Three decades of international recommendations have highlighted the importance of advancing gender equality in achieving the aims of Education for Sustainability (EfS) at all levels of education. However, there has been a persistent disconnect between considerations of gender and sustainability in early childhood education (ECE). This article…

This paper, the second in a series of three, explores the representation of Earth System Science (ESS) in the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2018a)) through the Cross Curriculum Priority area of Sustainability and the Australian Curriculum: Science (F-12), with a focus on F-10. Part I (in Teaching Science, 68.1) overviewed the current…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to outline the collaborative approach used to craft national learning standards for tertiary programs in the field of environment and sustainability in Australia. The field of environment and sustainability is broad and constituted by diverse stakeholders. As such, articulating a common set of learning standards…

This paper, the third in a series on Earth System Science Education, describes various pedagogical ways forward when science teachers are addressing the curriculum implications of the recent interdisciplinary field of Earth System Science (ESS). Parts I and II introduced the key ideas of ESS and the implications for the Australian Curriculum:…

This paper, presented in three parts, overviews the current understandings of the Earth System and the relatively recent interdisciplinary field of Earth System Science (ESS) from a school education perspective. The representation of ESS in the Australian Curriculum is explored through the Cross Curriculum Priority area of Sustainability and the…

Recently, the chemistry education community has focused considerable effort on incorporating systems thinking into chemistry education as a means to address global challenges such as sustainability. In this project, a series of exploratory workshops was held with secondary educators (N = 12) and tertiary educators and researchers (N = 16),…

It takes a special kind of teacher to enlist in a Bush Blitz TeachLive expedition: camping; long days hiking or wading through marshland; catching arachnids, lizards and insects; and all the while managing to remotely teach students back in the classroom. The latest instalment of Bush Blitz TeachLive sent five Northern Territorian teachers to…

Food gardens are an underdeveloped resource for teaching and research in Australian universities. While some campuses have food or botanical gardens, outside the biological or physical sciences food growing is not routinely incorporated into mainstream curricula. This article investigates why and how we might change this. It examines universities'…

We report here a teacher action research project in which a Systems Thinking approach was implemented into a 15 h Depth Study for students in their final year of secondary chemistry. Students were introduced to the concept of Systems Thinking and the use of systems maps, along with the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development…

With education research focused heavily on literacy, numeracy and STEM, our understanding of HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences) is comparatively underdeveloped. HASS disciplines, such as Geography, History and Civics, not only contextualise learning in other disciplines, but are vital to ensuring that society is prepared to face complex social,…

Educational policy and management emphasise the role of science (e.g., earth science, geography) as a fundamental aspect of societal advance, but student enrolments at universities in these disciplines remain low. This commentary explores ways to foster more collaboration between university academics and high school teachers to implement…

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…

Scientific expertise and outcomes often give rise to controversy. An educational response that equips students to take part in socioscientific discussions is the teaching of Socially Acute Questions (SAQs). Students engaging with SAQs need to engage with socio scientific reasoning, which involves reasoning with evidence from a variety of fields…

On a daily basis, a deluge of academic studies, reports and news tell us that the Earth's ecosystem is in danger. They further warn that we need more than just information to address the climate crisis, protect the environment, and promote a sustainable way of living. We need action. Education plays a pivotal role in raising awareness and…

Science expositions at the Canning River Eco Education Centre (CREEC), Perth, Western Australia, have been conducted over the last five years (2009-2013) during National Science Week. These expos aimed to enhance science understanding in the community, foster partnerships for science and promote science careers by providing a scientific feast for…