A trial patch to the extracurricular perspective of sustainable development program in elementary schools of Turkey

Abstract

Sustainable development (SD) and science education have become interwoven categorical issues under the name of science education for sustainable development (SESD). Education can play a crucial role in merging the dimensions of SD as ecology, economy, and energy, along with society in a united holistic goal. Furthermore, it can provide the necessary motivation and self-fulfillment for individuals and communities. Extracurricular activities should also be implemented along with formal ones in courses that are related to socio-scientific issues like SD. In line with this perspective, this study mainly aims to find new means of developing an extracurricular module program based on the principles of SD, in order to address the defects, deficiencies, and needs in science education around the world. For the sake of these, the module program was constructed kneading concepts of energy transformations, biodiversity, and narrating socio-scientific problems that would foster positive student decision-making on SD issues. The study also aims to examine whether the SESD module program would have a significant effect on the academic success and opinions regarding SD of primary school students in science lessons. The study sample comprised 92 Turkish fifth-grade students. A mixed method was handled by allowing qualitative and quantitative research methods in the same context. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis revealed that the SESD module program significantly affected fifth-grade students in terms of their knowledge and opinions to increase their willingness to take action and responsibility.

A Framework to Identify Opportunities to Address Socioscientific Issues in the Elementary School Curricula: A Case Study from England, Italy, and Portugal

“…We found six studies that report SSI approaches to be used in elementary education to explore environmental issues, exploring topics such as energy, pollution (water pollution and waste-related pollution), consumerism, biodiversity and territory management (38,39,(80)(81)(82)(83).…”

Development and validation of a sustainable education scale

“…These concepts are central to global initiatives to address issues to eliminate poverty, alleviate inequalities, balance the population, enhance health facilities and promote beneficiaries, eliminate gender inequality, enable the cultivation of the concepts of peace and tolerance, and create environmental and consumption awareness (Agbedahin, 2019). Education may benefit from sustainable development which in turn yields the proliferation of the philosophy of sustainable development that can ensure and facilitate accessibility, equality, democracy, and quality of education (Alkıs ¸, 2013;Bulut & Çakmak, 2018;Gatti et al, 2019;Gökmen et al, 2017;Kioupi & Voulvoulis, 2019;Mohanty, 2018;Şeker & Aydınlı, 2021;Teksöz, 2016;Yapıcı, 2003;Zhang et al, 2020).…”