UNESCO has identified education for sustainable development (ESD) as a key factor in the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Education is important in developing awareness of how to preserve natural ecosystems and promote the uptake of renewable energy sources. Ecology education in primary school aims to give students a scientific…

Where does our food come from? Such a question may be difficult for some children to answer, especially those living in a city apartment devoid of a backyard with a vegie patch or fruit trees. This article describes a learning experience designed to encourage Year 1 children to think about the foods that humans obtain from plants. The learning…

Stimulating interest in science at an early age is important for STEM education. This work details an educational activity utilizing the anthocyanins found in butterfly pea flowers ("Clitoria ternatea"). This activity was developed for use in official classroom settings, online, and/or at-home with parental or educator guidance. Primary…

When it comes to winning the hearts of children, it is sometimes hard for plants to compete. How do teachers make plants exciting for children? The answer lies in the ancient practice of hydroponics. Hydroponics may seem like complicated, cutting-edge technology, but, in fact, it has been around for centuries. Using hydroponics in the classroom…

Easy-to-use classroom resources that support science teaching are always welcomed by time-poor teachers. Ideally these resources should be easy to find, useful and have the flexibility to be incorporated with minimal adaptation into an already full teaching day. Using food in the classroom is certainly not a new idea--especially for primary school…

This report summarizes the findings of a systematic review of practice-based literature on teaching about interdependent relationships in ecosystems to upper elementary students. The report is a product of the Knowledge Assets to Support the Science Instruction of Elementary Teachers (ASSET) project. ASSET is exploring a method for collecting and…

Linking Education and Farming (LEAF) Education uses food, farming and nature to reach out to children in new and imaginative ways across the science curriculum. Their work at a grass roots level, with teachers, children and farmers, shows just how powerful farming and nature can be in helping develop a lifelong love for science and fuelling…

Many scientists are in agreement: the world is in a climate and ecological emergency. This has led to a media bombardment of doom-and-gloom stories that pupils are increasingly picking up on and developing what has been termed 'climate anxiety'. In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (UNDP, 2015) were agreed by all United Nations member states…

In this article, the author considers ecosystems in a much more holistic way and encourages children to consider how all the interactions within that ecosystem affect the balance of it. There is hardly an ecosystem on Earth that has not been somehow affected by human interaction. Humans are the ultimate ecosystem engineers, and it is important to…

Gender and prior knowledge may affect students' performance and motivation when simulations and games are used for learning. Accommodations should be made for students of different genders and with different levels of prior knowledge. A simulation digital game about the food chain concept geared for elementary school students was developed for…

Herbivores are important to ecosystems because they transfer energy stored in plant matter to other organisms. However, when herbivores occur in high abundances, they can become pests and harm the plants that form the basis of food webs. Mangroves are saltwater tolerant trees found along most tropical and subtropical shorelines. Because mangroves…

Curiosity is not about passive receiving of knowledge. Being curious involves action, a desire to know, discover or learn. Children's curiosity should be a central part of their science education. Often in science, curiosity can stem from an everyday occurrence that encourages an observation and promotes a 'what if?' or 'why?' reaction. The…

Children offer a range of views when they begin to discuss healthy lifestyles, often connected to things they believe people should or should not do and foods to avoid. This article shares the author's reflection on recent conversations with six children who were asked to consider what people do and what they eat to have a healthy lifestyle.

Raising awareness on marine environmental issues is crucial to deepen students' knowledge on ocean sustainability. Nonetheless, ocean-related topics have not been adequately addressed through formal education curricula, thus non-formal learning activities were developed to promote Ocean Literacy among students. These include visits to the local…

Entrepreneurship skills are part of the essential skills in facing 21st-century challenges and demands. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the extent to which the empowerment of the creative entrepreneurship learning-based discovery skills (CEL-BaDiS Up) learning model can improve university students' science-based entrepreneurship (SciPreneur)…