Sustainable Development Education for Training and Service Teachers Teaching Mathematics: A Systematic Review

Revisor 1

Comentarios y sugerencias para Autores

Incorporated change and/or comment

This paper explores the scientific and pedagogical practices of in-service and pre-service math teachers in terms of integrating ESD in their classes. This topic is interesting and beneficial to research scholars and practitioners in mathematics education especially that ESD has become a trend in thematic and integrated approaches in education.

 We thank the reviewer for their comments on our article. We are pleased to know that they have found our topic interesting and beneficial for academic and professional research in the field of mathematics education. We agree that ESD has become an important trend in education, and we hope this article contributes to a greater understanding of how mathematics teachers can integrate ESD into their pedagogical and scientific practices.

The paper is excellently and clearly written. Arguments are well established and flow of thought is clearly evident.

We thank the reviewer for their positive comments on our article. We are pleased to know that they have found our writing clear and effective, and that the arguments are well established with a clear flow of thought.

Figure 1 needs to be replaced by a much clearer version. Figure 2 may no longer be necessary as this is common knowledge. Table 3 captions need to be translated in English. Spell out CCDM in first mention. In Table 9, EDS should be spelled as ESD. Section 3.1.6, google scholar is misspelled.

We thank the reviewer for their helpful comments. We have taken their observations into account and have made the following modifications to our work: We have replaced Figure 1 with a clearer and easier-to-understand version. We have reviewed the necessity of Figure 2 and determined that it is not essential to the article, so it was removed. We have translated the subtitles of Table 3 into English. We have explicitly stated the CCDM as suggested. In Table 9, we have corrected EDS and written it as ESD. We have corrected Section 3.1.6 and correctly written Google Scholar.

The authors may extrapolate the methodology for the 6% with no reported methodology and discuss this in the methods section.

We appreciate your comment, but in this study, we only consider the explicit methodology reported by the authors in the articles. However, we have taken your suggestion into account and will discuss this limitation in the methods section of our study.

Figure 8 have overlapping label.

We thank the reviewer for your comment. We have reviewed Figure 8 and corrected the overlapping label to ensure clarity and readability.

Discussion can still be improved by relating the findings to the literature. Authors may also highlight the gaps found the review and propose for further studies.

We thank the reviewer for your valuable comments. We have rewritten the discussion to comply with your request. We hope these changes have improved the quality of the discussion and provided a more comprehensive perspective of our study's results.

The authors have frequently cited their own work and thus recommend trimming it down or replacing some with other publications.

We appreciate the reviewer's comment. We have updated the citations and references in our work, removing some of our own citations and adding references from other publications to balance the number of citations and ensure the impartiality of the article.

Authors may also write implications in the teacher education curriculum and teacher training in the conclusion section.

We thank the reviewer for your comment. We have made a change in the discussion section to ensure that this issue is adequately addressed. We have now included a more detailed discussion of the implications of our findings. We hope these changes improve the clarity and quality of our manuscript, and we thank the reviewer for your helpful and constructive comments

Reviewer 2

Comentarios y sugerencias para Autores

Incorporated change and/or comment

Introduction:

The introduction has explained well and clearly the research problem but should be separated between the research background and the theoretical framework so that it is easy for readers to understand.

We thank the reviewer for your comments. We recognize the importance of clearly separating the background section and the theoretical framework of the research to facilitate reader understanding. However, due to the guidelines of the journal template, it is not possible to include specific sections for background and theoretical framework in the article. Instead, we have added transitional and clear phrases to help readers better understand the introduction.

You mentioned the CCDM model in the introduction. You can explain first what the stands of CCDM at the first time you mention it and explain what the CCDM looks like.

We thank the reviewer for your comments. We have addressed your request, and in the introduction, we provided the full name of the DKMC model (Developing Knowledge and Mathematical Competencies) and explained the model to ensure that our introduction is clear and concise, and we appreciate your suggestions for improvement.

