독일 역사교육에서의 새로운 경향 ― 환경의 역사 ―

Abstract

Since the 1970s the form and contents of German history education have faced substantial changes. The research I am engaged in tries to answer the question to what extent publicly discussed problems like human rights, peace, environmental issues or the third world have become a topic in German history education. In the context of the above-mentioned issues the research work is limited to the environmental aspect. Compared to Korean history school books where environmental problems are not dealt with at all these problems are a greater but still unsatisfactory issue. I have carried out the research with the help of German history school books, magazins on history didactics and other specialist literature. The history didactics on environmental issues seems to be based on the theory of the “handlungsorientierten Geschichtsunterricht”. Especially environmental problems are an interdisciplinary issue, they can be dealt with from the angles of different disciplines. Environmental history is dealing with the relation between man and environment or man and nature. In this context the terms environment and nature have the same meaning even though the term environment has an antropogenic implication. The history school book “History Book” deals with the topic environment in the widest sense of the word. In the “History Book” environment above all means the space and time in which people are leading their lives, as well as their world view. In connection with the middle ages and the early modern times I presented statements and material on environmental issues. It is also possible to reconstruct the history of the world on the basis of its environmental aspects. Man has always had a close relation to water, fields and wood, from the very first beginning to the present time. In this context students are supposed to learn why forests in Germany are maintained to an extent which cannot be found anywhere else in the world.