Increasing The Socio-Cultural Relevance of Science Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Socio-scientific issues should be considered in the course of students' formal education in science as one of the ways in which science education ought to be connected to the goals of sustainable development. Approaches to education in science still perpetuate a way of thinking that is incommensurable with preparing learners to develop the understandings and skills requisite for active participation in an uncertain and complex world. In addition, uptake of science is declining worldwide, poverty is deepening, and environmental degradation is worsening. We argue herein that finding ways to link science education to issues of sustainable development could provide the basis for making science more relevant to learners, as well as better prepare learners for active participation in society. We raise the question: How can science education be more relevant, thereby enabling learners to deal with complex everyday issues and participate in decision-making oriented toward the goals of sustainable development? Drawing on experiences of interdisciplinary dialogue, we illustrate how reformulating the agenda in science education, such that it is oriented toward sustainable development, offers the basis for relevant teaching and learning vis-à-vis the engagement of learners in active learning processes.

Inquiry-Based Teaching in Physical Science: Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Conceptions

“…Even when a teacher asked a student to answer a question on the chalkboard there was no serious interaction amongst the peers and much time was wasted because students did not value this learning strategy. Following the argument of Onwu and Kyle (2011), this failure of teachers to develop curricular connection between science and the real life experiences of students is likely to diminish the relevance of science in their lives.…”

“…Science is still being taught from the perspectives of normal logical positivism, with more emphasis on the mastery of abstract concepts and principles, and little connection with day-to-day lived experiences of students (Kyle, 2006;Onwu & Kyle, 2011). Common constraints to implementing inquiry environments include: inadequate content knowledge, inadequate knowledge of the Nature of Science(NOS) and lack of pedagogical skills (Hashweh, 1996;Lederman, 2007).There seems consensus among researchers in science education that in order to foster students' higher-level thinking, teachers must possess not only in-depth content knowledge, but also a good pedagogical knowledge on how to develop students' higher-order thinking in the context of the subject matter they are dealing with (Shulman, 1986;Roohan, Taconis & Jochems, 2011;Mudau, 2013;Park & Oliver, 2008;Rollnick et al, 2008;Lederman, 2009;Lederman et., al, 2014).This puts teacher's craft as the ultimate variable in the classroom practice for students' learning.…”

Comparative Effectiveness of Context-based and Traditional Approaches in Teaching Genetics: Student Views and Achievement

“…First, science is frequently taught in South African schools as rote memorization of complex facts and abstract or meaningless data (Reddy, 2006), which in a sense is antithetical to the visceral driven way we live and interact with our environment (Onwu & Stoffels, 2005). Second, science teachers have failed in their social responsibility to provide students and indeed the public with an understanding of the personal rewards of science, including science's potentially beneficial effect on personal development (Onwu & Kyle, 2011;Sadler, 2009). Thirdly, failure of science teachers to develop valid teaching approaches that seek to link students' day-to-day lived experiences to their science classroom experiences (cf.…”

From contextual frustrations to classroom transformations: female empowerment through science education in rural South Africa

“…It is our belief that education in general, and science education in particular, is a powerful vehicle for facilitating social transformation in high-poverty communities in developing countries (Kyle 1999(Kyle , 2006Onwu and Kyle 2011). The Millennium Project has identified 15 global challenges facing humanity that 'provide a framework to assess the global and local prospects for humanity' (Glenn, Gordon, and Florescu 2009, 10).…”