Method:

In the research method, you can briefly explain first what the Systematics Literature Review (SLR) refers to in the PRISMA statement. You also better if you explain why, you chose SLR, which is based on the PRISMA statement, whether it is the most effective for your study compared to the SLR theories, for example, Synder (2019) Literature review as a research methodology: an overview and guidelines or Davis et al., (2014) Viewing systematic reviews and meta-analysis in social research through different lenses, etc. Or you can use these literatures to strengthen the choice of research methods you use.

We appreciate the reviewer's comment and have revised our methodology section to provide a more detailed explanation of what the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is and why we use the PRISMA statement in our study.

Result:

In the introduction, you explained that your literature review was carried out to know how the CCDM models and how the teacher training models in sustainability, but in the results section, it was not explained how these are based on the results of your literature review.

We thank the reviewer for your comment. We have carefully reviewed our manuscript to address the lack of explanation pointed out by them in the results section. We have incorporated changes in that section to reinforce the missing part and ensure that the explanation is clear and precise.

Please ensure that the aims of your study, the research question, and the results you presented in your paper are appropriate.

We thank the reviewer for your comment and have carefully reviewed our manuscript to ensure that our study's objectives, research question, and presented results are appropriate and consistent throughout the document. We have rewritten the introduction, methodology, and discussion to unify the writing of the study objectives and ensure that they accurately reflect the approach and findings of our work.

Discussion:

The findings presented in the results section are actually much more interesting but less discussed in depth and comprehensively in the discussion section. Your discussion section can be more in- depth and comprehensively linked or compared to relevant previous studies and theories.

We have rewritten the discussion to respond to your request. However, it is important to mention that no previous studies were found addressing this particular feature. In this regard, we only complement the literature with studies related to education for sustainable development or mathematics teaching.

Authors must use academic terms.

We thank the reviewer for your comments on the quality of English and the use of academic terms in our manuscript. We have reviewed our work and made the necessary changes to improve the quality of English and use appropriate academic terms throughout the manuscript, including section titles. We hope these changes enhance the clarity and quality of our manuscript, and we thank the reviewer for your helpful and constructive comments.

Reviewer 3

Comentarios y sugerencias para Autores

Incorporated change and/or comment

The abstract tells that
Mathematics teachers play a fundamental role in forming citizens capable of promoting
sustainability which entails the development of mathematical skills and education for
sustainable development (ECD). To know the scientific and pedagogic process associated with
ESD, in pre-service and in-service teachers who teach Mathematics to schoolchildren, the
Prisma statement was used to perform a systematic review on articles .....
The main part of the article is spent on how the 16 articles were chosen, most of it irrelevant
information for thematical sense of the article (according to title and abstract).

We appreciate your review and comments on our article. Our research aims to understand the current situation of sustainable development education progress in active and pre-service teachers who teach mathematics at different educational levels, and to understand from which dimension of ESD is addressed, didactic and mathematical competence, and pedagogical knowledge are being developed in teachers. To achieve this objective, we conducted a systematic review of recent scientific production on the subject. Regarding your comment about the inclusion of primary school teachers in our review, we want to clarify that although not all teachers at the primary level are mathematics teachers, they also teach mathematics. We used keywords from the UNESCO Thesaurus to construct the search equation, the PRISMA statement to identify the articles, and rigorously followed the inclusion and exclusion criteria, ultimately including 16 articles in our review. The articles that met these conditions were scarce, but we cannot include others that do not meet them, even if we want to have more articles on this topic.

The method is confusing.
Figure 3 show how the articles were selected or rather that suddenly 162 of the articles were excluded. Why? The result of the selection is also important here. How come? Which kind of national or international research database used? Is this reliable?

Thank you for your comment. We want to assure you that our article selection results are reliable. The keywords we used in our search equation were carefully chosen from the UNESCO Thesaurus, and we followed a rigorous procedure to search for scientific literature published in journals indexed in recognized databases, such as WOS, SCOPUS, and ScieLo, following the guidelines of the PRISMA statement. Additionally, we applied specific criteria to include or exclude the final articles used in our study, ensuring transparency and rigor throughout the process.

