Modern approaches to environmental education of preschool age children in line with the concept of balanced development

Abstract

In the report “Our Common Future” by Gro Harlem Brundtland (at the time the Prime Minister of Norway) it was raised a number of topical issues that had a positive impact on the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and the Third UN Conference on problems of environment in Johannesburg (South Africa) in 2002.
As a result of the work of the Brundtland Commission, significant adjustments have been put on the agenda of educational institutions from different countries of the world, and the importance of strengthening the educational and methodological support of environmental education at all levels has been emphasized. The common guideline for the steady implementation was the need for permanent formulation with scientific substantiation of innovative, concrete and realistic actions of all participants of international cooperation in the field of environmental protection.
It is about forming the ecological consciousness of people from the youngest age to ensure adult readiness for eradicate destroyed ecosystems to prevent harmful effects on the planet’s ecological balance as soon as possible.
Preparation for an active life position in the context of our problem is initiated by a modern preschool institution. The dependence of the paces of development of civilization on the attained level of education of all age categories of society is determined by the personal qualities and abilities of each citizen and, above all, the growing generations.
It is known that the level of formation of environmental consciousness is based on the achievements of the individual in the preschool years. Successful shaping of the environmental awareness of preschoolers is not possible without their mastery of knowledge and the awareness of the importance of the laws by which the expected knowledge can be obtained. Therefore, the deeper and more versatile the awareness of children with the natural environment, the greater is the teacher’s ability to form systemic perceptions and knowledge about the natural environment as a whole. In the context of the above, the concept of "ecological consciousness" appears as complex: it is the teaching of methods, techniques, as well as the forming of skills to know the natural environment in all its dimensions, guided by the undeniable priority of personal moral-value orientations that stimulate active counteraction to irrational nature management, however in everyday life.
Forming of ecological consciousness is a long and complicated process, and its manifestations clearly follow in the real actions and attitudes of children to nature.