Integrating Mathematics and Science Teaching in the Context of Education for Sustainable Development: Design and Pilot Implementation of a Teaching-Learning Sequence about Air Quality with Pre-Service Primary Teachers

Abstract

This article presents an interdisciplinary teaching–learning sequence (TLS) about air quality for pre-service primary teachers using an organic learning garden. The design involved a curricular integration of concepts and competences about sustainability, mathematics, and science disciplines following constructivist and active learning strategies, such as problem-based learning and place-based education. In this TLS, both the topic and the learning context act as facilitators of education for sustainable development (ESD). The contents address the overarching STEM and sustainability concepts related to air pollutants, weather, and climate. Our results show that students learned about a STEM topic within a space and context that enables ESD. Several misconceptions related to air quality, weather, and statistics were identified through the evaluation of students’ initial ideas. Furthermore, students’ attitudes towards the topic of study and self-efficacy and perceived relevance of ESD improved after the implementation. These results will guide further improvements of the designed TLS, which connects STEM education and ESD as a transformative educational experience for pre-service teachers. In this sense, we conclude that such initiatives can improve pre-service primary teachers’ self-efficacy as agents of change towards sustainable development goals.

Preparing pre-service teachers for integration of education for sustainable development in school: A systematic review (2013-2022)

“…In this systematic review of the literature, the science field (Ateş & Gul, 2018;Jegstad et al, 2018;Karaarslan Semiz & Teksoz, 2020;Hogan & O'Flaherty, 2021) and primary education field (Alvarez-Garcia et al, 2019;Malandrakis et al, 2019;Fuertes-Camacho et al, 2021;Rico et al, 2021) were found to be the most prevalent fields of study with 15% of percentage. Two studies recruited pre-service teachers who were education majors with a 7% of percentage (Colas-Bravo et al, 2018;Nousheen et al, 2020).…”

Sustainable Development and Workers Ability: Considerations on the Education Index in the Human Development Index

“…New solutions and technologies will be needed, not only to mitigate the anthropic impact on the environment, but also to find solutions in the context of adaptation to the consequences of the anthropic activities themselves. Thus, knowledge, problem solving, understanding of sciences, and mathematical skills represent fundamental keys to support actions towards more sustainable societies [74][75][76]. These abilities will be needed by all the citizens in the near future, together with trans-disciplinary knowledge and soft skills [77,78].…”

Current trends and developments in the application of digital tools and implementation of environmental awareness and sustainability in PBL-based STEM education: a dual systematic literature review

“…The case studies can be divided into three categories based on the level of digitalization their methods and tools used based on the SAMR model (Hamilton et al, 2016):  In some cases, there is no need to use technology further than to substitute or augment the already existing research and education tools to make the learning tools and the process more compatible with the younger generations (Maass et al, 2022;Rico et al, 2021;Songer and Ibarrola Recalde, 2021;Snell-Rood et al, 2021). It also makes research and education activities more easily conductive for technologically less developed institutions and communities (Gallay et al, 2021;Talley et al, 2021).…”

“…Therefore, this article and all the remaining publications (n=11) were specific case studies in which the application of certain problem-based and other learning tools and methods were used during the learning process. The subjects of the studies varied from 3rd-grade pupils to university students and pre-service teachers (Rico et al, 2021;Maass et al, 2022).…”

“…Those goals are usually clearly set in the learning outcomes, which can be categorized in many wayse.g., by the types (content, practice) of learning items (Songer and Ibarrola Recalde, 2021) or by the classical three-way partitioning of the outcomes (stores of learning, capabilities, and attitudes). The latter was done implicitly in some articles (e.g., Rico et al, 2021) and more explicitly in others. For example, Molan et al ( 2021) classify even more precise outcomes (learning objectives) for each step of the virtual PBL-based learning tool they designed -the most poignant examples of that are the three articles that involve different, precisely designed frameworks (Nawi et al, 2019) or models of learning (Dotson et al, 2020;Yahaya et al, 2021).…”