4. The theoretical background should have a clear theoretical starting points and definition of what sustainable development of teacher education in mathematics implies.

We appreciate your comment and interest in our theoretical framework. The topic of education for sustainable development in mathematics teaching is an emerging field, and therefore, there is not yet a clear and universally accepted definition of what sustainable development education implies for in-service and pre-service teachers teaching mathematics in particular.

Episode 1
According to the introduction,
Sustainability refers to a form of development that takes into account social, economic, and environmental dimensions while preserving resources for future generations. … Against that definition my first question is in what way this concerns the training of mathematics teachers? The role of mathematics is to offer models in order to solve problems, not take part in a political discussion. There are other teachers who are responsible for that, those who teach social and natural sciences. For mathematics teachers a contribution to sustainability ought to focus on students’ learning of basic mathematics independent of gift or capacity, and that is a real challenge for all teachers. Without such knowledge it is not possible for students to solve or understand problems concerning ESD.
2 If the mathematical models that are offered to the students are not sufficient to solve ESD problems they have to be changed, but not by teacher trainers.

In summary, we appreciate your comment and concern. We emphasize that integrating ESD into mathematics teaching does not imply a political discussion, but rather a way to use mathematics to understand and solve problems related to sustainability. We recognize that teaching basic mathematical skills remains a significant challenge, but from the results we obtained from the studies we conducted, we believe that teaching mathematical skills related to sustainability can be a powerful tool to help students understand and solve real-world problems. For example, mathematics teachers can address issues such as gender equality through problems that allow not only solving the problem itself but also generating space to discuss related policies being implemented in the country and finding relevant information in a group about policies and aid to affected families, promoting group work and the development of socio-emotional and behavioral skills in students.

The aim of mathematics is to improve critical thinking especially mathematical thinking that is a base for a general sense for critical thinking. It is to construct and develop sustainable mathematical models that can be used in order to understand and solve problems in our environment not least concerning ESD. However, it is a big difference between learning adequate mathematical models and how to use them to understand and solve ESD-problems. However, it may be necessary to focus on quite other mathematical models to solve ESD-problems, but that is still not an initial concern for teacher trainers.

Thank you for your comments. We agree that the aim of teaching mathematics is to improve critical thinking, especially mathematical thinking, which forms the basis for broader critical thinking. We also recognize the importance of building and developing sustainable mathematical models that can be used to understand and solve problems in our environment, including those related to ESD. It is true that there is a difference between learning appropriate mathematical models and how to use them to understand and solve problems related to ESD. It is important for teachers to be aware of this difference and to design activities and strategies that allow students to apply their mathematical skills and thinking to understand and solve problems related to sustainability and ESD.

Once again, the role of mathematics is to supply other subjects with models for problem solving, not only advance to value the outcome. Moreover, the logic of mathematics is usable in mathematics, but not only in formation of critical thinking in citizens. What I understand, sustainability in mathematics teaching would rather be a matter of possibilities for every student, independent of talent and capacity, to learn a life-long sustainable mathematics in order to understand, and participate in, what is happening in today’s community. To us, who study the teaching and learning process in today’s classrooms, it is evident that we are still far from fulfilling that aim. There is a lot of other types of sustainability that ought to be prioritized in mathematics before ESD, not least in pre- and in-service teaching. A student that does not understand basic, fundamental mathematics will never be able to understand or solve ESD-problems.

Thank you for your comments and suggestions on our work. In response to your question about how sustainability relates to mathematics teachers, we acknowledge that it may not be immediately apparent. However, from the results of other research we have conducted, we confirmed that well-prepared teachers in epistemic, cognitive, interactive, mediational, and ecological knowledge can design effective strategies to help their students understand sustainability-related problems and develop mathematical skills to address these problems. In our study, we focused on recent scientific production on the advancement of ESD in active and trainee teachers who teach mathematics. We identified the dimensions of ESD and DMKC knowledge that are being worked on to integrate sustainability principles into the teaching of mathematics in recent research. However, we cannot provide a universally accepted ESD mathematics teaching model.

