Article
Expanding Our Views of Science Education to Address Sustainable Development, Empowerment, and Social Transformation
Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research
(2020)
Abstract
On 25 September 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, which took effect 1 January 2016, to
transform the world to better meet human needs and the requirements of economic transformation, while
protecting the environment, ensuring peace and realizing human rights. Since 1987, there have been several global
initiatives oriented toward sustainable development, yet science educators have often remained silent with respect
to ensuring the goals of science education are linked intrinsically to the central tenets of sustainable development.
Why such silence? Where are the voices of science educators?
In this position statement, I offer a rationale for expanding our views of science education to address sustainable
development, empowerment, and social transformation. Science education ought to be a primary vehicle for
addressing the current and emerging global challenges facing humanity. All too often, science educators merely
focus upon fostering awareness and concern for global challenges. Such an orientation falls short of the education
discourse that ought to be oriented toward addressing the goals, aspirations, desires, and needs of youth, who
presently number 1.8 billion and represent the largest segment of the global population being underserved. The
active engagement of youth in sustainable development efforts is imperative to achieve the goals of the 2030
Agenda. Youth are not mere beneficiaries of the 2030 Agenda; they have a critical role in the implementation of
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
I offer a rationale for why science educators ought to become active agents in facilitating the engagement of
youth in addressing global challenges facing humanity. Youth are demanding action; science educators ought to
enable learners and communities to transform and reinvent the world they are inheriting
Disciplines
Publication Date
2020
DOI
10.1186/s43031-019-0018-5
Citation Information
William Kyle. "Expanding Our Views of Science Education to Address Sustainable Development, Empowerment, and Social Transformation" Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research Vol. 2 Iss. 2 (2020) p. 1 - 9 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/william-kyle/13/
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