Contemporary environmental challenges necessitate the adoption of active learning methods within educational frameworks, particularly those that foster the development of environmental awareness among young people. The 2030 Agenda underscores the importance of project-based learning as a strategy for building the competencies required to achieve sustainable development goals. In this context, the attitudes and behavior of young people towards the environment serve as critical indicators of future social transformations within the sphere of sustainable development. The aim of this research was to determine whether project-based learning in geography, as opposed to traditional teaching methods, exerts a more pronounced influence on the formation of environmental values, attitudes, and pro-environmental behavior among students in their final year of primary school. The research was conducted using a convenience sample (n = 255) and employed pedagogical experimental surveys with parallel group designs. In the experimental group, project-based learning was implemented, whereas the control group continued with traditional teaching approaches. To assess environmental values and attitudes, the research employed a scale grounded in the EAATE framework, and pro-environmental behavior was evaluated using a measurement scale derived from the PEB and GEB scales. The obtained results are attributed to the influence of project-based learning. Although they cannot be generalized to the entire population, they indicate the potential of project-based learning as a more effective strategy in environmental education. Furthermore, these findings provide opportunities for further professional and scientific research in this area.

Educational tourism is a selective form of thematic tourism and includes trips aimed at acquiring knowledge, developing skills and improving abilities. It is important to point out that it is a tourism activity where education is the main motive for the stay at the destination. Student exchange programs and study trips to a different and new environment have a tradition through numerous international practices. Modern exchange programs mean that students have the opportunity to live in another country for a shorter or longer period of time during the program and thus get to know geographical, cultural and socioeconomic characteristics. The Erasmus+ program between Serbia and North Macedonia offers individuals the opportunity to develop professionally and change living environment, learn a foreign language, get to know new cultures, increase self-confidence, open up new horizons, develop academic skills and the possibility of numerous trips.

Considering recent weather events in Serbia (especially the floods in 2014), a need has arisen for research that would help in identifying extreme weather phenomena. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to determine the thresholds above which intense precipitation can be considered as extreme precipitation events in Serbia. In this study, we determined the frequency of precipitation occurring at an intensity above the threshold of an extreme phenomenon (1961–2015), as well as the frequency of precipitation occurring at or above the absolute daily maximum in the reference period (1961–1990). The study sample included daily rainfall observations from 28 stations from the national meteorological network in Serbia. Applying a decile method, all the stations recording precipitation above the threshold of dangerous phenomena on the same day are classified into the corresponding decile. The threshold value was determined as the average value of the extreme annual precipitation in the analyzed period. The cases that are due to the high prevalence listed in the last decile are considered extreme. The results showed that the critical number of observation points above which an event is considered extreme precipitation event is 6.21, and a warning of the danger could be ensured only in the case of neighboring stations in the network. The threshold of extreme precipitation events for the individual stations ranges up to 130 mm. The obtained results might be used to mitigate the effects of extreme precipitation events in Serbia in the future.

Interpreting the extensive and varied bibliography of Jovan Cvijić, largely in foreign languages, which apart from the text includes geographic and ethnographic map of the Balkan Peninsula, atlases, notes and drawings, it is concluded that his scientific work was versatile and complex. Cvijić's perception of space, the use of didactic principles, methods and forms of work can be categorized as actual and modern even in the present time. He was the first among the Balkan geographers who simultaneously interpreted natural, historical, sociological, ethnographic and ethno-psychological phenomena and processes. Cvijić pointed to the relationship between the geographic environment and human communities, civilizations and historical events, constantly examining their mutual conditionality. Numerous research trips in almost all regions of the Balkan Peninsula led to his interest in the culture and customs of the people. He noted that in the Balkans, there are different people by origin, religion and mentality. The result of the field research is certainly one of Cvijić's most important work - 'Anthropogeographical problems of the Balkan Peninsula'. His scientific approach has given an outstanding contribution to methodological development of geography.

Current world trends in education require an individual to globalize goals, internationalize knowledge, and extend the lifelong learning process, which progressively increases the demands of the school in front of students. This is, above all, the development of skills and habits for independent work, through training to get to know through his own efforts. An active teacher-learner relationship is necessary in the teaching process, because modern education moves the focus of the work from acquiring full knowledge to the process of acquiring knowledge. In other words, students are not provided with the knowledge they have, but it is important to use all means to raise the level of knowledge through the process of independent work in teaching. In addition to changing the passive position of students, in the process of updating teaching, in order to maximize the activation of students, it is also necessary to introduce modern teaching technology and to align multimedia sources of knowledge with forms and methods of work.

