scholarly journals Luonnontiedekasvatuksen muuttuvat tavoitteet: luonnontieteellisestä lukutaidosta kestävyyskasvatukseen, toimijuuteen ja tulevaisuusajatteluun

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antti Laherto
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
School Science ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Transformative Education ◽  
Futures Studies ◽  
Alternative Futures ◽  
Action Science ◽  
Building Activities

Globaalit ympäristö- ja kestävyyskriisit muuttavat luonnontiedekasvatuksen tavoitteita, didaktiikkaa ja tutkimusta. Luonnontieteellisen lukutaidon (engl. scientific literacy) merkitys kytketään yhä useammin transformatiiviseen kestävyyskasvatukseen. Siinä ei riitä, että koulussa opitaan luonnontieteen sisältötietoa tai sen käyttämistä arjessa, vaan luonnontiedekasvatuksen pitää lisäksi tukea vastuullista toimijuutta ja arvopohjaista muutosta sekä yksilöissä että yhteiskunnassa. Artikkelissa argumentoidaan, että tulevaisuudentutkimuksen ajattelutapoja hyödyntämällä on mahdollista tukea vaihtoehtojen ja vaikutusmahdollisuuksien näkemistä ja niihin tarttumista. Luonnontieteiden opetus tarjoaa hyvän alustan skenaarioajattelulle, tulevaisuuden epävarmuuden kohtaamiselle ja uudistavan toimijuusorientaation rakentamiselle. Ehdotuksia konkretisoidaan esittelemällä I SEE -projektissa kehitettyä tulevaisuusorientoitunutta luonnontiedeopetusta. Lopuksi pohditaan ehdotusten ajankohtaista merkitystä kestävyysongelmien ja COVID19-pandemiankin aikoina.   Changing Goals of Science Education: From Scientific Literacy to Education for Sustainable Development, Agency, and Futures thinking Abstract Global sustainability crises are changing the aims, pedagogies and research in science education. The field is increasingly oriented towards transformative education for sustainable development. School science should now support responsible agency and value-based transformation. This article argues that the thinking in the field of Futures Studies can help students to see alternative futures and take action. Science education provides excellent opportunities for scenario building activities, addressing the uncertainty, and shaping transformative agentic orientations. Future-oriented activities developed in the I SEE project are presented as an example. The suggestions are discussed with relation to the topical sustainability crises and the COVID19 pandemic. Keywords: science education, education for sustainable development, futures thinking, agency

scholarly journals Addressing Education for Sustainable Development in the Teaching of Science: The Case of a Biological Sciences Teacher Education Program

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12028
Author(s):  
Deirdre Hogan ◽  
Joanne O’Flaherty
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Pedagogical Approaches

Education plays a key role in ensuring that all learners are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set out the key challenges of our time with targets to protect the planet, end poverty, and improve the prospects of all people by 2030. As global challenges including access to healthcare and climate change escalate, the need for action is even more pressing. Education is an enabler of change and presents opportunities to support learners to explore how they can participate in transformative education experiences that focus on building a more sustainable world. Science education provides unique opportunities to explore sustainability given the nature of the discipline, the knowledge it reflects, and its focus on inquiry based pedagogical approaches. This study explores the nature of science as an academic discipline, as it is lived and perceived within the teaching of an undergraduate Science Education (biological sciences) program in a Higher Education Institution (HEI) and its capacity for the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). An ethnographic informed research design was adopted to document the social culture, perspectives, and practices inherent in the educational setting. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics and tutors from the HEI’s Science Department who contribute to the program (n = 11). Focus groups were held with pre-service teachers enrolled on the program (n = 21) and observations from lectures, laboratory sessions, and field trips were carried out. Findings arising from analysis of data point to a strong link between science and society in science education, and the need for learners to develop critical scientific literacy that enables them to meaningfully navigate the multiple perspectives presented in media and public debates relating to sustainability issues. Findings suggest that while sustainability themes permeated some modules in the program, the emphasis was on imparting hard, technical knowledge rather than allowing for the critical exploration of issues. Results also highlight some discipline specific challenges to adopting discursive pedagogical approaches in the science education program. Some ways of understanding these findings are explored.

