Ontwikkeling van gezondheids- en milieugedrag: oecologisch denken en handelen in pedagogisch-didactisch perspectief

Tijdschrift voor Didactiek van de Beta-wetenschappen, uitgegeven door het Freudenthal Instituut, Universiteit Utrecht in de periode 1983-2014

Waarlo, A. J. Tijdschrift voor Didactiek van de Beta-wetenschappen 1985 – 3(2), 124-139 Download pdf

This contribution is the working-out of a lecture the author read at a meeting of the Dutch Ecological Society in December 1983. The main issue to be discussed here is about the relevance of the teaching of content and methodology of scientific ecology as regards the promotion of environmental and health-related behaviour. First the development of views on the relevance of biological education over the last two centuries is outlined through a description of the differences and similarities between 1802 – the introduction of natural history – and the 1980s. Then it is stated and argued that – the teaching of scientificecology may strenghten the alienated position of man due to the scientific and technological revolution; – coping with environmental problems demands political education rather than the teaching of scientific ecology, because of the existence of strong feelings of powerlessness at an individual level; – ecological facts can be easily abused for the derivation of moral values (the ‘is-ought’-issue in ethics), leading to a deterministic view of man. In spite of these critical remarks a plea is made for an ecological education, including the education of feelings and emotions, moral education and socio-political education. Finally it is suggested that social psychology and communication sciences rather than scientific ecology may be of help to the realization of behavioural objectives in the field of environmental and health education.