculum. (3) In the field of ecological science, “exploring the concepts of interaction and interdependence in living systems and issues concerning the impact of human activity on the biosphere” were given as curriculum objectives, and programs in this field included nurturing social skills for actually tackling environmental issues and learning decision-making processes for addressing environmental issues. (4) In programs including content based on an environmental ethics perspective, activities that encourage self-awareness of environmental ethics have been introduced, and approaches such as comparing and referring to opposing opinions and essays on environmental ethics have also been adopted.
