The Role of Education in Addressing Environmental Challenges: A Study of Environmental Education Integration in Moroccan Geography Textbooks

Abstract

The environment is facing serious challenges like climate change and pollution. Education plays a crucial role in addressing these challenges by raising awareness, promoting sustainable practices, and developing skilled citizens for environmental conservation and sustainable development. This article explores how much three geography textbooks used in Moroccan high schools include environmental education topics. The focus of the research is on four main environmental education themes: ecosystems and cycles, pollution, use of resources, and environment preservation, as well as their subtopics. The research is based on the theoretical framework of the BIOHEAD-CITIZEN project, which aimed to understand how environmental education can encourage citizenship. The research used a mixed-method design that combined content analysis with a convergent parallel approach to examine how much environmental education content is present in Manar Algeographia 1, Alassassi fi Algeographia, and Manar Algeographia 3. The results showed that environmental education integration in these textbooks is effective in increasing students' minimum knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and behavior toward environmental issues. In conclusion, this study suggests ways in which textbooks can be used to enhance students' environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.