Analysis of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)-related Contents in High School ‘Social Studies’ Textbooks - Focusing on the 'Regional Development and Environmental Conservation' Unit -

The remit of the article is regional development strategizing. Regional development strategy as part of regional regulatory environment could ensure the task of sustainable development due to determining priorities for resource conservation, development of a “green” economy, and restoration of natural resources. This is especially important for the extractive economies of the Russian regions. On the contrary, the research revealed the preservation of extractive policies in most of the Ural regions. The manuscript contains the description of the ecological and economic position of the regions of the Ural macroregion, that have a high anthropogenic impact on the environment because of their nature of economy. We analysed the content of the development strategies of the regions of the Ural macroregion and the issues of sustainable development. The Chelyabinsk region and the Republic of Bashkortostan didn’t include sustainable development in the top priorities. It leads them to stick their place in the tail of the National Environmental Rating of Russian Regions. Orenburg region’s strategy conclude the most quality mechanisms for ensuring environmental safety in regional strategic documents. The author highlighted the comprehension of the deep interrelationships of ecological well-being with all spheres of human life in the development strategy of the Sverdlovsk region. The regional development strategy is an important mechanism for ensuring a balance between industrial growth and environmental conservation. Therefore, the authority of traditional industrial regions of the Urals should strengthen the component of sustainable development in their strategies.

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Turismo Comunitário e Gestão Participativa na RDS Estadual Ponta do Tubarão (RN): processos e perspectivas.

Revista Brasileira de Ecoturismo (RBEcotur) ◽

10.34024/rbecotur.2017.v10.6527 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Iracy Wanderley Filha ◽

Aída Gisella Veras Mazzolini ◽

Francisco Fransualdo de Azevedo

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Developmental Process ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Rio Grande ◽

Environmental Conservation ◽

Shrimp Farming ◽

Northern Coast ◽

Conservation Unit ◽

Community Tourism

O desenvolvimento do turismo em áreas protegidas tem gerado discussões entre estudiosos do setor em relação ao seu planejamento, sustentabilidade e a viabilidade em conciliar os objetivos da conservação ambiental, da economia e da gestão comunitária. A Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Estadual Ponta do Tubarão (RDSEPT), localizada no litoral setentrional do estado do Rio Grande do Norte, foi a primeira Unidade de Conservação (UC) estadual criada por reivindicação da sociedade civil organizada que vive nessa área. Esse processo se deu em virtude das ameaças de degradação dos recursos naturais decorrentes, principalmente, da especulação imobiliária e da atividade de carcinicultura nos manguezais da região. Dentre as alternativas de uso sustentável do ambiente da RDSEPT, o turismo comunitário tem sido apontado pelos moradores locais, como uma prática capaz de gerar, simultaneamente, renda, oportunidade de trabalho e conservação ambiental. Nesse contexto, este artigo tem como objetivo analisar e compreender os processos participativos e perspectivas do desenvolvimento do turismo comunitário, na RDSEPT. A pesquisa tem abordagem qualitativa, natureza exploratório-descritiva, com adoção de coleta de dados secundários para o levantamento bibliográfico e documental, bem como a observação participante. Os resultados mostraram que a o turismo comunitário na Reserva está em processo de organização, sendo desenvolvida de forma incipiente, gerenciada por associação comunitária local, envolvendo também a participação do Grupo de Trabalho do Turismo e sem intervenções do setor público. A referida UC não possui, oficialmente implementado, um Plano de Manejo que contemple programas de uso público e de manejo do turismo. Esses fatores, associados à carência de investimentos públicos e privados em infraestrutura necessária ao turismo, podem ser responsáveis pelas dificuldades ao processo desenvolvimento da atividade na Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Estadual Ponta do Tubarão. Community tourism and Participative Management in RDS Ponta do Tubarão (RN, Brazil): processes and perspectives The tourism development in protected areas has been widely debated with regard to its planning, sustainability and feasibility to conciliate the aims of environmental conservation, business and community management. The Ponta do Tubarão State Sustainable Development Reserve (PTSSDR), located in the Rio Grande do Norte state northern coast, was the first Conservation Unit created by the claim of the local organized civil society. This process occurred due to the threats of degradation of natural resources, coming from real estate speculation and Shrimp farming activity in Mangroves of the region. Among the alternatives for a sustainable usage of RDSEPT environment, the community tourism has been pointed out by the naïve residents as a practice with potential to provide income, job opportunities and environmental conservation. In this context, our goal is to analyze and understand the participatory processes and the perspectives of the community tourism in RDSEPT. This research has a qualitative approach, descriptive-exploratory nature, with adoption of secondary data collection for bibliographic and documental searching, as well as participant observation. The results showed that the community tourism in the Reserve is in process of organization, with incipient development, being managed by local associations, involving the participation PTSSDR Tourism Working Group, with no intervention from public department. The already-mentioned Conservation Unit does not have an official Management Plan, encompassing public programs and tourism management. These factors, together with the lack of public and private investments in infrastructure, may be the responsible for difficulties in the The Ponta do Tubarão State Sustainable Development Reserve activity developmental process. KEYWORDS: Community Tourism; Participation; Protect Areas.

