| Abstract [eng] |
The implementation of ecological education in childhood is related to the enhancement of the child's health, the realization of a healthy lifestyle, and the promotion of the child's health by forming health-friendly ecological attitudes and ecological behavior. In order to achieve ecological awareness, it is necessary to gradually change human attitudes and behavior towards nature and the environment, which should be purposefully shaped already in the preschool education process. Although the problems of ecological education are widely analyzed and a lot of researches have been performed, however, there is a lack of researches in the direction of ecological health promotion, especially in the context of health education of preschool children. Therefore, there is a problem of ecological education in the preschool institution considering the aspect of health. The object of the research is ecological education in preschool education in terms of health. The aim of the research is to analyse the peculiarities of ecological education in preschool education institution from the point of view of health. The tasks of the research are the following: 1. To revealthe theoreticalfundamentals of ecological education in terms of health. 2. To emphasisethe situation of ecological education in preschool education institutions, revealing the teachers' opinions about the organization of ecological education in preschool education institutions and its peculiarities. 3. To reveal good pedagogical experience in the aspect of ecological education (health) in Ukmergė kindergarten \"Eglutė\". 4. To submit practical recommendations of ecological education in preschool educationin terms of health. The following research methods have been applied: theoretical: analysis of scientific literature and documents; empirical:questionnaire in writing, quantitative and qualitative data analysis. An empirical study was carried outin September-November of 2019. 125 educators from different parts of Lithuania participated in the survey. Interview was conducted in Ukmergė kindergarten \"Eglutė\", which included 6 educators with great pedagogical experience. The concept of ecological education, its directions and significance in preschool age have been analyzed in the theoretical part of the work. Moreover,the most important components of ecological education in health aspectsare identified and described: ecological environment, ecological relations, ecological nutrition, moreover, peculiarities of formation of ecological behavior in health aspects of preschool children and the role of educator in organizing ecological education in terms of healthare analyzed. The results of the empirical research became evident: about half of the teachers indicated that their preschool education institution always implementsthe eco-health direction. The research highlighted the most significant components of the eco-health direction, which the educators focus on: to teach to protect nature and environment (to sortwaste, do not make much noise, etc.); to inform about safe and prudent behavior in the environment (in nature, water, forest, road, yard, etc.), to teach to protect one's health (eat healthy food, move a lot, harden); to provide health knowledge and to promote eco-friendly, thoughtful and economical purchasing of goods, saving of natural resources. More than half or half of respondents always carry out the following ecological and health-promoting activities: develop daily hygiene habits of children, sort household waste with children; carry out group management and maintenance work. Educators always choose the following ways and forms of teaching/learning: group activities, observations, conversations, games, etc. The qualitative research revealed good pedagogical experience in ecological education in terms of healthin Ukmergė kindergarten \"Eglutė\". Teachers associate eco-education with the conveyance of knowledge on healthy nutrition and health promotion; knowledge, skills andbehaviour of ecology and health; healthy lifestyle. The eco-health activities carried out in kindergarten \"Eglutė\" have been highlighted: projects, wellness weeks, health holidays, educational sessions, holidays, classes, actions, experiments, researches, tests, conversations, observations, formation of daily hygiene habits, supply and cooking of healthy food, household waste sorting, environmental management, tea drinking, hardening outside in the sun or water, sightseeing, field trips, movie viewing, creative activities and etc. According to educators, teaching/learning methods of eco-health activities such as talking and interpreting, showing pictures, imitating activities without doing real work, reading or doing activities without realizing the result, are not always effective. Recommendations based on the analysis of scientific literature and documents, as well as empirical research, are guidelines for the improvement of the eco-education process in terms of health for politicians and scientists, preschool institution leaders and educators. |
