The role of environmental education in the development of the personality of a preschool child

The role of environmental education in the development of the personality of a preschool child

Today, the topic of ecology and reasonable consumption is more relevant than ever. Taking care of the environment has become not only useful, but also important. Now they are trying to instill eco-values ​​from childhood - educational methods and classes on the topic of an eco-friendly lifestyle and caring for the environment are being actively introduced in preschool institutions.

The role of environmental education in the life of a preschooler is unfairly underestimated. Nevertheless, it is in childhood that all the fundamental knowledge and principles of human life are acquired. Thus, we can summarize the fact that environmental education is an extremely serious and important thematic block in the program of any preschool institution.

A modern specialist must help children form their own, accessible to them, scientific picture of the world, an idea of ​​the role of man in this world and his relationship with the environment.

The process of children's eco-education is particularly emotional - children perceive nature as something living. This aspect allows you to interest a child in completely different ways - sounds, tactile sensations or smells will make even the most hyperactive child stop, take a closer look and think.

Such an integrated approach reveals to children the beauty of nature and teaches them to notice it, fosters a humane attitude towards its inhabitants, and also forms a system of environmental knowledge and ideas.

For eco-education to be productive, it is necessary to create a special environment where the teacher will prove by personal example the importance and seriousness of the topic. This could include group trips to parks and squares, watching educational films and cartoons, and educational games on the topic of environmentally friendly consumption. During one of the classes, the teacher can talk about how to properly sort waste and why it is needed. Visually sorting waste will help teach a child “smart consumption,” not to mention the fact that children themselves will be able to take part in the action. Such an experience will allow children to understand that we are all together, and each of us individually, is responsible for the planet, and everyone can preserve and increase its resources.

The teacher plays a key role in the environmental education of a child. In the process of work, it is recommended to use different formats that must be successfully integrated into any child’s activity. To do this, the teacher can use both methodological literature and music, as well as fiction and games.

The latter, in turn, are the most popular and effective format of eco-education. There are several types of didactic games: board games, games with objects and word games. The first class of games is aimed at developing the child’s thought processes: analysis, synthesis, classification and generalization. The second class is games with various natural materials and shapes: leaves, water, cones. Such games can use a wide variety of materials that are within walking distance. After all, nature is what surrounds us. The third class of games is aimed at developing attention, reaction speed and coherent speech. It’s easy to “green” such games ahead of schedule; the main thing is to decide on the context.

Don’t forget about another format of eco-education – excursions. On excursions, children get acquainted with representatives of flora and fauna, which contributes to the formation of basic ideas about the relationships in nature. This format of classes will help the child develop observation and interest in the natural processes of life.

Of great importance in environmental education is the practical part - conducting experiments and experiments. Here the child will be able to use all senses, this will allow him to immerse himself as fully as possible in the problem presented. After such an observation, it is necessary to conduct a summary conversation with the children. Here the teacher needs to use various forms of communication: story, description, dialogue.

And last, but not least, an important factor in the environmental education of children is the lifestyle of parents. The teacher needs to motivate parents to consume wisely and protect the environment. You can start small, for example, when your family goes out into nature, parents must remove all waste and recycle it. In this way, the child will consolidate the useful habits learned in kindergarten.

Reflecting on the role of eco-education in the life of a preschooler, we came to the following conclusion: the effectiveness of education depends not only on the child’s knowledge and behavior in nature, but also on his direct participation in preserving and increasing natural benefits. The teacher and parents are called upon to provide the practical part of education. Thus, only a systematic approach to environmental education can have a huge impact on the child and his attitude towards the environment.

MAGAZINE Preschooler.RF

“A man became a man when he heard the whisper of leaves and the song of a grasshopper, the murmur of a spring stream and the ringing of silver bells in the bottomless summer sky, the rustle of snowflakes and the howling of a blizzard outside the window, the gentle splash of a wave and the solemn silence of the night - he heard, and, holding his breath, listens hundreds and thousands of years of wonderful music of life . V. A. Sukhomlinsky.

Indeed, the natural world is amazing and beautiful, nature is an endless source of emotional states, an unquenchable desire to learn.

At the present stage, the government of the Russian Federation pays great attention to the greening of society: 2013 was declared the Year of Environmental Protection; 2022 is the Year of Ecology and Specially Protected Natural Areas.

