The Inclusion of Environmental Education Topics in Iranian Secondary Education Textbooks and Prioritizing Neglected Topics

The present study aimed to investigate the inclusion of environmental education topics in Iranian secondary education textbooks and prioritizing neglected topics. In the qualitative section, a semi-structured interview was conducted with curriculum specialists and environmentalists to find answers on how to include environmental education topics in the secondary education curriculum. The research community included all the curriculum specialists in Isfahan universities and environmentalists from Tehran and Isfahan. In the present study, the information was saturated after an interview with 24 specialists. In the quantitative section, a questionnaire was distributed among teachers to prioritize the relevant topics that were neglected in the environmental education curriculum. The statistical population of this section included all biology, geology, chemistry and geography teachers in Isfahan province with a multi-stage cluster sampling, 258 teachers were selected. The results of the study indicated that most of the experts believed that the topics of environmental education should be integrated with all courses. The results of the survey of the four groups of teachers showed that they think that the three items of protecting the natural environment of the country, the social, economic, and environmental consequences of electric energy production from renewable and non-renewable sources and the need for renewable energies and environmental impacts from fossil fuel consumption are at the top of the list of neglected topics in Iran's environmental education.