ESD in Mathematics is a topic that has had little progress in recent years which makes its implementation on a large scale in the school setting difficult.
Comments
The authors ought to reflect on why. There are many other subjects in our schools whose responsibility is to handle ESD. Mathematics offers models to solve problems, not solely solutions.

We appreciate your comments and suggestions. Regarding your point about the responsibility of other subjects to work together on ESD, we agree that this is a task that should be shared by all areas of education. From our findings in associated studies, we confirmed that well-trained and educated teachers in ESD can significantly contribute to the teaching of mathematics for the formation of sustainable and environmentally conscious citizens. We also agree that mathematics offers models for problem-solving, not just solutions. Our results from other studies indicate that the ESD framework for mathematics teaching allows for the development of students' cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral domains in relation to sustainability issues that arise in the context of mathematics. By working collaboratively in groups to solve mathematical problems related to sustainability, students can develop an awareness of sustainability problems and begin to explore possible solutions from their own perspective.

This is very remarkable. There are lots of subjects in school and in teacher training suitable for an ESD debate and to make students aware of ESD. However, the intention with mathematics is neither to be social nor cultural, it is to construct and offer models for problem solving. Its logic is just internal, to offer tools for making decisions not to make the decisions. When it comes to older students, it may be necessary to choose other mathematical models to teach, but that is not a decision to be taken in teacher training, it must be taken on quite another levels.

Reviewer 4

Comentarios y sugerencias para Autores

Incorporated change and/or comment

We acknowledge the authors' effort to prepare and deliver this comprehensive systematic review on mathematics education for sustainable development. Our comments to improve this manuscript would be to proceed with some final spell check and minor editing (e.g. Table 3 caption in English; Table 8 caption not

in Italics to comply with paper's formatting; 3.1.6 Citation in Google Schola(r)-an r should be added).

We appreciate the reviewer for recognizing our effort in preparing this systematic review. We also thank you for your constructive comments to improve our work. We have carefully reviewed our manuscript and made the necessary changes to address the spelling and minor editing issues, such as the title of Table 3 in English, the format of Table 8, and the addition of the letter "r" in 3.1.6 Citation in Google Scholar. We have also conducted a final spelling review to ensure the quality and clarity of our work.

We strongly encourage the authors to continue and expand their line of research across education for sustainable development.

We appreciate the reviewer for your recommendation and fully agree on the importance of continuing and expanding our research in education for sustainable development. In particular, we will strive to further investigate ESD-related topics in mathematics education and contribute to the advancement of this field. Thank you once again.

Comments on quality of English:

Our comments to improve this manuscript would be to proceed with some final spell check and minor editing (e.g. Table 3 caption in English; Table 8 caption not in Italics to comply with paper's formatting; 3.1.6 Citation in Google Schola(r)-an r should be added).

We appreciate the reviewer's comments and we have made the necessary changes to address the spelling review and minor editing issues, including correcting the title of Table 3 in English, the format of Table 8, and the addition of the letter "r" in 3.1.6 Citation in Google Scholar. We have also conducted a final spelling review to ensure the quality and clarity of our work. We hope these changes enhance the clarity and quality of our manuscript, and we appreciate the reviewer for their helpful and constructive feedback.

Reviewer 5

Comentarios y sugerencias para Autores

Incorporated change and/or comment

The title of the article seems appropriate.

Thank you.

The keywords of the article are considered appropriate.

Thank you.

Abstract:

In the abstract, tell us about your sample group. Talk about your method.

Thank you for the reviewer's comments, and we have incorporated changes to the abstract in our new version to address this request.

Introduction:

Add transition sentences between paragraphs.

We appreciate your feedback. We understand the importance of adding transition sentences between paragraphs to achieve smooth transitions and clear comprehension of the content in our introduction. We have carefully reviewed our introduction and made the necessary changes to incorporate appropriate transition sentences between paragraphs. We hope that these changes improve the fluency and coherence of our work.

