Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.8
3.9
Journals
Sustainability
Special Issues
Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Education in Teacher Training in...
sustainability-logo
Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Education in Teacher Training in Time of Pandemic

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2023) | Viewed by 11998

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Monica Herrero

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Educational Sciences Department, Experimental Sciences Didactics, University of Oviedo, Asturias, Spain
Interests: education for sustainability; science education in teacher training; virtual learning environments; life cycle assessment and life cycle thinking; valorization of food wastes; food and environmental microbial biotechnology
Dr. Olga Mayoral

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Didactics of Experimental and Social Sciences / Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Interests: education for sustainability; science education in teacher training; teacher training for sustainable education; environmental health education; scientific literacy; environmental education; outdoor education; biological conservation; invasive plant species

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is no doubt that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has significantly disrupted and changed people’s lives all over the world. Not only have we all been called upon to show responsibility and to collaborate in order to protect each other, but also, the strong interconnections between science, technology, society, and the environment have become come to the forefront in the context of the pandemic, leading to an increased demand to improve scientific literacy and for all members of society to commit to acting sustainably.

Another field that the pandemic has had a significant impact on is education, where all levels have been affected, including higher education and teacher training. However, as the adage goes, times of crisis are also times of opportunity. Teachers all over the world are doing their best, demonstrating their essential role in society and building new collaborative networking forces. The pandemic has revealed the need to adapt interdisciplinarity into teaching and learning not only during initial teacher training, but also in professional development courses and informal learning if we want to improve sustainability competences.

Our aim is for this Special Issue to contribute to the existing body of literature on education for sustainability in teacher training, providing new evidence-based good practices and innovative programs in different countries. In the present context, we expect papers that aim not only to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in ESD in teacher training but also to identify new opportunities to provide ways to improve participation in education for sustainability principles and practices.

This Special Issue aims at bringing together all the outstanding ideas generated in recent times in order to provide a forum for sharing research, experiences, and reflections on how teacher training is contributing to the necessary transition to sustainability. Articles are intended to follow the path marked by other Special Issues on education for sustainable development (ESD) such as “Sustainable Education”, “Sustainability in Education: A Critical Reappraisal of Practice and Purpose”, “Pedagogy for Education for Sustainability (EfS) in Higher Education (HE)”, “Environmental Education for Sustainable Development” or “Sustainability Approaches in Education”.

Dr. Monica Herrero
Dr. Olga Mayoral
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 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

  • Challenges and opportunities for sustainable education
  • Education for sustainability
  • Education for sustainable development (ESD)
  • Education for SDG
  • Environmental connectedness
  • Informal learning for sustainable education
  • Sustainability competences
  • Teacher training in sustainable education
  • Teaching resources for education for sustainability
  • Virtual learning environments for sustainable education

