Comparative Analysis of the Representation of Ecological Content in Primary School Geography Textbooks: A Case Study of Zuns-Approved Editions from 2007 and 2021

Mina Dejan Marković, Ivana Đorđević, Slavoljub Jovanović

Abstract


The aim of this research was to identify trends in the representation of ecological content in geography textbooks for primary school. A comparative analysis was conducted on geography textbooks for grades 5 to 8, published by the Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Aids (ZUNS), approved in 2007 and 2021. Within this context, the study examined: the number of textbook units addressing environmental protection content at autonomous and integrative levels; the presence of anthropocentric versus ecocentric environmental protection information; and the thematic structure of ecological information within the textbooks. The comparative analysis revealed the following: the representation of ecological information at the autonomous level has increased, whereas it has decreased at the integrative level; anthropocentric perspectives continue to dominate the ecological content; a factual approach remains the primary method of presenting information; and the existing textbook content structure does not encompass all sustainable development topics. The findings of this study can serve as guidelines for authors to improve the implementation of ecological content in geography textbooks in the future.

Keywords: geography textbooks, ecological content, comparative analysis, primary education

© 2025 Serbian Geographical Society, Belgrade, Serbia.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Serbia.


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