Water as a Key Focus Point for Developing Education for Sustainable Development: Content Analysis Based on Curriculum Standards

Jiaqi Li, Xiangdong Wang (), Xiuhua Liang (), Xiaolan Song, Li Pan and Linhe Lu
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Jiaqi Li: Academy for Research in Teacher Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Xiangdong Wang: Academy for Research in Teacher Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Xiuhua Liang: Academy for Research in Teacher Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Xiaolan Song: Academy for Research in Teacher Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Li Pan: School of Biological Sciences, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
Linhe Lu: School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-24

Abstract: Water, as the source of life, is a key element of environmental education. Geography education is strongly linked to the three pillars of sustainable development (SD). Firstly, this paper used the water-related standards of China’s national geography curriculum (GCSs) as the object of textual analysis. Two coders categorized the water-related GCSs, coding them with two distinct dimensions: geography core competencies and the SD literacy framework. Then, the coding results were analyzed by word frequency analysis to compare them with U.S. high school GCSs. Finally, the distribution of core competencies and the degree of SD literacy in China’s water-related GCSs were summarized and described. Finally, this study showed that China’s sustainable water education content is rich in content, yet fragmented. China’s water-related GCSs focus on the three dimensions of ESD, with an emphasis on the environmental dimension. GCSs in both countries emphasize human–Earth relations effectively.

Keywords: water education; ESD; geography curriculum standards; China; U.S. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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