scholarly journals Integrating engineering in K-12 science education: spelling out the pedagogical, epistemological, and methodological arguments

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Senay Purzer ◽  
Jenny Patricia Quintana-Cifuentes
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Student Learning Outcomes ◽  
School Science ◽  
School Resources ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Teaching Models ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
Stem Literacy ◽  
K 12

AbstractThis position paper is motivated by recent educational reform efforts that urge the integration of engineering in science education. We argue that it is plausible and beneficial to integrate engineering into formal K-12 science education. We illustrate how current literature, though often implicitly, discusses this integration from a pedagogical, epistemological, or methodological argumentative stance. From a pedagogical perspective, a historically dominant argument emphasizes how engineering helps make abstract science concepts more concrete. The epistemological argument is centered on how engineering is inherently interdisciplinary and hence its integrative role in support of scientific literacy and more broadly STEM literacy is natural. From a methodological perspective, arguments focus on the engineering design process, which is compatible with scientific inquiry and adaptable to answering different types of engineering questions. We call for the necessity of spelling out these arguments and call for common language as science and engineering educators form a research-base on the integration of science and engineering. We specifically provide and discuss specific terminology associated with four different models, each effectively used to integrate engineering into school science. We caution educators against a possible direction towards a convergence approach for a specific type of integrating engineering and science. Diversity in teaching models, more accurately represents the nature of engineering but also allows adaptations based on available school resources. Future synthesis can then examine student learning outcomes associated with different teaching models.

Education for sustainable development in chemistry – challenges, possibilities and pedagogical models in Finland and elsewhere

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 488-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. K. Juntunen ◽  
M. K. Aksela
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Green Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Chemistry Teachers ◽  
Current State ◽  
Pedagogical Models ◽  
Pedagogical Frameworks

This article analyses Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in chemistry by reviewing existing challenges and future possibilities on the levels of the teacher and the student. Pedagogical frameworks that are found eligible in practice are reviewed. Lesson themes that are suitable for implementing socio-scientific issues (SSI) related to ESD into basic chemistry education at schools are discussed. Based on this analysis, three new demonstrative pedagogical models for ESD in chemistry are presented to help guide the work of teachers. The models draw on an interdisciplinary reading of research in the field of SSI-based science education, sustainability science, green chemistry and environmental education. The current state of ESD in Finnish chemistry education is used as an example case throughout the article. Two tasks where future development is required were recognised. The first task concerns supporting chemistry teachers in overcoming the challenges with SSI and ESD they face in their work. The second task is to ensure that students are more often provided with more relevant and flexible chemistry content and studying methods.

scholarly journals Prioritizing Elements of Science Education for Sustainable Development with the MCDA-FDEMATEL Method Using the Flipped E-Learning Scheme

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Su Jeong ◽  
David González-Gómez ◽  
Florentina Cañada-Cañada
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Fuzzy Decision Making ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Learning Scheme ◽  
E Learning

Selecting and ordering components for sustainable science education is a critical issue, which is presently obtaining increased attention because of being at an early stage and scarce application in higher education. Though the flipped e-learning scheme is one of the novel information and communication technologies (ICTs), it can be of great relevance in a long-term learning program for various sustainable science education criteria. This research presents an approach to identify and analyze elements for science education for sustainable development with multi-criteria decision analysis-fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (MCDA-FDEMATEL) method by flipped e-learning system. With the method proposed, the main elements are collected as science-education, sustainable-development, technology-infrastructure and flipped-e-learning elements. The final results’ analyses with sixteen sub-elements are assessed with weighted linear combination (WLC) and sensitivity-analysis (I to VI implementations) in the context of the MCDA-FDEMATEL method. The most important element and sub-element for science education for sustainable development through flipped e-learning teaching are sustainable-development (as an element), VI implementation with 0.540 weight, and environmental contents (as a sub-element) with 0.570 weight. Consequently, this proposed approach could be used in different studies to validate the most important aspects of science education for sustainable development through flipped e-learning teaching elements and sub-elements with equivalent and comparable education settings.

scholarly journals Strategic Shift from Transmissive to Transformative Higher Education for Sustainable Development

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Jama Madar ◽  
Mustafa Din Bin Subari ◽  
Shadiya Mohamed Saleh Baqutayan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
National Development ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Transformative Education ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Important Approach ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Investment Portfolios

