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Including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Transversally in Education

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A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 17910

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Francisco Zamora-Polo

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Guest Editor

Higher Polytechnic School, Department of Engineering Design, University of Seville, 41011 Seville, Spain
Interests: engineering projects; SDGs; sustainability; machine learning; smart cities; product design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Jesús Sánchez Martín

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Guest Editor

Department of Science and Mathematics Education, Faculty of Education, University of Extremadura, Avda. de Elvas s/n, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
Interests: science education; affective domain; active learning methodologies; education for sustainaibility; integral sustainability paradigm
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Humanity faces immense challenges, including global warming, growing inequality, migration caused by armed conflicts and climate emergency, etc. After the relative success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) [1], the United Nations has proposed an agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals, to be implemented between 2015 and 2030 [2].

The Sustainable Development Goals are based on 5 pillars (5Ps) [2]: the care of the Planet, the centrality of People, the necessary Prosperity, the care of Peace, and the need for Partnerships. The Goals of sustainable development are constituted from a new paradigm [2]: It is a transformative agenda, because it seeks the origins of problems; it is universal, involving all (developed and developing countries); it is indivisible because it requires the achievement of all SDG jointly; it is integrated; it is engaged to reality; and it must be achieved in partnership through the participation of all actors [2].

It is more than evident that the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals requires the participation of all educational institutions. Much of the success of the Millennium Development Goals was due to the commitment of educational institutions [1]. However, in this sense, the permeability of universities to SDGs is not confirmed based on preliminary results [3].

In a previous work, we proposed a framework for the teaching of SDGs in higher education [4]; we believe that this framework can be applied, with necessary modifications, in other educational levels, such as primary education and secondary education.

This Special Issue of the journal Sustainability aims to collect pieces of research carried out within the framework of the relationship between SDGs and education. It seeks to answer some questions, such as: How can we better teach SDG in the different educational stages and disciplines? What new experiences are being developed in this field throughout the world? How can we evaluate the skills developed by students? What are the most fruitful alliances for the development of work? How can we train teachers to carry out these activities?

References:

Sachs, J.D. From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals. Lancet 2012, 379, 2206–2211.
General Assembly of United Nations Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015 Available online: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E (accessed on Nov 7, 2018).
Zamora-Polo, F.; Sánchez-Martín, J.; Corrales-Serrano, M.; Espejo-Antúnez, L. What Do University Students Know about Sustainable Development Goals? A Realistic Approach to the Reception of this UN Program Amongst the Youth Population. Sustainability 2019, 11, 3533.
Zamora-Polo, F.; Sánchez-Martín, J. Teaching for a Better World. Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals in the Construction of a Change-Maker University. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4224.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Sustainability.

Dr. Francisco Zamora-Polo
Dr. Jesús Sánchez Martín
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Education for development
Sustainability education
Primary education
Secondary education
Higher Education
Science education
Technology education
Specific competences
Transversal competences
Sustainable schools
Sustainable campus

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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25 pages, 3688 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Awareness of Sustainable Development Goals among Students from a Chinese Senior High School

by Xinqun Yuan, Le Yu and Hao Wu

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 458; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090458 - 24 Aug 2021

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 9893

Abstract

Education is an essential component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a questionnaire survey among students from a Chinese senior high school, this study measured the self-reported knowledge, sources of information, learning situations, priorities, the impact of personal life and career planning with respect to the SDGs to understand their cognition, learning motivation and social readiness. The results show that students’ knowledge and information sources in relation to the SDGs are limited, and there is no significant difference between boys and girls in relation to their knowledge of the SDGs, the source of information, the learning level of the SDGs, impact of personal life on the SDGs and career planning related to the SDGs. It is also shown that students have a better understanding of the number of the SDGs and the countries to which the SDGs are addressed and students receive information about the SDGs via formal education and traditional media. Regarding the penetration of the SDGs in course subjects, Chinese and native culture, foreign language, biology and geography have included all the SDGs. Through an analysis of responses and popularity rates, gender equality, quality education, reduced inequalities, no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being are shown to be the students’ priorities with higher attention rates. Gender equality, quality education, clean water and sanitation are the top three goals in relation to which students consider that their personal life can have a greater impact. Students prefer to adopt the SDGs (decent work and economic growth, quality education, industry, innovation and infrastructure, sustainable cities and communities) as their personal career choice in the future. Suggestions for improving the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) include comprehensive formal and non-formal education, publicity and curriculum integration to promote learning about the SDGs. A model of ESD in the school surveyed is presented for practical application. Based on this research, guidance and suggestions are provided to enhance students’ awareness, knowledge and competencies in relation to sustainability and to encourage student engagement in global sustainable development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Transversally in Education)

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14 pages, 1155 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Economic Growth, Governance and Educational Sustainability: A VAR Analysis

by Michael Takudzwa Pasara

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(7), 343; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11070343 - 13 Jul 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2535

Abstract

Quality educational institutions are strategic tools for accelerating the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All the 17 SDGs are interlinked. For instance, quality education (SDG4) reduces poverty (SDG 1,2) and inequalities (SDG10) and stimulates good health and wellbeing (SDG3). The paper applied unorthodox theoretical postulations such as convergence models, intergovernmentalism, neofunctionalism and neorealism in explaining how functional (educational) institutions are a necessary enabling environment in accelerating the attainment of SDGs. Empirically, the paper identified unclear modus operandi, lack of political will, political instability, small and fragmented markets and economies with heterogeneous characteristics, and lack of standardization of product and procedures, among other factors, as constraints to sustainability in tertiary education. A Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model was employed using data from 51 Sub-Saharan countries. The three variables were gross domestic product per capita (GDPP), governance and tertiary education expenditure. Results indicated significant short-run unidirectional causality from gross domestic product per capita and tertiary education expenditure to governance, but joint short-run causality was not established. However, transmission effects across the three variables became significant as the number of years increased to ten years. The study recommends a holistic approach from policymakers in order to ensure sustainability in tertiary education due to interlinkages, with emphasis placed on direction of causality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Transversally in Education)

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Review

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16 pages, 613 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Effects of Using Socio-Scientific Issues and Technology in Problem-Based Learning: A Systematic Review

by José Hernández-Ramos, Johannes Pernaa, Lizethly Cáceres-Jensen and Jorge Rodríguez-Becerra

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(10), 640; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11100640 - 14 Oct 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4257

Abstract

Currently, a growing number of learning institutions at all educational levels are including problem-based learning (PBL) in their curricula. PBL scenarios often utilise technology and socio-scientific Issues (SSI), which enables the simultaneous learning of content and creative thinking and working skills needed in generating new knowledge for the future. In this sense, using SSI and technological tools in PBL learning environments can be viewed as a starting point for acquiring and integrating new knowledge. However, there is no comprehensive knowledge regarding the possibilities of this approach. The objective of this systematic review is to produce this knowledge via the PRISMA method. The strategy is used to explore the effects of the described approach through implementations conducted at secondary and undergraduate levels. The data consisted of 33 research articles that were categorised via qualitative content analysis. According to the results, PBL scenarios exploit mainly local SSIs that link scientific knowledge with a meaningful context for students. Technology is principally used in offering technical support for teaching tasks. Lastly, these results are discussed from the technological pedagogical science knowledge (TPASK) framework perspective, which proposes guidelines for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Transversally in Education)

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