Background: According to the Swedish curriculum teachers in all subjects have a responsibility to integrate a holistic perspective of sustainable development (SD) and teach according to an education for sustainable development (ESD) approach. However previous research has shown that teachers from different subjects perceive SD differently. Purpose: The study aimed at investigating if and how teachers' subject area influences their ability to implement a holistic perspective of ESD; we investigated both the impact of teaching traditions and the barriers that teachers experienced. Sample: A stratified sample of 224 Swedish upper secondary schools participated. An online questionnaire was sent and answered by a total of 3229 teachers at these schools. In total, there were 669 science teachers, 373 social science teachers, 483 language teachers, 713 vocational and esthetical-practical teachers, and 739 teachers from other disciplines who participated in the survey. Design and methods: The questionnaire consisted of questions requiring Likertscale responses and multiple-choice questions. The data from the questionnaire were analyzed using Pearson's Chi-square test and one-way ANOVA. The significance level accepted was p < 0.05. Results: Teachers were influenced by their own subject traditions. Science teachers in our study were grounded in the fact-based tradition and lectures were the most common teaching method used. The teaching tradition of the social science teachers seemed to be most in line to an ESD approach. Many language teachers (41%) stated they did not include SD issues in their teaching at all. Among the barriers identified, the most common obstacles were that the teachers lacked inspiring examples of how to include SD in their teaching and that they lacked the necessary expertise about SD. Conclusion: This study highlights the need for the management within schools to create opportunities for teachers to work collaboratively when teaching ESD. It is also important to provide further training that is adjusted to the needs of different disciplines.

No abstract

To achieve the goal of scientific literacy, the skills of argumentation have been emphasized in science education during the past decades. But the extent to which students can apply scientific knowledge to their argumentation is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to analyse 80 Swedish upper secondary students' informal argumentation on four socioscientific issues (SSIs) to explore students' use of supporting reasons and to what extent students used scientific knowledge in their arguments. Eighty upper secondary students were asked to express their opinions on one SSI topic they chose through written reports. The four SSIs in this study include global warming, genetically modified organisms (GMO), nuclear power, and consumption. To analyse students' supporting reasons from a holistic view, we used the SEE-SEP model, which links the six subject areas of sociology/culture (So), environment (En), economy (Ec), science (Sc), ethics/ morality (Et) and policy (Po) connecting with three aspects, knowledge, value and personal experience (KVP). The results showed that students used value to a greater extent (67%) than they did scientific knowledge (27%) for all four SSI topics. According to the SEE-SEP model, the distribution of supporting reasons generated by students differed among the SSI topics. Also, some alternative concepts were disclosed in students' arguments. The implications for research and education are discussed.

Wheat seedlings (Truicum aestivum L. cv. Starke II, Weibull) grown in a solution of the herbicide SAN 9789 axe deficient in chlorophyll and carotenoids. Such seedlings were used in order to isolate a blue light response of stomata, not mediated by photosynthesis. When illuminated with blue light (430‐505 nm) SAN‐grown seedlings showed a considerable transpiration response, whereas red light (>590 nm) gave no response whatsoever with the intensities used. The transpiration was measured with hygrometers in an open air‐flow system. Furthermore, blue light had a superior effect, relative to red, in causing a transpiration response in untreated green seedlings. The transpiration level after two hours of illumination was higher in blue than in red light, although the blue light had its major effect immediately after the light was switched on. The difference between the effects of blue and red light was most pronounced at low light intensities. This, together with the high sensitivity of SAN‐grown seedlings to low ntensity blue light, led to the conclusion that blue light is of special importance at low quantum fluxes. Because of the very low carotenoid content in the SAN‐grown seedlings, the role of the carotenoids as photoreceptors for the blue light response of stomata was excluded.

No abstract