Concept of Nature in Childrens’ Culture
Basmat Even-Zohar PhD

The course will discuss changes in the perception of “Nature” in both European and Modern Hebrew cultures since the 18th century, specifically in notions which were introduced via the educational system, including Childrens’ Litereature: Beginning with the scientific education of adults during the Enlightenment period, through “Nature Stories” of the mid-19th century and their translations into Hebrew at the beginning of Modern Hebrew education in Ottoman Palestine, up to the most recent innovative programs of Israeli education today, promoting concepts of Sustainability.
We shall look into transfer of models from the adult system into the children’s system, and into processes of change in societal concepts such as morals and animals. In this context we shall also examine phenomena such as the “Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals”, the appearance of vegetarianism, the emergence of chemical agriculture and following it, of ecological agriculture