The purpose of this article is to explore the young generation’s geocultural consciousness. The research uses the case of Meteora Geomorphes, which have been proposed as a geological heritage site and are known to students for aesthetic, cultural and religious reasons. The sample of the research consisted of third grade Junior High school (Gymnasium) pupils, who have been taught Geography–Geology courses in previous classes, and students from departments of the University of Thessaly, Central Greece, wherein their subjects are taught cultural heritage courses. The data collection was conducted through a structured questionnaire that examines their knowledge, values, geoethical attitudes, behaviors and beliefs about geocultural heritage understanding. The result of the research shows the lack of understanding of the geological heritage in relation to cultural heritage and of the sense of responsibility for the environment and a code of ethics for protection and conservation. The need for strategic educational planning of geoeducation in school practice with the integration of geoheritage in the theme of environmental education (geoenvironmental education) is obvious.

In order to design a geoeducation program in the context of the possibilities given to the Experimental Schools of Greece of Lower Secondary Education, teachers identified the need for diagnostically assess students’ understanding of basic concepts of the geoenvironment and particularly the concepts of geodiversity, geoheritage, geoethics and geotourism. In addition, there was a need to apply the educational technique of creating cognitive conflicts in order to promote the scientific perceptions of these concepts. Thus, research questions were identified which led the research to assess the current latent state of students’ perceptions regarding the thematic areas of the concepts and to identify concepts whose perceptions can be used in the educational process in order to achieve effective cognitive conflicts in order to promote scientific perceptions of them. The students briefly answered a four-question questionnaire, wherein each question examined their perceptions regarding the four concepts of geoenvironment: geodiversity, geoheritage, geoethics and geotourism. All 45 students of the geoeducation program that took part in the survey were aged between 12 and 15 years old. The qualitative research strategy approach was selected and specifically the hybrid technique of semiotics content analysis in combination with thematic analysis. This technique was selected due to the need to identify, code, categorize and count both obvious and latent meanings in the students’ written answers; these meanings were related to the four concepts under examination. The results of the research show that the current latent state of students’ perceptions regarding the thematic fields of the four concepts of the geoenvironment can be considered as particularly confused since the majority of students did not understand the concepts as they are employed in the international literature. The research also highlighted concepts that can be used by teachers in their efforts to develop students’ clear or even scientifically acceptable perceptions for the concepts of geodiversity, geoheritage, geoethics and geotourism in the thematic field of the geoenvironment.

In recent years, the concern about geoethics in Greece has begun to grow. This review aims to present the current geoethical thinking in Greece’s educational system through a thorough research of all educational levels’ curricula and the actions developed on this topic in the Greek geoscientific community. In the Greek educational reality, geoeducation is not widespread, and geoethics is used in limited school curricula. The research highlighted a significant lack of initiatives to promote geoethical thimking and the values related to geological heritage and the need to protect it.

<p>The inclusion of geoethics in the curricula contributes to young people's reflection on personal and social values and responsibilities, in order to raise awareness and develop appropriate behavior regarding the interaction of human activities with the Earth system (Georgousis et al., 2021; 2022). In modern societies, educational policy is implemented with the curricula being the mainspring. Recently, the new educational curricula that reflect the directions of educational policy in Greece for the next decade were prepared and announced. These curricula have received and are subject to various criticisms from scientific reviews of academic committees and educational institutions. In the midst of these, the question of whether they incorporate values of the natural world related to Geology and geoethical thought was developed, namely whether in an indirect and direct way they contribute to the sensitization and empowerment of students to the values of geoethics and consequently to the formation of environmentally and socially aware citizens. In order to answer this concern, research questions were posed regarding the presence of conceptual patterns, which refer to obvious or latent meanings for the promotion of geoethical values through the educational process. The methodology followed is the qualitative strategics with the technique of sensitizing content analysis, aimed to explore the thematic units and the expected learning outcomes of the new curricula of compulsory education of the Greek educational system. The texts were examined with the paragraph as the thematic unit. The characterization of the quantity was based on linguistic scales of related studies, according to which the results were characterized, identified and documented as they were estimated by the authors of the study. Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) was used for the content analysis, specifically the quantification of the meaning patterns. Sixteen (16) new curricula were investigated. The investigation identifies a relatively small number of obvious conceptual patterns (codes) and a greater number of latent meanings in both social and natural sciences, revealing the limited potential for the development of geoethical thinking and geoethical values. Therefore, the lack of integration of geoethical values in the curricula of the next decade is noted, although recent researches document the lack of understanding of the geological heritage and the necessity for developing geoethical awareness of young people through the educational process.</p>