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An analysis of the presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks

Social Studies Research and Practice ◽

10.1108/ssrp-09-2017-0051 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 238-253

Author(s):

Sean Colbert-Lewis ◽

Drinda E. Benge

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Content Analysis ◽

Social Studies ◽

Critical Pedagogy ◽

Middle Grades ◽

National Council ◽

Content Type ◽

Religious Literacy ◽

The Social ◽

Social Studies Textbooks

Purpose The increase of Islamophobia-inspired hate crimes toward Sikh Americans led the Sikh Coalition of America and the National Council for the Social Studies to request social studies educators to conduct a content analysis on the presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks. The Sikh Coalition hopes to use the findings of such research to encourage more appropriate inclusion about the religion in textbooks by the leading publishing companies and as a legitimate social studies subject of instruction in the state standards for all 50 states. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach The incorporation of critical pedagogy, as a tool of critical multiculturalism, serves as the theoretical design of this study. Content analysis serves as the method of research for this study. The authors also employed an online survey to determine the scope of religious literacy of the pre-service teachers with regard to Sikhism before the conducting of content analysis of social studies textbooks for the presentation of Sikhism. Findings The current presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks has the potential to help fuel the Islamophobia that Sikh Americans now face. The authors found that the pre-service teachers possess little religious literacy regarding Sikhism. Furthermore, from the content analyses, the authors found that a total of 21 out of the sample of 32 textbooks (5 elementary, 11 middle grades and 16 high school) mention Sikhism. Eight textbooks include a mention of the origins of Sikhism. Nine textbooks misidentify the religion as a blending of Hinduism and Islam. Nine textbooks mention the religion in relation to the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Research limitations/implications The originality of this research led the authors to find that the very limited and inaccurate information we found present in the most-used textbooks for elementary, middle grades and high school social studies made the employing of inferential statistics like correlation difficult. Also, the authors found from the literature that research addressing Islamophobia in the classroom has centered on the role of licensed teachers only. The research gives a model to how pre-service teachers may address Islamophobia in the classroom and also gain religious literacy regarding Sikhism. Practical implications The rise of Islamophobia-inspired violence toward students of South Asian descent has led to the call to address this matter. The research introduces a method to how social studies education professors may help engage their pre-service teachers in proactively addressing Islamophobia. Social studies professors have a responsibility to help promote social justice through critical pedagogy that explores the religious literacy of their pre-service teachers beyond Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. Social implications The Sikh Coalition, by telephone, has formally acknowledged to the authors that the textbook research has been the most extensive they have received since making their joint request with the National Council for the Social Studies. They have used the research to successfully convince the state education boards of Texas and recently Tennessee to adopt the inclusion of Sikhism in social studies content. More Americans, at a young age, need to learn about Sikh culture, so they are less likely to develop prejudicial ideas about Sikh Americans and commit violent acts of religious-based discrimination. Originality/value The research is extremely rare. To date, no one else in the country has conducted research on the presentation of Sikhism in textbooks to the extent that the authors have. The authors hope that the research will encourage more dialogue and further research. The authors hope that the research will help prevent further acts of religious-based violence toward followers of the world’s sixth largest religion.

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