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

22 pages, 2247 KiB  
Article
Misinformation as a Societal Problem in Times of Crisis: A Mixed-Methods Study with Future Teachers to Promote a Critical Attitude towards Information
by Angelika Bernsteiner, Thomas Schubatzky and Claudia Haagen-Schützenhöfer
Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8161; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108161 - 17 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1565
Abstract
Global society is facing major challenges, which are to be met by pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Digitalization processes bring many opportunities for achieving SDGs, but they also bring pitfalls. For example, on one hand, social media makes it easier for more [...] Read more.
Global society is facing major challenges, which are to be met by pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Digitalization processes bring many opportunities for achieving SDGs, but they also bring pitfalls. For example, on one hand, social media makes it easier for more parts of society to participate. On the other hand, the ability to rapidly circulate unfiltered information can lead to the spread of misinformation and subsequently interfere with the achievement of SDGs. This effect could be observed during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to occur in the context of climate change. Young people are especially likely to be exposed to misinformation on social media. With this in mind, it is enormously important for schools to prepare young people to critically handle the overload of information available online. The aim of this study was to provide future middle and high school teachers with a fruitful approach to foster a critical attitude towards information in classrooms. To this end, we expanded an existing approach by implementing active, technique-based inoculation and technique-based debunking within the COVID-19 content framework in a teacher education course. This implementation was monitored by a mixed-methods study with n = 24 future middle and high school teachers who participated in two courses in subsequent semesters. By performing statistical analysis on pretests and posttests and qualitative content analysis on reflective journal entries, we found that future teachers’ self-efficacy expectations for detecting and debunking misinformation, as well as their debunking skills, increased throughout the courses. In addition, our results show that future teachers perceive active, technology-based inoculation as a helpful approach for their future teaching. They feel that this approach can be a way to implement education for sustainable development in schools with a focus on the promotion of critical thinking. In summary, we believe that the approach presented in this article may be beneficial for teaching the critical treatment of information in various thematic contexts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Education in Teacher Training in Time of Pandemic)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1735 KiB  
Article
Virtual Field Trips in Binational Collaborative Teacher Training: Opportunities and Challenges in the Context of Education for Sustainable Development
by Caroline Leininger-Frézal and Sandra Sprenger
Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 12933; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912933 - 10 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2015
Abstract
Virtual field trips (VFTs) are a way to overcome travel restrictions and continue to explore distant spaces, foreign issues, and learning opportunities. The intent of this article is to show how VFTs are used in learning geography in the context of education for [...] Read more.
Virtual field trips (VFTs) are a way to overcome travel restrictions and continue to explore distant spaces, foreign issues, and learning opportunities. The intent of this article is to show how VFTs are used in learning geography in the context of education for sustainable development (ESD). The goal is to develop a didactic approach to the use of virtual fieldwork in ESD with geography teachers in pre-service and in-service teacher training at two universities. This article has the following aims. The first is to explain what a VFT is from a theoretical and technical perspective, which raises questions about forms and tools. The second is to explain how a remote intercultural seminar was conceived and implemented to create virtual fieldwork. The third is to present the methodology on which this experimentation is based and to explore the opportunities and limitations of VFTs. The last is to present and discuss the results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Education in Teacher Training in Time of Pandemic)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 301 KiB  
Article
Digital Teaching Competence in Teacher Training as an Element to Attain SDG 4 of the 2030 Agenda
by David Méndez, Miriam Méndez and Juana María Anguita
Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11387; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811387 - 10 Sep 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2344
Abstract
Improving the digital competences of teachers, students, and schools contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda. That goal consists in enhancing the quality of education and offering learning opportunities. The knowledge of digital resources that teachers had and used [...] Read more.
Improving the digital competences of teachers, students, and schools contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda. That goal consists in enhancing the quality of education and offering learning opportunities. The knowledge of digital resources that teachers had and used during the COVID-19 confinement has contributed to the current awareness of the need to improve teachers’ digital competence. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the digital resources that teachers participating in this research used the most in Spain between March and June 2020 due to the lockdown experienced in that country. A validated questionnaire, which was administered online in schools and high schools of the Community of Madrid, was answered by 97 teachers who were able to teach from home. The results reveal their assessment of the technological resources they used. In their opinion, the most useful were digital platforms, online classes, and videos, whereas the least useful were online tests and forums. Their answers also show that the training they received was mainly through Internet tutorials and consultations with colleagues. In order to ensure quality education, it is important to improve teachers’ digital competence as a part of their training. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Education in Teacher Training in Time of Pandemic)
12 pages, 1043 KiB  
Article
Teaching Two-Eyed Seeing in Education for Sustainable Development: Inspirations from the Science|Environment|Health Pedagogy in Pandemic Times
by Albert Zeyer
Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 6343; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106343 - 23 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2196
Abstract
This conceptual paper starts by outlining six important concerns of Science|Environment|Health (S|E|H), a new pedagogy of science that has been developed during the last decade by a Special Interest Group of the ESERA community. The paper points out that the importance of these [...] Read more.
This conceptual paper starts by outlining six important concerns of Science|Environment|Health (S|E|H), a new pedagogy of science that has been developed during the last decade by a Special Interest Group of the ESERA community. The paper points out that the importance of these six concerns even increased during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. They play an essential role in preparing future citizens not only for coping with the pandemic but in general with other great challenges that lie ahead of our world. In this way S|E|H is naturally connected to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the paper discusses how S|E|H work in recent years may inspire education for sustainable development. The six concerns are: (1) the question of curricular change, (2) the role of knowledge in S|E|H contexts, (3) the danger of scientism and the tension between individual and political responsibility, (4) decision-making in S|E|H contexts, (5) the challenge of coping with uncertainty, and (6) the question of scientific holism. Structured by these concerns, the paper reviews recent research of the S|E|H community. These findings are reframed by the Two-Eyed Seeing approach that has recently found growing interest in the S|E|H community. This new approach distinguishes between the scientific image and the life-world image on an ontological basis, which helps to disentangle the six concerns and to provide a framework for tackling them in teacher education and educational research—in S|E|H contexts and also in education for sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Education in Teacher Training in Time of Pandemic)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 2561 KiB  
Article
The Press as a Resource for Promoting Sustainability Competencies in Teacher Training: The Case of SDG 7
by Raquel Chuliá-Jordán, Amparo Vilches Peña and María Calero Llinares
Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 857; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020857 - 12 Jan 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1761
Abstract
Given the seriousness of the socio-environmental situation we are facing, this study aims to contribute to the involvement of teachers in education for sustainability through the use of non-formal education, particularly the press. The main objectives of the present study are to analyse [...] Read more.
Given the seriousness of the socio-environmental situation we are facing, this study aims to contribute to the involvement of teachers in education for sustainability through the use of non-formal education, particularly the press. The main objectives of the present study are to analyse the use of the press in science education, as well as the design, implementation and evaluation of tools aimed at teachers and trainee researchers in order to encourage and promote attention to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and more specifically SDG 7 (clean and affordable energy for all) in science education. The proposals are carried out using a constructivist methodology in sessions structured in small collaborative groups. The initial results show that attention to the press is still insufficient, but that, nevertheless, the strategies designed contribute to raising awareness of the importance of SDG 7 and to the classroom treatment of the energy issue among the participants in the study who attend a Master’s degree program in secondary education teacher training (specialising in physics and chemistry) and a Master’s degree program in research in specific didactics (specialising in experimental sciences). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Education in Teacher Training in Time of Pandemic)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop