Theoretical and methodological foundations of greening the highest professional and postgraduate education


NURLAN APAKHAYEV SHOLPAN KHAMZINA







THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF GREENING THE HIGHEST PROFESSIONAL AND POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION



Monograph











Moscow

PRIMEC Publishers

2020

УДК 378
ББК 74.48
А76


Recommended for publication by Scientific Councils Kainar Academy and Innovative University of Eurasia

Reviewers:
     B.D. Kairbekova, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences.
     D.D. Sakenov, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences.


     N., Apakhayev, Sh., Khamzina
A76 Theoretical and methodological foundations of greening the highest professional and postgraduate education: monograph / Sh. Khamzina, N. Apakhayev - Moscow: PRIMEC Publishers, 2020. - 176 p.

ISBN: 978-5-91292-344-9
doi: 10.18334/9785912923449

      The monograph is devoted to the development of scientific and theoretical justification, program and scientific and methodological support for the greening of higher professional and postgraduate education. The main trends in the development of environmental education are considered, modern practical experience in organizing the greening of higher professional and postgraduate education are studied and analyzed, and variable models of multi-level environmental education in higher professional education and in the postgraduate education system are developed.
      For students, undergraduates, teachers and other persons interested in environmental education and upbringing.



ISBN: 978-5-91292-344-9

        © N. Apakhayev, Sh. Khamzina, 2020
        © Typography, cover design
PRIMEC Publishers, 2020

Content


INTRODUCTION ...........................................5
CHAPTER I.   SCIENTIFIC AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS
GREENING EDUCATION .....................................8
  1.1. Greening in the modern world ....................8
  1.2. Greening of public consciousness ...............20
  1.3. Main trends in the development of environmental education .33
  1.3.1. Retrospective of environmental education development ....33
  1.3.2. The concept of sustainable development and environmental education ............................................38
  1.3.3. Methodological foundations and approaches in environmental education ............................................43
  1.3.4. Textbooks on ecology and environmental science as milestones in the development of environmental education ........57
CHAPTER II.   SCIENTIFIC AND METHODOLOGICAL
SUPPORT OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS ................................62
  2.1. Organization of environmental education in higher education institutions..........................................62
  2.2. Software and scientific and methodological support for teaching the course «Ecology and sustainable development» .....67
  2.2.1. Requirements of the mandatory component of the course «Ecology and sustainable development».................67
  2.2.2. Program of the compulsory component of the General education discipline «Ecology and sustainable development» .....71
  2.2.3. Methodological features of building a General education discipline «Ecology and sustainable development» for various specialties in the framework of independent work of students ...73

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CHAPTER III. FORMATION OF ECOLOGICAL CULTURE
OF FUTURE TEACHERS ................................87
  3.1. Ecological culture as a social and pedagogical problem.87
  3.2. Environmental and pedagogical training as a factor of professional development of the teacher's personality.........100
CHAPTER IV.  THEORETICAL BASES OF ECOLOGICAL
AND PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING OF TEACHERS
IN THE SYSTEM OF POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION ..........113
  4.1. Conceptual ideas and principles of environmental
     and pedagogical training of teachers in the system of postgraduate education ...................113
  4.2. Structural and functional model of ecological and pedagogical teacher training in the system of postgraduate education .129
  4.3. Variable models of environmental training of teachers in different subject areas ...............................142
CONCLUSION .......................................152
REFERENCES .......................................154

                INTRODUCTION





      The monograph is devoted to the development of scientific and theoretical justification, software and scientific and methodological support for the process of greening of higher professional and postgraduate education, due to the extreme complexity of the processes of reforming and modernizing higher education systems in the global educational space that occur in connection with the world environmental crisis of the planet in the second half of the 20th century. If a century ago, the term «ecology» was known only to biologists, then in the 80s, under the auspices of UNESCO, a large-scale environmental movement was born, which today takes on an ever-widening scale. At the turn of the second and third millennia, the concept of «ecology» reached its highest political level of development: the environmental imperative today defines the integral development of the spiritual culture and material production of countries and continents.
      The ecological component of modern education, as well as its logical and ethical components, serves as a criterion for the true humanization of education. Today this is a matter of particular importance, and it is beginning to be considered in the courses of almost all natural science and humanitarian disciplines.
      In the past three decades, ecology has become such a large-scale and self-sufficient scientific and educational discipline that its ideas and principles as pivotal unite various fields of cognition [1].
      The ecological approach began to be regarded as a method based on the objective unity of the principles of ecological interaction between any distinguished system and its environment, regardless of belonging to a particular organization level or form of matter movement.
      When thinking about ways to improve a person, one cannot help but see that it occurs, first, through the transfer of the necessary values of qualities from person to person, from generation to generation through

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culture and education. This means that the new requirements that modern civilization makes for Homo sapiens can be realized, fist of all, through changes in the content and forms of education. This new entity is currently called environmental.
      The role of environmental education is growing immeasurably [2-4]. At the same time, the ecological trend in our time is characterized by the same tendency as all other knowledge - rapid growth and high rate of obsolescence. In this regard, the training of a specialist equipped with a certain baggage of narrowly professional knowledge of an environmental nature is ineffective and does not achieve its goal. Environmental knowledge can change radically during the period of active work of such a specialist and this requires continuous improvement of knowledge. Such improvement is most likely to occur at a conceptual level and will not be able to limit itself to new recommendations in continuing education courses. Therefore, the specialist must have a sufficient base to creatively learn and adapt new knowledge, possess the skills of multilateral consideration and problem solving. In addition, the need for a multilateral approach is due to the multifactorial nature of environmental problems themselves. Thus, the preparation of a specialist with a system of basic environmental knowledge in the field of sustainability of ecological systems, the circulation of substances and energy in nature, and the stability of the biosphere comes to the fore. The system of basic environmental knowledge is pronounced multidisciplinary. At this stage in the development of the higher education system, environmental education is becoming a mandatory component of higher education; interdisciplinary training is a priority in environmental education.
      The practice of integrating environmental and fundamental scientific knowledge is becoming more widespread. The concept of "greening" is becoming generally accepted, and a certain experience of greening university academic disciplines, accumulated to date, needs to be systematized and generalized.

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      The interest in environmental education in the world has caused an avalanche-like increase in publications on this issue. More recently, in this area, there was a shortage of literary sources, and now their number is constantly growing. New textbooks, monographs are coming out, many conferences and meetings are held.
      Topical issues are the selection of scientific material in the content of educational subjects, methods and various methods of its transfer. The volume of environmental knowledge is growing sharply; it is not possible to assimilate them completely. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate criteria for the needs of the system of continuous environmental education, environmental self-education skills. This is not a question of their mechanical expansion, but of the ability to combine new knowledge with the system of existing and applied in practice. The need for orientation in a huge stream of information strengthens the importance of methodological training. It includes the assimilation of fundamental knowledge, as well as methods of theoretical and practical activity, provides a certain freedom of choice of environmental knowledge, and removes the limited specialization of professionalization. A conceptual presentation of environmental knowledge is necessary, which makes it possible to isolate the required information from them. The important thing is not so much abstract knowledge per se as such, but the ability to apply it in concrete practice. In other words, the task of enhancing the functionality of environmental knowledge is on the agenda.
      The greening of education is associated with trends in enhancing the interconnection, interaction, interpenetration of various areas of science and teaching technologies. Today a new understanding of greening content is ripening. Its basis is systemic synergetic and humanitarian-integrative approaches. Their practical implementation requires a conceptual restructuring of the content, first, of natural science disciplines, a rethinking of the role and correlation of natural science, humanitarian and applied educational subjects in the formation of ecological culture [5].

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     The monograph can be used in the process of improving the system of environmental education and the formation of environmental knowledge and culture, training of future teachers of all specialties.




CHAPTER I. SCIENTIFIC AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS GREENING EDUCATION




                1.1. Greening in the modern world




     The prospects for the development of society are largely determined by the process of greening all forms of life. The most important of them is the greening of material production.
     In the discussion, documents of the international project «Earth Charter» [6]. In the «economy» section, it is announced: «For many generations, humanity has been living in the conditions of Exponential economic growth, which is the goal of all modern economic doctrines that have led to a severe social and environmental crisis. A radical change in economic doctrines is needed. The new economy should consider the earth's biosphere not as a collection of humanity's own resources, but as the Foundation of life on Earth. It should send direct signals when the permissible environmental limits are exceeded, help to equalize the economic situation of countries and people, gradually eliminating such concepts as poverty and wealth. The new economy must ensure that people's quality of life is improved without exceeding acceptable environmental limits».
     Therefore, the greening of the economy is the most important requirement of our time, which means a more versatile and at the same time more systematic approach to the material world around us? Greater awareness of the role of nature in human life. Ecologization of the economy is a necessary condition and at the same time the main component of eco

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development. In essence, it means the greening of the entire socio-economic system and is aimed at reducing the natural intensity of production [7-8].
      The orientation of production to the promotion of the forces of nature is the main condition for its greening and overcoming the incompatibility of production activities with the tasks of nature conservation. Today, the concepts of «material production» and «ecological culture» are presented as almost incompatible. Nevertheless, they must be combined in human activity, despite their obvious opposites. Moreover, the dialectic of the relation of opposites is such that their transition into each other goes on the same basis. This remains true for the development of ecological culture. In the area of industrial activity, first, the principles of environmental justification of the use of natural resources by people should be established, and this will determine all other areas of human activity to maintain the natural conditions of their existence. Social production is the initial link and material basis for the formation of ecological culture, and, paradoxically at first glance, it is the production activity of people that should become the main condition for preserving the natural environment.
      However, to do this, the activity must be significantly transformed in accordance with the objective requirements of environmental laws [9]. Briefly, this transformation of the principles and target orientation of production is called greening.
      What are the most important areas of greening production? They are prompted by the laws of the functioning of matter, energy and information in the biosphere. As shown by V.I. Vernadsky [10] and his followers, the biosphere is a unique natural system with well-developed processes of selfregulation of its habitable state. It is possible to speak about quite appropriate orientation in the biosphere of a huge set of processes peculiar to it. The degree of reliability of the biosphere's self-regulation mechanisms is indicated by the fact that it has been preserved as a living environment for 4.5 billion years, and until recently there were no obvious signs of deterioration of its condition due to natural causes. Only human activity that is not consistent with the laws of conservation of the biosphere has brought

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it to the brink of disaster in less than 300 years of rapid development of the industry (figure 1). This alone makes us think about how such activities correspond not only to the laws of conservation of the biosphere, but also to the very concept of culture. Initially, this concept has a creative meaning, since it means, «to cultivate» in Latin. It seems that the concept of «culture» does not cover everything that means social as opposed to natural, as it is usually defined, but rather the social that contributes to the preservation and development of society.
      Given this clarification, it is unlikely that activities leading to dangerous destruction of the natural environment can be considered as corresponding to the concept of culture. Since before there was no such strict dependence of the state of the natural environment on the activities of people, the very concept of culture now needs a very significant clarification.
      The absolutization of the opposition between nature and culture has always been erroneous. In the context of the current environmental situation, this theoretical inaccuracy can lead to serious costs in practice. Can we now consider any technical achievement or architectural structure as a cultural phenomenon if they, even if they are well thought out from the point of view of technical, economic, and comfort, nevertheless have a harmful impact on the environment, do not meet environmental requirements, disfigure the natural landscape, and so on?
      If approach the assessment of these phenomena from a complex socionatural position, including environmental criteria, the answer to this question is clearly, negative. From these positions, many such phenomena of modern production and life, without which the habitual existence of civilization is still impossible, should be assessed as not meeting the criteria of culture: factories with Smoking pipes, transport that emits plumes of pollution, agricultural fields impregnated with chemicals, etc. The fact that such phenomena are still taken for granted by many people shows how much the ecological culture of the General population is in its initial state and what

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a lot of work needs to be done to form and educate it. The situation is further complicated by the fact that a high ecological culture for modern society is not just desirable, but extremely necessary as a condition for its preservation, and the extent of disasters resulting from the complication of the environmental crisis depends directly on how quickly it will be acquired, unless urgent measures are taken to overcome it.
     Perhaps, never in all history have people been as closely dependent on the state of their culture as they are now. That is why it is especially important to develop an adequate theory of culture, taking into account the features introduced by the current environmental situation. The importance of a good theory is all the more important because there is simply no time left for spontaneous movement towards the goal by trial and error. In addition, the state of the natural environment is too serious a factor of existence for people to have the right to make mistakes in influencing it.
     Greening is currently taking over all Sciences and all spheres of human activity, creating the idea that the focus of ecology as a science is human society. It is necessary, however, to clearly distinguish ecology as a field of fundamental research, which studies in its own way all forms of life and those applied, grandiose practical tasks that arise from environmental laws in relation to human activities. Ecologization is, in fact, the penetration of environmental ideas into various spheres of society. At the present stage, this is a vital process, on the success of which a lot depends [12].
     In recent years, the range of issues related to environmental issues that require quantitative expression has expanded. This applies primarily to industrial production. There is an increasing need for comprehensive information that is comparable to global trends, and for extensive and reliable statistical data, without which it is impossible to create a real program of environmental activities, environmental education and upbringing. It is statistical information that fully allows us to identify the prevailing trends in the development of the environmental situation and the corresponding response through changes in the entire set of environmental

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actions. These data are the source material on which it is possible to identify patterns, create models, and predict the development of the environmental crisis. They allow us to objectively determine the criteria and identify ways to reduce the negative impact of anthropogenic factors on the environment, to coordinate the system of interaction between society and nature, and to preserve the environment that is necessary for normal life.
     Today, the tasks are to form criteria for evaluating the socio-economic environmental approach to the development of public production, the environmental effectiveness of measures, improving the existing system of environmental management, creating indicators of environmental expediency of decisions that are applicable in public administration, planning and analysis of the national economy.
     Environmental problems are increasingly emerging as applied problems, the solution of which should provide an answer to the theoretical research of recent years. The role of empirical, concrete material on the greening of science, production and the organization of human life itself is growing. Environmental statistics act as an integrative informational and analytical tool for analyzing the greening of various forms of public activity.
     Science is becoming characterized by its reorientation, which can be called a trend of greening.
     One of the main forms of this trend is the promotion of the Sciences the transition from ecology to other Sciences biological cycle (evolutionary ecology, paleoecology), to Earth Sciences (Geology of the environment, ecological or ecology), to the Sciences physico-chemical cycle (geochemical ecology, radioecology), to the technical and agricultural Sciences (space ecology, agricultural ecology), medicine (environmental physiology, ecology, human diseases, medical ecology, geohygiene, medical geography), social Sciences (social ecology).
     The development of the mentioned scientific directions proceeds within the framework of the trend of greening of human activity. In General,

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