Environmental education in kindergarten is an important area of ​​the educational process. It provides great opportunities for the development of not only the cognitive and communicative activities of a preschooler, but also has a huge impact on the spiritual and moral development of children. Environmental education of preschoolers should also be considered, first of all, as moral education, because the basis of a person’s attitude to the natural world around him should be humane feelings, that is, awareness of the value of any manifestation of life, the desire to protect and preserve nature.

The problem of spiritual and moral development is extremely relevant. At the present stage, there is an alienation of children from nature as a source of spirituality and morality, which leads to minimal communication between children and nature. Environmental education should begin from preschool age, where the foundations of children's environmental culture and behavior in nature are laid.

The Concept of Spiritual and Moral Development and Personality Education of a Russian Citizen (authors A. Ya. Danilyuk, A. M. Kondakov, V. A. Tishkov) defines basic national values, which in turn are revealed in a system of moral values, among which is patriotism , citizenship, work and creativity, and, of course, nature and humanity.

Native nature is a powerful source from which a person draws his first knowledge and impressions. It leaves a deep mark on the child’s soul, influencing his feelings with its brightness and diversity.

Children need to be instilled with a love of nature from a very early age. “Love for nature, however, like any love, undoubtedly begins in childhood ,” wrote the Russian writer and journalist Ivan Sergeevich Sokolov-Mikitov.

To protect and truly love nature, you need to know it. Ignorance of nature often causes indifference, and sometimes even cruelty towards all living things.

Kids are delighted at the sight of a flower or a butterfly, and at the same time they can thoughtlessly break a branch, crush an ant running along a path, ruin an anthill, trample a beetle, hit a frog with a stick, without even suspecting that this causes enormous harm to nature. Often children remain deaf to kindness, sympathy, empathy, and cannot always understand the need to protect nature.

How can we teach them to take care and protect nature, all living things that surround us?

Reading fiction helps to cultivate kindness, care, and mercy. Fiction about animals and plants expands the range of ideas about nature, creates the basis for acquiring new knowledge, and fosters love for one’s native land.

We systematically get acquainted with the works of M. Prishvin, K. Paustovsky, V. Bianki, K. Ushinsky, N. Sladkov and the ecological fairy tales of N. Ryzhova, the plots of which are accessible and attractive, teach the child to be observant, to treat with love everything that exists and lives nearby.

I pay special attention to ethical conversations on environmental topics based on stories and fairy tales. “Finch” helped to clearly and interestingly reveal the topics of such conversations. After a conversation on the issues, I brought the children to the conclusion: If you have a living creature, then you must constantly take care of it.

The topic of great conversation was A. Barto’s poem “We Didn’t Notice the Beetle . This work provides an example of a humane attitude towards nature that preschoolers can understand, which can be used as an example to follow. I bring to the attention of children fairy tale stories in which all events are based on real facts of natural life. Their heroes are plants, animals, streams and rivers. For example, the ecological fairy tale “What is the stream whispering about?” , “Why is the titmouse crying?” , “Green Traveler” , “Lopushok. How easy it is to go for a walk after reading an environmental fairy tale and find the hero of the story you just read. “Look, this burdock grew from that same seed. But this is a different story and a completely different fairy tale . And gradually what has become familiar will become not fleeting, but familiar, understandable, pleasant. And the hand will no longer rise without the need to tear it out, break it. Fiction about nature has a deep impact on children's feelings. After reading, you see sympathy, empathy or joy, delight in the children’s eyes.

So that my children are sensitive to beauty, I constantly reinforce ideas about what they see. I explain that a large bouquet looks cumbersome and, in addition, we ruin a lot of flowers.

We foster humane treatment of animals. But which ones? To cats, to birds, frogs, snakes. This is amazing. Well, what about spiders? To insects? To some extent, to them, too. But it is absolutely clear that we have not yet taken education to its logical conclusion, to instilling a caring attitude towards any manifestations of life. To anyone. To a blade of grass, very young, which grew a whole centimeter this morning. To a multi-colored bug that looks like a plastic toy on this blade of grass. To the clumsy caterpillar, gnawing a nettle leaf with such appetite. We ourselves have not fully realized that in nature not only mountain peaks and thousand-year-old oaks are beautiful and unique. Beauty and uniqueness are in every leaf, in every blade of grass, in any living creature, even one that is not very remarkable at first glance.

What should you tell the kids about mosquitoes? Are they harmful or beneficial? They are harmful because they suck blood, interfere with rest, and some even carry malaria. They are useful because mosquito larvae serve as valuable food for fish. It happens that the destruction of mosquitoes in ponds leads to mass death of fry. They are also useful because they pollinate flowers, and in some places in the taiga they are the only pollinators, and therefore are absolutely necessary for the existence of plants there.