This study investigates whether and to which degree the knowledge of environmental protection issues influences the formation of personal environmental responsibility among primary school students in Serbia. A personal environmental responsibility scale and an environmental knowledge test were used to gather data in this study. The results of the study showed that based on the environmental knowledge of the students we can predict 18% of their environmental responsibility. The reason for lower prediction of personal environmental responsibility lies in the lack of conceptual and procedural environmental knowledge. In a broader sense, reasons for such a result can be found in the structure of the curriculum, teachers' training, as well as in the very organisation of curricular and extracurricular environmental activities regarding environmental education. The acquired results can help define educational and training guidelines in the areas of formal environmental education concerning the development of environmental knowledge and environmental responsibility among young people in Serbia.

The interdisciplinary teaching-scientific disciplines and all participants in the educational process, the school becomes an environment in which, in addition to teaching and learning, fosters the harmonious development of personality of students with various aspects. Geography and ethnology ratio is determined by their position in the system of scientific disciplines and tasks that have in education. From ethnology as a science is the selection of content, according to educational and functional tasks of teaching geography in specific socio-historical context. In geography textbooks represented ethnological themes through the study of the origin, beliefs and customs of a nation or community. As such, characteristics of the different analyzed ethnology people, by studying the relations between them, and thus enrich the geography textbooks. Ethnological facilities are very suitable for the teaching process because they enable wide application forms and methods, as well as a wide selection of new information and communication educational technologies. The aim of this paper is based on defining similarities and differences between geography and ethnology, as well as related and in many ways related to science and unbreakable. The aim of the paper points to the scale of the ethnological contents in geography textbooks for Secondary school. The results show that in terms of geography and ethnology, there are some similarities, but also differences when it comes to the interpretation of certain phenomena, processes and principles. Based on the results, proposals are defined which are contributing to a more efficient study of ethnological content with the aim of more obvious, more permanent and more practical adoption of students' knowledge.

Problem of regional inequality in Serbia is rather noticeable. Regional inequality and polarization of Serbia can be observed primarily on the example of the City of Belgrade and the AP Vojvodina, which are according to numerous indicators of development evidently ahead other regions in the country. Negative development trends in Serbia present a major problem that threatens to jeopardize the future of regional and social development of the state itself and the process of European integration too. The paper presents some indicators of regional inequality as well as the importance of taking measures to achieve a higher level of economic development. When we talk about regionalization as a factor of public regulation of economic and regional development in the conditions of transition in Serbia, European integration in Europe and globalization in the world, it is necessary to take into account possibilities, limitations, applicability and specific characteristics of the Serbian economy in order to secure socio-economic and geographical framework for conducting economic activities.

In order to meet the needs of modern society, schools should be continually reviewed its role. In contemporary the methodological concepts, interdisciplinary teaching is seen as a necessity in order to increase the quality of teaching and teaching an improved outcome. Analysis Curriculum geography of 5th to 8th graders and items that are correlated with it indicates that there are a number of lessons that provide quality basis for the realization of interdisciplinary teaching and learning. The aim is to determine the program content items geography in primary school that are suitable for an interdisciplinary approach to teaching. Test results indicate the great potential of interdisciplinary connections between teaching content of geography and other subjects in primary school. The paper contained proposals that could contribute to the improvement of the interdisciplinary approach.

Аbstract: This research examined the redistribution of teaching staff in the Municipality of Nova Varoš in the last 25 years. The aim of this paper was to determine the number of teachers who were redistributed in the mentioned period and whether this was influenced by the closing of schools and the decrease in the number of schools. The results were obtained on the basis of data analysis from the Annual Work Plans of Schools in the Municipality of Nova Varoš and the Special Collective Agreements for employees in primary and secondary schools. The results of the research indicate that the optimization of the school network, based on the current state and demographic trends, will go towards the unification of small schools.

Municipality of Negotin is an area of rural character, one of the most agrarian in Serbia. Rural development, as one of the areas of regional policy is a key instrument for the restructuring of the agricultural sector, has a task to focus and strategic use of the potential of attractive tourist village. At the time of increasing urbanization and globalization, specific indigenous settlements accurately reflect the spirit and tradition of ancient times are gaining a certain cultural, economic, and tourist importance. Municipality of Negotin has good conditions for the development of rural tourism thanks to its geographical position, varied landscape (vari­ous forms of recreation), gastronomy, folklore, rich cultural heritage. Rural tourism should contribute to the preservation of the rural environment and cultural heritage, but also economically motivate the local population to remain in the countryside. This form of tourism could contribute significantly to the protection of nature, but also to provide resources for the survival and development of the village.

We assessed the influence of environmental values on the proenvironmental behavior of youth in Serbia by assessing the level of their satisfaction with environmental conditions and their sense of personal environmental responsibility. Participants were 168 15-year-old boys and girls who were pupils in their final year at primary schools in Belgrade. We found that 9.5% of the variability in the students' proenvironmental behavior could be explained by individual differences regarding their environmental values, environmental satisfaction, and environmental responsibility. The results obtained from this study should provide curriculum developers, educators, and teachers with a deeper understanding of methods and strategies to use in order to raise environmental awareness and to encourage environmentally responsible behavior among young people in Serbia.

