Ask, find out, and act: Fostering environmental citizenship through science education

Abstract

Education for Environmental Citizenship (EC) aims to equip students with the competences for sustainable opinion-forming, decision-making, and action-taking. These competences include systems thinking competence, normative competence, strategic competence, and action competence among others. Yet because of the complexity of sustainability issues, it is a challenge for science teachers to foster EC through their teaching practice. This dissertation describes how Socio-Scientific Inquiry-Based Learning (SSIBL), with its three main phases of Ask, Find out, and Act, was tested for its potential to foster EC through science education at lower secondary level. This dissertation has three main aims. The first aim is to describe current EC practice, and views and experiences of science teachers (Chapter 2) and lower secondary students (Chapter 3) regarding EC. Insights from these chapters are used in subsequent studies. The second aim of this dissertation is to develop and validate an assessment instrument that focusses on EC opinion-forming (Chapter 4). This instrument was used to provide insight in student EC in the final classroom study. Finally, the third aim of this dissertation is exploring the potential of SSIBL to foster EC through science education at lower secondary level, for which several cycles of Lesson Study (Chapters 5 and 6) were carried out. These provide an empirical basis of SSIBL’s workings in science education practice. Results regarding the first aim show that while most teachers think sustainability and citizenship are important, they experience a lack of support from the curriculum and feel less prepared regarding inclusion of normative aspects of EC in their teaching practice. Their students have a complex relationship with sustainability, being worried and wanting to know what they can do to help, whilst simultaneously feeling issues only concern people who live somewhere else or in the future. Concerning the second aim, the ECO-questionnaire was developed, offering a focus on EC opinion-forming which was previously unavailable. Regarding the final aim, results of this dissertation show that SSIBL’s three phases of Ask, Find out, and Act enable students to practice their EC competences in the context of science education. Its focus on dialogue-driven opinion-forming, and on holistic and pluralistic decision-making and action-taking, among others, make it suitable for student EC development. These findings contribute to the knowledge base for science teachers and teacher educators who wish to incorporate EC in their teaching practice, for (science) education researchers with an interest in EC, and for policy makers who want to adjust, update, fortify, or expand EC’s place on the educational agenda. Insights and findings from this dissertation provide directions for how to foster Environmental Citizenship through science education at lower secondary level. In doing so, this dissertation forms a small but important step towards equipping students with the necessary competences to form informed opinions, make corresponding decisions, and take appropriate action regarding sustainability issues. Ultimately, this is a prerequisite for the transition towards creating a more sustainable future for all.