Educating for a Holistic View of the Earth System: A Review

Abstract

The global society of today struggles with grand challenges, such as climate change, the degradation of ecosystems, and the loss of bio- and geodiversity, as identified in several documents. The search for solutions to these and other problems on the way to sustainable development necessarily involves a better understanding of the Earth system and its dynamics. The Earth system is composed of five highly dependent and interrelated subsystems that exchange matter and energy. This notion is at the base of what in the literature is named Earth System Science (ESS). Humanity has been profoundly altering the dynamics of this system, leading to the proposal of a new geological epoch—the Anthropocene. Developing a holistic understanding of the complex and tangled relationships between subsystems and the role of human impacts is the target of study of Earth System Education (ESE). With the assumptions of ESS, ESE is emerging as a new approach in science education. Based on a deep knowledge of the planet and the development of specific competencies, such as system thinking, it is possible to perform more actively and consciously in the relationships that citizens develop with the Earth system, enabling the existence of a more viable future for humanity.

Inquiring children and elementary school teachers to diagnose their conceptions about islands

“…According to Balmer (2021), every child needs to understand their natural environment and how soils, rocks, weather, plants, and habitats work together. Geosciences education is a main force to address it as it allows the promotion of a more holistic view of the Earth system and its intertwined processes and dynamics, which are also related to the achievement of planetary sustainability (Ribeiro and Orion, 2021;Vasconcelos and Orion, 2021;Paz et al, 2022).…”

Google Earth Geoscience Video Library (GEGVL): Organizing Geoscience Videos in a Google Earth Environment to Support Fieldwork Teaching Methodology in Earth Science

“…Improving student understanding of Earth systems, the environment, and how people interact with these is crucial to better respond to many of the challenges that we face today [1][2][3]. Such understanding is also important for developing geoethics and achieving sustainability [4][5][6][7], but it is hard to foster the understanding of Earth systems and the complexity of geological processes [8][9][10].…”

“…However, Earth science education in many schools and universities falls short in terms of these efforts, and many teachers are not well-trained to teach Earth science [12]. Orion [5], Lombardi [13], and Vasconcelos [4] identified the important roles that active learning and outdoor education play in these efforts because these methods especially engage students and enhance learning outcomes [3,14,15]. Nevertheless, these strategies have drawbacks, especially in terms of implementation.…”

Google Earth Geoscience Video Library (GEGVL): Organizing Geoscience Videos in a Google Earth Environment to Support Place-Based Geoscience Education

“…Improving public and student understanding of Earth systems, the environment, and how people interact with these are crucial to better respond to many of the challenges that we face today [1][2][3]. Such understanding is also important for developing geoethics and achieving sustainability [4][5][6][7].…”

“…However, Earth science education in many schools and universities fail in these efforts and many teachers are not well trained to teach Earth science [9]. Orion [5] and Vasconcelos [4] identified the important roles that active learning and outdoor education play in these efforts because these methods especially engage students and enhance learning outcomes [3,10]. Nevertheless, these strategies have drawbacks, especially in terms of implementation.…”