The need for international action and co-operation in the field of environmental education was expressed in 1972 during the "UN Conference on the Human Environment" in Stockholm. A recommendation was approved during this Conference to establish an international programme in environment education which should not only be international in scope, but also interdiciplinary in ist approach and should consider and reach all age groups. In response to this recommendation UNESCO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched jointly, in 1975, the "International Environment Educational Programme". Since then, Environment Education has become one of UNESCO�s major programmes. In the context of these activities, the UNESCO-UNEP programme also fostered the present project carried out by ITE (Internationalisation and Innovation in Teacher Education). ITE is a network of Universities and Colleges in the field of Teacher Education who aim to cooperate in order to achieve international understanding through "Internationalisation and Innovation in Teacher Education". One of the Joint Study Courses in the field of Environment Education dealt with the theme "Water in my Life". The intention was to create an awareness among future teachers of the necessity to deal with environment education at a very early age, to provide teachers with scientific background information about the natural and social implications in the field and help them to find didactic appoaches to deal with it in primary and lower secondary education. The aim of the present publication is to spread further the idea of liking international understanding with environment problems. The approach is interdisciplinary but it does not aim to be exhaustive. Among the criteria for the selection of themes dominated the idea to give no exclusive priority to the natural sciences, but to integrate themes of international concern, like health, development and peace, which are issues of the social sciences. The participating Universities and Colleges, as well as the authors, are well aware that even considering these priorities they had to limit themselves to some possible themes, these are: Some basic information about water in considering the main concerns of the natural sciences, looking at it�s physical and chemical properties as well as where and how water occurs. The second complex deals with water as a source of life, considering water in the external and internal environment; this means organisms living in water, as well as the very important role water plays for any organism even if it does not live in water itself. Since water is the source of life, all cultures have a deep devotion to it. Water appears in all mythologies of creation. Water itself is the basis for the development and maintenance of culture. However, water can also be very destructive. How different cultures attempted to either retain water or tried to exclude it in order to avoid destruction? The lack of water is one of the main problems in many developing countries at present. What consequences does this have and how can we find solutions? This book is not an encyclopedia for teachers about water, and it is also not meant as a closed curriculum. It includes articles which provide the teacher with relevant background information which he or she can use according to the needs of a particular class. The more scientific texts can be found in boxes within the main text. The suggestion for didactic approaches at the end of the main chapters are thought of as proposals which by no means have to be used in exactly the same form as suggested, but have of course to be adapted to the particular context where they will be used. Most of the didactic approaches are designed for younger children, but they can be modified, shortened, expanded, or, in some instances, completely ignored for older children.weiterlesen