Astrid Tonette Sinnes

Chemistry Teaching for the Future: A model for secondary chemistry education for sustainable development

For more than 40 years, the international community has acknowledged the role education might play in environmental awareness and conservation. The last major initiative came when the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014). In the final year of the decade, teachers still struggle to realise education for sustainable development (ESD). One of the challenges teachers face with respect to ESD is the inclusion of even more content into an already overloaded curriculum. In response, it has been suggested that ESD should be introduced as an integrated perspective across the content of all existing subjects. This paper offers a model for how ESD can be realised in chemistry education. The model has been developed to support chemistry teachers in their educational planning and consists of 5 categories: chemical content knowledge, chemistry in context, the distinctiveness and methodological character of chemistry, ESD competences and lived ESD. The ESD model is illustrated through 5 ellipses, visualising the hierarchy of the categories, as they exist in different levels. All 5 ESD categories need to be considered in a holistic ESD approach.

Education for Sustainable Development and International Student Assessments: Governing Education in Times of Climate Change

At the end of the UNs Decade of Education for Sustainable Development there are few, if any, indications of comprehensive educational reforms meeting the challenges of sustainable development. Rather, a central aim for current educational reforms appears to be improvement of student performance on national and international educational assessments, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)s Programme for International Student Assessments (PISA). Against this background, this article explores the relationship between the UNs measures to promote education for sustainable development (ESD) and the OECDs measures to assist the development of education policy through PISA. The article finds that there are asymmetries in the ways these two different measures shape education systems. Moreover, the article also finds tensions between the educational practices associated with ESD, and those associated with ambitions to improve scores on PISA and other tests.

Science Teacher Education for Sustainable Development: A Case Study of a Residential Field Course in a Norwegian Pre-Service Teacher Education Programme.

ABSTRACT In this paper, we explore how a Norwegian teacher education institution promotes education for sustainable development (ESD) through a residential field course. The residential field course was located in a mountain area and data were collected through participant observation. The data included—together with instructional artefacts—evaluation schemes and assignments written by the student teachers, and the analysis was based on categories for science ESD. Through exemplary teaching experiences in an outdoor environment and pupil-active teaching methods, such as inquiry learning and phenomenon-based teaching, the student teachers gained experience in outdoor education and of stepping into the unknown in a safe learning environment. This was further connected to ESD pedagogy.

From Contextual Frustrations to Classroom Transformations: Female Empowerment through Science Education in Rural South Africa.

Abstract The objective of this transformative action research project was to explore and develop sustainable methods to promote female empowerment through science education in rural, disadvantaged sectors of South Africa. In an attempt to achieve this we collaborated with local community members to develop and implement a contextualized science curriculum at a school in the aforementioned setting. As soon as the project was launched it became increasingly clear that although the ideology of ‘empowerment through science education’ seemed a promising venture, it could also be an extremely complex and often frustrating undertaking. This was especially true when working within an unfamiliar cultural setting. Numerous challenges, such as the lack of teacher motivation, malnutrition amongst the learners, and conflicts stemming from differences between the indigenous knowledge and the western concept of science, greatly impeded the delivery of quality education in the area. These challenges had to be addressed both in pedagogical and practical terms before any attempt towards libratory education could be made. This article sheds light on the complex inter-relationship between the human factor and the organizational and physical infrastructure at a school. It begins with a brief description of the local context and goes on to identify the theoretical underpinnings and chosen methodology for the project. The article concludes with a review of the complexities involved in possible attempts to initiate and foster educational and social transformations in a rural South African setting. We contend that it is essential to first be thoroughly familiar with the background, culture, and needs of any community before any attempts are made towards social justice.