Abstract (eng)
This study examines the significance of regional ecosystems in Austrian school education. The aim is to give insights into the theory and practice of teaching.
The theoretical discussion is based on an analysis of the Austrian curriculum for biology and environmental science as well as on approved biology text-books.
To assess the quantity of the practical teaching of regional ecosystems in Aus-trian school education, guided interviews are conducted with teachers and students of the UNESCO NMS Mondsee. Based on the type of school (NMS) a distinction is also made between certified and non-certified biology teachers.
On the basis of the comparison and discussion of all results, a very differenti-ated picture between theory and practice of the teaching of regional ecosys-tems emerges.
The Austrian curriculum requires that the topic of ecology and the environment is dealt with in the same way as the two other key aspects humans and health and animals and plants. However, the concept of “regionality” is missing com-pletely. Since the educational design must always be in line with the curricu-lum, explicit references to regionality is recommended.
The two analyzed textbook series show an unequal distribution of the exam-ined subject areas. Only about 10% of the content across all levels of educa-tion (5.-8. grade) cover ecologically relevant topics. In addition, too little em-phasis is put to the topic of regionality. An adaptation of the textbooks to the valid curriculum is necessary.
The teachers of the UNESCO NMS Mondsee try, as far as possible, to incorpo-rate the Mondsee as a regional ecosystem more intensively in their teaching and to use the regional research facilities to improve the "biological" aware-ness of the students. A more integrated view of the Mondsee from a zoological, botanical, geological and ecological point of view would enable a more strin-gent and clearer picture of a regional ecosystem. The interviewed students, however, have not realized the above mentioned emphasis of the teachers about the integration of regional aspects of the Mondsee in different biology-topics.