Ecological Training of Future Natural Sciences Teachers in Higher Education Institutions Abroad

Abstract The problem on ecological training of future natural sciences teachers in Ukrainian and foreign higher education institutions was comparatively analyzed. Novel approaches to ecological education based on the systemic and personality-oriented learning were considered. The forms and methods used to promote ecological education of the individual in Ukraine and abroad were outlined. The studies of individual scholars on the foreign experience in creating an ecologically rational research and educational environment in the UK, Germany, the USA, Moldova and other countries were justified. It was indicated that West European countries created relevant conditions for transforming a model of humanistic education into an eco-humanistic one since it should be considered as a wide-scale educational achievement. It was found that the education process in British universities was targeted at ecological education organization and focused on its practical aspect, namely ecological environment preservation. In the country, there is a national system of ecological education aimed at eliminating the negative effects of the industrialization and the progress of science and technology. The education process in this country employs the forms and methods, which promote ecological education of the individual such as observations, discussions, laboratory work, fieldwork, presentations, etc. In some German universities, considerable attention is paid to regulating the negative changes in nature and mastering the skills for their prevention and elimination. Although there is no a federal standard for ecological education in the USA, it is mandatory in many states and considered not as an abstract phenomenon, but a concrete regional activity. In the country, they also conduct numerous researches on regional ecological problems and actively search for the ways to solve them. It was concluded that the foreign research and educational environment aims to discover the ways to optimize the knowledge of the relationship between man and nature and protect and preserve the environment.