Environmental Education and Environmental Culture in Latin American Educational Institutions: A Systematic Review (2020–2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33595/2226-1478.17.1614Keywords:
environmental education, environmental culture, sustainability, educational institutions, Latin AmericaAbstract
Although environmental education is a key component in strengthening environmental culture, its development does not show the same continuity across Latin American educational institutions. This situation makes it difficult for environmental learning to become sustainably consolidated into knowledge, values, attitudes, and behaviors related to caring for the environment. To analyze the relationship between environmental education and the strengthening of environmental culture, a systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 recommendations. The Scopus search identified 28 studies published between 2020 and 2025 for inclusion, which were subsequently organized through a thematic narrative synthesis to compare findings obtained across educational contexts. The findings show that curriculum integration, teacher training, participatory methods, and community engagement foster the development of knowledge, values, attitudes, behaviors, and forms of participation oriented toward sustainability. These differences help explain why similar educational initiatives do not always produce equivalent outcomes across institutions. Their effects therefore need to be understood within context. However, the continuity of these experiences depends on teacher preparedness, available resources, school management support, and community participation. The review concludes that environmental education strengthens environmental culture when it forms part of continuous, contextualized educational processes supported by institutional commitment across different educational contexts in the region.
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