Humans and nature relationship : images and text of ecology and environmental education

The present study investigated whether and how ecology and environmental education (EEE) affects the understanding of the Human-Nature relationship by images and historical, ethical and socio-economical textual information existing in textbooks targeting 14-15-year old children. Four subtopics - Uses of Resources; Pollution; Biodiversity; Ecosystems and Cycles – from textbooks of 15 different European and African countries were specifically selected, analyzed and comparisons were made. Results indicated that ecocentrism is the starting position. Historical, ethical and socio-economical dimensions relating to EEE is usually poor. There were also limited references to juridical norms and international agreements concerning environmental protection, biodiversity and sustainability issues.European Project FP6 Biohead-Citizen CIT2-CT-2004-506015.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - LIBEC/CIFPEC - Unidade de investigação (16/644)