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a global initiative towards transforming education for sustainability. The integration of SD into the education portfolio is considered to be an important approach that ensures strategic alignment of higher education with SDGs. A document review was used to identify and discuss the difference between transmissive and transformative education in relation to SDGs and in the context of Somali education. In this trajectory, it is expected that the concept of ‘‘transformative education is likely to become more common to meet the emerging social, economic and environmental issues, yet practical challenges remain in Somaliland HE sector. The roadmap towards addressing transformative education for sustainability is not included in the Somaliland national portfolios; particularly ESD has not been presented. In this regard, this paper proposed a generic framework that spotlights the integration of HEIs and the national development goals (NDGs) in Somaliland. Meanwhile, developed and developing countries are prioritizing structural transformation in their HEIs that are tailored to national and regional development programs. Consistent with the Rio + 20 outcomes, the authors analyzed the concept of the ‘‘sustainable university’’ and identified the fact that it is practically divided into three interrelated and complementary categories, namely social-, environmental-, and economic-oriented university in pursuit of actualizing SD. The paper recommends major reforms in the education sector including availing investment portfolios for R&D, renovation of education goals and transforming universities for sustainability

Field Officers take on the Geoscience Education world

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Realdon ◽  
Gina P. Correia ◽  
Xavier Juan ◽  
Ramanathan Baskar ◽  
Guillaume Coupechoux ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Science Education ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
School Science ◽  
School Level ◽  
Geoscience Education ◽  
Earth Science Education ◽  
2030 Agenda

<p>Responding to a widely perceived need for enhancing geoscience education (King, 2013), in 2018 the EGU Committee on Education launched the EGU and IUGS-IGEO Geoscience Field Officer (FO), project. FO Educators are specifically trained and appointed to run professional development activities: teacher workshops based the hands-on activities developed by ESEU Earth Science Education Unit (originally at Keele University) and published in the Earthlearningidea on-line repository. These activities, based on the CASE (Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education) methodology and successfully tested on nearly 40,000 teachers in the UK (King & Thomas, 2012), are aimed at geoscience teachers without an academic background in this field, or needing training courses in practical geology. The objective is to improve teachers’ knowledge and skills by means of a friendly approach and to raise their self-confidence in addressing geoscience topics in their classes. Six EGU and IUGS-IGEO FOs (the first six authors of this article) translated the activities into their respective national languages, prepared the workshops using commonly available equipment and low-cost materials and begun running workshops in May 2019. Meanwhile, the FOs coordinated their work and exchanged information through e-mail and Skype meetings. By January 2020, the FOs’ activity has included: 16 workshops given in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Morocco, and India for 286 attending teachers from primary and secondary schools. The workshops were evaluated through a questionnaire shared by all the FOs. The feedback showed that all the participants found the approaches very interesting and expressed interest in updating themselves and attending future workshops. The full evaluation data will be presented at a later date. Information about the FO workshops was disseminated through 4 teachers’ conferences, aimed at informing potential participants of the opportunity offered by EGU in the first pilot countries. Following the pleasing results of the first months of the FO project, EGU made a second call for more FOs in EU and non-EU countries. The new FOs will be trained during the EGU General Assembly 2020 in Vienna with the assistance of the existing FOs. Geoscience plays an important role in the operation of society and in protecting the future for all humans. Geoscience underpins key areas of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by all United Nations Member States in the 2030 Agenda (United Nations 2015). The FOs’ dissemination activities will help the geoscience community to include students and teachers from the school level upwards and will result in the forging of interdisciplinary links with other disciplines and in promoting the adoption of sustainable development models in a growing number of countries.</p><p> </p><p>References</p><p>Earthlearningidea website: http//:www.earthlearningidea.com</p><p>King C. (2013). Geoscience education across the globe - results of the IUGS-COGE/IGEO survey. Episodes, 36.1, 19-30.</p><p>King. C. and Thomas, A. (2012). Earth Science Education Unit workshops – an evaluation of their impact. School Science Review. 94(347) 25-35. ISSN 0036-6811.</p><p>United Nations (2015) Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/ documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20 Development%20web.pdf</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document