Taking into account the fact that intensifying problems concerning the environment, the young will be exposed to more risks in the future, it is very important to form their ecological consciousness and pro-ecological behaviour. The aim of this paper was to identify the level of pro-ecological behaviour of students, as well as to determine whether there are differences between students of different level of education and gender. Applying five-degree scale of pro-ecological behaviour, 252 primary and secondary students from Belgrade were interviewed. Results of the research show that students behave inadequately in the surrounding in some situations (dealing with garbage, saving water and energy in the household and pro-ecological consumption). It has been shown that in the respect of proecological behaviour, there are no statistically significant differences between students of different level of education and gender. Given results can point at the directions of formal education in the respect of development of ecological consciousness and pro-ecological habits of the young in Serbia.

The paper analyzes the educational structure of the rural population of Nišava region (Nišavski region) at the regional and municipal levels. The obtained results should indicate a change of qualification and the educational level of rural population of 15 years of age and over from 2002 to 2011. The aim was to perceive possible importance of human resources for cultural revival and social development of the villages in the Nišava region (Nišavski region) through the analysis of educational structure of the rural population.

The aim of the study is to analyse trends regarding the implementation of environmental education in teaching geography and to determine the existing correlation between the elements of the teaching process such as: the presence of environmental topics in teaching of geography, dominant teaching methods, levels of students knowledge, and teachers' attitudes towards the importance of environmental education. The results show that environmental content is not present enough in practical work of geography teachers in elementary schools, that environmental topics are usually considered only declaratively, and that in those circumstances the possibility for students to form any kind of conceptual and procedural knowledge has been reduced to minimum. Most commonly applied approach is the transmission approach, while the student-directed methods are used less often. More frequent application of active learning strategies in the classroom shows significant linear correlation with the intensity of study of environmental topics, as well as the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach that leads to formation of conceptual and procedural knowledge of students. Linear regression analysis also confirms that the positive attitudes of teachers towards the educational importance of environmental education do not have significant influence on the change in their usual way of teaching.

This research explores interconnection between environmental values and environmental responsibility among young people. Basic question of this study was whether and to which degree the environmental values influence the development of the environmental responsibility? By answering on this question, we want to provide guidelines for educational activities in schools which aim to develop environmental awareness among the young people of Serbia. The survey covered a sample of 252 students from primary and secondary government schools from Belgrade. Students were tested on a five point Likert type scales which examined environmental responsibility and environmental values. To assess the reliability and validity of the scales standard statistical procedures were used. The results of our study confirmed positive linear dependence between environmental values and environmental responsibility. On the basis of students’ environmental values 48% of their environmental responsibility can be predicted On the basis of our results, it is possible to conclude that students who believe that efficient functioning of society and the survival of life on the Earth is unimaginable without environmental protection, display desirable attitudes towards environmental responsibility. The obtained results may help to identify future directions of formal education activities regarding the improvement of personal environmental responsibility among young people.

The aim of this paper is to show the real impact of vegetation types on runoff, expressed by a mathematical model. Better understanding of this relationship may significantly contribute to the prevention of extreme natural processes that are more and more frequent in the world in recent years. Particular attention to this problem has been paid after the historic flooding that occurred in Serbia in May 2014, taking away many lives, property and starting up numerous erosive processes. In this work multiple linear regression was used to make an estimation of the mean annual, maximum and minimum river runoff in Serbia for the period of 1998-2009. The sample analyzed consisted of 40 small river basins with natural runoff and the independent variables used were mean annual precipitation, mean annual air temperature, basin altitude, the humidity index, basin area, average basin slope, and vegetation factors separated in 8 categories. It was shown that vegetation has an important role in runoff regulation and that it is justified to classify it particularly into three categories: forests, meadows and agriculture. A total of 33 models were formed with R-2 > 0.8 and runoff changes from 0.1% to 1% within 1% changes to vegetation, depending on type.

Aim:to assess the subjective perception of HRQoL in medical students’ sample; andto ascertain predictors of better perception of HRQoL in medical students.Methods:We have assessed and compared scores of Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), used for the assessment of HRQoL in sample of 561 medical students and 332 control participants. Also, we have used linear regression to identify predictors of better perception of HRQoL in the sample of medical students.Results:The results indicate that medical students had statistically significantly higher total score of SF-36. The statistically significant predictors of better perception of HRQoL in medical students were: male gender, younger age and higher grade year of studies and non-medical students was male gender. The other sociodemographic and academic variables did not emerge as possible predictors of better perception of HRQoL.Conclusions:Medical students perceive their health much better than other university students do but female, older and second year medical students have worse perception of their HRQoL. In non-medical university students females had worse perception of their HRQoL. Those points should be potential target areas for specific prevention and treatment in order to achieve better quality of life of medical students and life of nonmedical students.