What should you tell your children about flies? First of all, flies are different. For example, flower flies or hoverflies. Their larvae destroy aphids. And the larvae of carrion flies, as well as gray meat flies, develop in animal corpses. Carl Linnaeus also said that three flies can eat a dead horse faster than a lion. Therefore, there is no need to kill either the blue ones that shimmer with metal, or the green ones like emerald, or the huge gray ones with a checkerboard pattern on their belly, if they fly into the room. These insects are orderlies. They need to be carefully released outside through a door or window.

Watching children, you are convinced that the joy of communicating with nature makes their lives emotionally richer. So that children in the future, in adulthood, can draw inspiration and strength, love and wisdom from nature, we need to teach them to treat plants and animals with care and sensitivity, and take care of them.

A feature of environmental education is the great importance of a positive example in the behavior of adults. Therefore, I pay considerable attention to working with parents, trying to achieve complete mutual understanding. In my work with parents, I actively use such a form of work as Environmental Action.

For example:

Environmental campaign for collecting waste paper “Save a tree” . The main goal of which is to form a responsible attitude of children and their parents towards the environment.

Unnecessary paper is not garbage, it is secondary raw material called WASTE PAPER. Parents participated in the event with great enthusiasm, bringing old newspapers, magazines, books, cardboard packaging, and advertising printed materials.

Environmental campaign: “Let’s save the green Christmas tree . Its essence lies in the fact that on the eve of a holiday, for example, New Year, children take home leaflets with approximately the following content: “Mom! Don’t cut down the Christmas tree, it’s alive!” or “Do you really want to celebrate the New Year under a dying tree? ”

Environmental campaign: “Let’s feed the birds in winter, they will answer you kindly in summer . Winter is not only a fun time for holidays, but also severe frosts with piercing winds. This is the most difficult time for wintering birds. Birds suffer greatly from the cold.

At this time, natural food is practically unavailable to birds and they often do not survive until spring.

During the event, children learn a lot about birds. So, for example, what types of birds remain to spend the winter in our area. How to distinguish birds by color, what food they prefer. But most importantly, they will understand that it is in our power to help the birds - our smaller brothers, to take care of them, because we are people

I suggested that parents and their children make bird feeders. During our walks, we hung feeders on the site and agreed to replenish them with food supplies daily.

Environmental campaign: “House for the starling” . With the onset of spring, migratory birds return to our region. We are wondering how to attract starlings to our kindergarten site? What can we do about this? Hanging birdhouses is an old folk tradition. Birds living nearby help in the fight against pests and delight us with their singing. To solve this problem, we asked our parents to help us make birdhouses, which we hung in our area and watched the life of the birds.

To expand children's understanding of natural phenomena, I use a variety of games: didactic, active, creative. In them, children accumulate sensory experience and creatively master acquired knowledge.

Among the variety of games for preschoolers, a special place belongs to didactic games, which are diverse in their content, game material, game actions, and cognitive activities.

Didactic games of ecological content help children see the uniqueness of not only a certain living organism, but also the ecosystem, realize the impossibility of violating its integrity, and understand that unreasonable intervention in nature can lead to significant changes both within the ecosystem itself and beyond its borders.

In the process of communicating with nature through play, children will develop emotional responsiveness, the ability and desire to actively preserve and protect nature. Children learn to see living objects in all the diversity of their properties and qualities, features and manifestations; participate in creating the necessary conditions for the normal functioning of living beings within the reach of children; understand the importance of nature conservation and consciously follow the norms of behavior in nature.

Observations on a walk enrich your understanding of the world around you and form a friendly attitude towards nature. Teachers teach children to observe various objects and phenomena; At the same time, it is not necessary to observe only those objects and phenomena that are planned. Observations of animals and natural phenomena can be random and unexpected, so this opportunity should not be missed.

Children have a desire not only to see everything, but also to touch it with their hands: collections of stones, the bark of various trees, to identify clay and sand by touch, etc. In addition, I combine environmental education with aesthetic education. Children try to display their most vivid impressions of natural phenomena and objects in their drawings, applications, and modeling.

Children sculpt study objects (for example, various animals) from plasticine. I also pay a lot of attention to drawing - children transfer their understanding of the knowledge they have acquired, their idea of ​​the world around them onto a sheet of paper, which helps them master the material.

For classes I use visual aids: these are pictures about nature, albums, works of art, collections of stones, plant seeds, a herbarium, and gaming material. You cannot collect collections of butterflies and beetles, as this contradicts the principles of environmental education.

