Water pollution in school curricula

A growing number of school biology programmes now include environmental issues and use water pollution as a specific example. Various aspects of four such programmes, from Britain, Germany, Israel, and the United States, are compared. The criteria for choosing the central topic are discussed, and the choice is evaluated against the ecological situation in each country. The roles of the subject specialists who were involved in the development of the programme, the practical work done by pupils, and other curricular elements are compared, and the implications for teachers are discussed.