Science education for sustainable development in the first cycle of basic education

Abstract

The need to preserve natural and environmental resources on Earth led to the emergence and consolidation of the Sustainable Development (SD) concept. Recognition of the importance of education to promote consistent lifestyles with SD led the United Nations to proclaim the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development [DESD](2005-2014). Results achieved in several investigations evince that science education in the early school years is relevant to the development of scientific literacy and positive attitudes towards Science, Technology and the learning of Sciences. The research that we present, of qualitative nature, was developed in three distinct, but interconnected, phases: a) interpretative processes of documentary research to establish the theoretical framework underlying the issue of Education for Sustainable Development as well as to characterize perspectives of Science Education arising from educational policy in Portugal; b) characterization of the importance attributed by Primary School (1st Cycle of Basic Education) teachers to Science Education and its experimental component, as well as their conceptions about Scientific Literacy, Science-Technology-Society orientations in the teaching of Science, Sustainable Development and the way they articulate these conceptions with their classroom practices and c) to present a program of Sciences, evaluated by a panel of experts, on Education for Sustainable Development in the first Cycle of Basic Education. The study, in the light of the commitments assumed by Portugal under the DESD as well as the importance of following directions and internationally recommended policies, supports the need to redirect the Science Education in this school level.