International Perspectives on Green and Sustainable Chemistry Education via Systems Thinking

Abstract

Various international perspectives from selected regions where substantial work is being done on green and sustainable chemistry education emphasize a systems thinking framework. Common to most of the perspectives is the inclusion of more global paradigms involving economic, environmental, political, and social aspects as fundamental issues in the formerly merely technical and scientific discussions, as well as the development of laboratory experiences, training sessions, written materials, discussion meetings, and conferences. We include bird's eye views from Europe (the Green Chemistry Centre of

Faculty perspectives regarding the integration of systems thinking into chemistry education

“…Other examples include the mobile application game Green Tycoon (Lees et al, 2020) and the card game, Green Machine (Miller et al, 2019). These, and other techniques, have been utilised internationally in a successful endeavour to incorporate systems thinking into green and sustainable chemistry programmes, courses, and resources (Hurst et al, 2019).…”

Student-Focussed Approaches that can Enhance Understanding and Appreciation of Research in the Chemical Sciences

“…The Special Issue brought forward many examples of how systems thinking has already been implemented around the world, particularly in the sustainability and environmental chemistry subdisciplines. [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] One Australian example we wish to highlight is a study completed by Schultz and coworkers, in which secondary chemistry students created system maps to represent industrial chemical processes and evaluate the broader impact of the processes in relation to the United Nations Global Goals for Development. [41] Through teacher reflections in an action research framework, the study evaluated whether system mapping 'allowed the teacher to situate the learning of sustainability within the learning of chemistry content.'…”

Supporting the Relevance of Chemistry Education through Sustainable Ionic Liquids Context: A Research-Based Design Approach

“…The systems approach aims to offer a more holistic perspective to chemistry learning than a traditional concept approach. The medium for fostering a more comprehensive perspective can be anything from smaller lab experiments to open-ended projects [18]. Even though this research is conducted in the context of sustainable chemistry education, we do not directly address systems thinking which is linked to sustainability education in many research articles [17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

“…The medium for fostering a more comprehensive perspective can be anything from smaller lab experiments to open-ended projects [18]. Even though this research is conducted in the context of sustainable chemistry education, we do not directly address systems thinking which is linked to sustainability education in many research articles [17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. To promote the comprehensive approach, we will design the activity around chemistry laboratory work [18].…”