Children's work in nature is of great educational importance for the formation of environmental culture. It broadens children's horizons and creates favorable conditions for solving various problems. Children in practice establish the dependence of the state of plants and animals on the satisfaction of their needs, learn about the role of man in nature.

Independent or joint work with adults in a corner or area of ​​a kindergarten to maintain the necessary conditions for the life of animals and plants allows children to acquire the correct ways and skills of interacting with nature, that is, to join the creative process.

While caring for plants and animals in the process of labor, children realize the dependence of plants on meeting their needs for light, heat, and moisture. They learn that changes in the environment naturally entail changes in the condition of plants. Work becomes more meaningful and purposeful. In the process of work, children gain an understanding of the properties and qualities of plants, their structure, needs, main stages of development, methods of cultivation, seasonal changes in plant life; about animals, their appearance, needs, methods of movement, habits, lifestyle and its seasonal changes. Children experience a feeling of joy and pride when they achieve positive results from their work in nature.

By attracting children to close communication with nature, to knowledge of the world of plants and animals, we, adults, contribute to the active development in children of such qualities as kindness, patience, hard work and mercy.

Nature has a huge influence on the formation of personality, its mental, moral and aesthetic education.

IN AND. Sukhomlinsky drew attention to the fact that, discovering the beautiful around him, invading and marveling at the beautiful, the child, as it were, looks in the mirror and sees his own human beauty. The sooner he feels it and the more subtly he is amazed by it, the higher his self-esteem.

Goals and objectives of environmental education

Forming a respectful attitude towards nature is the goal of such education. Having achieved it, the child will learn from an early age:

• rational use of natural resources;
• take care of their preservation;
• study, protect nature.

To achieve this goal, 3 tasks are set:

1. Educational. Provides knowledge about modern environmental problems and teaches how to solve them.
2. Educational. Instills the habits and needs of a healthy lifestyle and correct behavior in relation to nature.
3. Developmental. Teaches in practice how to assess the state of the environment and improve the situation.

The result is the education of a new generation of ecologically cultured people.

Forms of environmental education

Environmental education becomes an important part of the educational process. Teachers work in this direction during lessons and extracurricular activities. Methods and forms of education depend on the age of the child.

Lessons

A popular form is a lesson. Thematic classes are conducted for preschoolers. The subject “Knowledge of the World” has been introduced in primary schools. He introduces children to the world around them and its laws. Classroom activities are divided into 3 types:

1. Introductory. They give an idea of ​​different types of plants, animals, and natural phenomena. For better perception, posters, films and other demonstration materials are used.
2. Generalizing. They talk about the problems of the planet. Preschoolers of older groups and primary grades learn to separate natural phenomena according to their characteristics.
3. Cognitive. Allows you to apply the acquired knowledge in practice. Classes are held in the form of competitions and quizzes.

Lessons lay down theoretical and practical knowledge, taking into account age.

Thematic events

Holidays dedicated to ecology are part of extracurricular activities. Topics are created by teachers or timed to coincide with calendar events (Wildlife Day, Earth Day). The goal is to awaken interest in the problems of nature. The holiday script is drawn up on the basis of previously acquired knowledge.

Hiking and excursions

An effective method of environmental education is direct interaction with living nature. Teachers organize walks in the fresh air or excursions to local history museums.

Starting from the middle groups of kindergartens and middle school classes, participants participate in such events.

Work

In preschool institutions, living corners and flower beds are set up. Children take care of flowers and animals. Schools are holding cleanup days and cleaning classrooms.

Principles for selecting the content of environmental education for preschool children

Principles for selecting the content of environmental education for preschool children

Scientificity. The scientific principle presupposes the acquaintance of preschool children with a set of elementary environmental knowledge, which serves as the basis for the formation of motivation for a child’s actions, the development of cognitive interest, and the formation of the foundations of his worldview.

Availability. Extremely important and closely related to the principle of science is the principle of accessibility of material for a child of a certain age.

Humanity. This principle is associated primarily with the concept of ecological culture. Environmental education is closely connected with the development of the child’s emotions, the ability to sympathize, be surprised, empathize, take care of living organisms, perceive them as brothers in nature, be able to see the beauty of the world around us, and the entire landscape, and an individual flower, a drop of dew, a small spider.

Predictiveness. For preschoolers, this principle means that as a result of environmental education, children form elementary ideas about the relationships that exist in nature and, based on these ideas, the ability to predict their actions in relation to the environment during rest, work in nature and everyday conditions. It is enough that the child will take care of the guinea pig, feed the birds and grow plants.