Method:

-Use academic language when writing headlines. For example: Method, Data collection tools, analysis of data...

We appreciate your feedback and understand the importance of using precise and appropriate academic language in titles. We have reviewed our titles and made changes to make them more accurate and specific.

Findings and results:

-Comments before or after tables and figures should be

strengthened.

Thank you for your feedback, and we agree that it is important to strengthen the comments in the paragraphs where tables and figures are included to ensure a smooth reading experience and a clear understanding of our results. We have carefully reviewed these paragraphs and made changes to ensure that the comments are accurate, well-justified, and directly related to the corresponding tables and figures.

Discussion and conclusion

-Give the reasons for your results.

- Make suggestions about your results.

- Talk about your limitations.

We appreciate your comment and have incorporated updated discussion and conclusion in our work, which include reasons for our results, suggestions, discussion of limitations, and projections for future research.

References:

Technical deficiencies in this section need to be corrected.

We appreciate your comment and agree that it is important to correct technical deficiencies in our references section. We have carefully reviewed this section and made the necessary changes to ensure that the references meet technical requirements and are consistent in their format.

Comments on quality of English:

Use academic language when writing headlines. For example: Method, Data collection tools, analysis of data...

We appreciate your comment and understand the importance of using precise and appropriate academic language in titles. We have reviewed our titles and made changes to make them more accurate and specific. We hope that these changes improve the quality and clarity of our work.

Reviewer 6

Comentarios y sugerencias para Autores

Incorporated change and/or comment

First of all, congratulations to the authors, it is one of the first systematic reviews of the literature that I see quite complete. I leave some indications in the spirit of improving their work:

Thank you very much.

I miss previous SLRs on the subject. It is necessary to take into account previous works to improve them or to cover those aspects that were not studied.

Thank you very much. We appreciate your comment and understand the importance of taking previous systematic reviews into account. We conducted a search in relevant databases and found only one systematic review addressing education for sustainable development in general. However, we did not find any specific systematic review on the topic we are studying, which justifies the need for our research.

I would introduce the flowchart at the beginning of the methodology.

We appreciate your suggestion; however, after reviewing our new version of the methodology, we consider it unnecessary to change the location of the flowchart. We have reorganized the information to make it clearer and easier to follow, and we believe the current location of the flowchart is appropriate and helps readers understand the process of article selection and criteria used.

There is a lack of a document that collects all the articles, as well as the results obtained. The tools used for the quantitative and qualitative analyses are missing, it would be necessary to indicate those that have been used.

We thank the reviewer for your comment and interest in our work. We understand your concern regarding the data collection and tools used in our study but we want to point out that all this information is available in various sections of our results and methods. Each specific objective is addressed in a dedicated section, where the article codes, methodology used, instruments, and results obtained are included. Additionally, we have ensured clear identification of each article and its contribution to our work. We believe that our organization and presentation of the information facilitate its access and understanding by our readers

There are typos as in point 3.1.6. ... Google Schola (r).

We have made changes to the document's spelling to ensure the text is more legible and coherent. We have corrected the errors we found and incorporated the changes into the document. It is now available for review.

I would avoid using the article codes and cite them, it makes it easier for the reader to identify the authors. makes it easier for the reader to identify the authors.

We appreciate your patience and collaboration in this process of continuous improvement of the work. We sincerely thank you for your suggestion. We understand your concern about author identification and want to assure you that we have taken measures to address this matter in our review. In our study's methodology, we have included a table that specifies the identification of the authors of each article we have reviewed, similarly to how the journal identifies authors in the references. Moreover, we agree that it is essential to refer to authors in the text so that readers can easily identify your contributions. Therefore, we always cite the authors when mentioning results or ideas from the selected studies.

I hope you find my comments useful.

Thank you for your comment. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions, and we will strive to incorporate them to improve our work. Your comments are valuable to us and help us to enhance the quality of our research. Thank you again for taking the time to review our work and provide feedback.