Science Education and Education for Sustainable Development – Justifications, Models, Practices and Perspectives

Ingo Eilks

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2015.1313a

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Ingo Eilks ^*

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Abstract

The year 2014 marks the end of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). All educational domains and levels, including primary and secondary science education, have been working to contribute to education enabling younger generations to become responsible citizens and promote sustainable development in our world. This paper gives insights into some theoretical foundations of the UN Decade for ESD. Different models of implementing ESD in the teaching of science and technology are presented and illustrated by various case studies, which were developed by the University of Bremen chemistry education group. These examples and the corresponding evaluation case studies show that thoroughly combining the ESD framework with science teaching that follows a socio-scientific issues-based approach to education has great potential for helping students develop many general educational skills. It also opens a path to a more balanced view of science in its societal and professional context. This allows career orientation both in and beyond science and engineering.

Keywords

science education
sustainability
education for sustainable development
socio-scientific issues-based science education
educational reform
teacher education

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 11, Issue 1, 2015, 149-158

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1313a

Publication date: 16 Dec 2015

Article Views: 5867

Article Downloads: 3743

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How to cite this article

APA

Eilks, I. (2015). Science Education and Education for Sustainable Development – Justifications, Models, Practices and Perspectives. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(1), 149-158. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1313a

Vancouver

Eilks I. Science Education and Education for Sustainable Development – Justifications, Models, Practices and Perspectives. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2015;11(1):149-58. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1313a

AMA

Eilks I. Science Education and Education for Sustainable Development – Justifications, Models, Practices and Perspectives. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2015;11(1), 149-158. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1313a

Chicago

Eilks, Ingo. "Science Education and Education for Sustainable Development – Justifications, Models, Practices and Perspectives". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2015 11 no. 1 (2015): 149-158. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1313a

Harvard

Eilks, I. (2015). Science Education and Education for Sustainable Development – Justifications, Models, Practices and Perspectives. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(1), pp. 149-158. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1313a

MLA

Eilks, Ingo "Science Education and Education for Sustainable Development – Justifications, Models, Practices and Perspectives". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 11, no. 1, 2015, pp. 149-158. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1313a