POSSIBILITIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN ELIMINATING RISKY BEHAVIOR OF PUPILS IN CONNECTION WITH AIR POLLUTION

Environmental education is one of the cross-cutting topics in the school system of the Slovak Republic. Cross-cutting topics have a globally and socially significant character, and schools must educate students about these topics either by implementing them into the content of compulsory subjects (e.g. language teaching, mathematics, history...), or by cross-cutting topics can also be taught as separate subjects. Environmental education focuses primarily on how to teach students a positive approach to the environment and its protection. Within individual activities, students learn not only how to protect the environment, but also how to motivate others to do so. Preventive activities can also eliminate negative attitudes of students and their negative behavior. One of the key thematic units of environmental education in schools is the prevention of air pollution and thus the prevention of pupils' risky behavior in this direction. Topics such as the ability to understand the importance of air as a necessary need for humanity and life on our planet are also emphasized within the environmental education curriculum; the importance of air for living organisms, air pollution by human activity (industry, transport, household), the negative impact of polluted air on the environment and human health. Protection of air from pollution. Every student can also participate in school projects related to environmental protection, such as earth day, and cleaning the classroom and school surroundings.