Activity. Ecological knowledge should help the child understand what needs to be done in order to preserve the environment around him and his loved ones. He must necessarily take part in feasible environmentally oriented activities. The principle of activity underlies various environmental projects, in which children of middle and senior preschool age can take part.

Integrity. This principle is closely related to the previous one and is inherent specifically in preschool environmental education. It reflects, first of all, the child’s holistic perception of the world around him and his unity with the natural world. The process of working with children in a preschool institution should also be built taking into account a holistic approach. A child’s holistic perception of the world around him is manifested, in our opinion, in his reluctance to divide nature into living and nonliving.

Constructivism. This principle is especially important when selecting the content of environmental education for preschoolers, but is not always implemented in practice. Its use means that only neutral, positive or negative-positive information should be used as examples for preschoolers. The latter assumes that, by citing negative facts about human influence on nature, the teacher is obliged to show the child a positive example or a probable way out of the situation under discussion. It is extremely important to emphasize what exactly the child himself, his family, and kindergarten can do, and give examples of successfully solved environmental problems, preferably using examples from the immediate environment.

Regionalism. When working with preschoolers, preference should be given to the principle of regionalism rather than globalism. Teachers and parents themselves should be familiar with global problems. The formation of a child’s environmental ideas (including about various environmental problems), skills of environmentally literate behavior, and an appropriate attitude towards the environment occurs on the basis of his familiarity with the premises of the preschool institution and its territory, his own apartment, dacha, the nearest park, square, forest , lake. For the purposes of environmental education, objects and phenomena must be selected that are accessible to the child, the essence of which he can learn in the process of children's activities.

Systematicity. The most effective seems to be the formation of a child’s knowledge system and the organization of a system of various types of children’s activities. At the same time, the sequence of knowledge acquisition is important, when “each subsequent emerging idea or concept follows from the previous one.”

Continuity. The problem of continuity in the content of environmental education for preschoolers and primary school students lies in orderliness, selection of the main components of this content, their correspondence to each other, implementation of the principle of consistency at both levels, development of a system for increasing the complexity of knowledge, depending on the age of the child.

Integration. Currently, this principle is increasingly being implemented in preschool environmental education. The importance of its application is due to several reasons: firstly, the integrated nature of environmental knowledge as such; secondly, consideration of environmental education from the point of view of the comprehensive development of the child’s personality and, thirdly, the peculiarities of the organization and methodology of all work in a preschool institution. At the preschool level, this is reflected in the need to green the entire activity of the teaching staff and green the various types of activities of the child (which we will talk about later).

Municipal preschool educational autonomous institution "Kindergarten No. 78 of a combined type

"Bee" Orsk"

25-08-44

MDOAU "Kindergarten No. 78 "Bee"

Principles for selecting the content of environmental education for preschool children

Prepared by senior teacher

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Environmental education of junior schoolchildren

In elementary school, children are introduced to the world around them and given examples of problems in nature that come from human activity. According to psychologists, it is necessary to increase interest in nature and environmental problems in modern society by working in three areas:

1. To develop the child’s emotional qualities: a sense of delight, surprise, empathy, positive feelings towards natural objects, correct behavior.
2. Create conditions for the implementation of accumulated knowledge. Provide opportunities to demonstrate environmental awareness in extracurricular activities.
3. Provide age-appropriate knowledge.

All components act interconnectedly with an integrated approach. A child's interests and beliefs have not been formed in elementary school. The teacher’s task is to develop eco-culture, teach students to bear responsibility for all life on the planet, and take care of the environment.

Methods of environmental education

To better perceive nature-oriented programs, a methodology is being developed for preschool institutions and schools. Teachers use 3 methods in practice.

Visual methods

Include:

1. Observation. Children are asked to track the behavior of the animal. Changes in the shape, characteristics, and structure of the plant. In the process, the purpose, timing and method of observation are established.
2. Illustrative materials. Literature, images, paintings, posters are a visual way to introduce children to animals, plants and natural phenomena that are inaccessible to observation in their usual environment.

The visual method helps to attract students' attention to environmental issues.

Practical methods

To fully immerse yourself in ecoculture, practical actions are required:

• modeling;
• experiments;
• themed games.

Practice creates a general understanding of natural objects.

Verbal methods

Any method is supported by conversation and reading fiction. Teachers conduct conversations in lessons, before competitions, games, and during experiments.