Evolutionary literacy as a catalyst for sustainable futures: connecting biological evolution education and education for sustainability
Abstract In the face of growing societal, public health and environmental challenges linked to the functioning of the biosphere, strong evolutionary literacy emerges as indispensable to plan and achieve sustainable futures. However, research on evolution education has mainly focused on the content t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Evolution: Education and Outreach |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-024-00213-0 |
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| author | Patrícia Pessoa J. Bernardino Lopes Joelyn de Lima Alexandre Pinto Peter Søgaard Jørgensen Xana Sá-Pinto |
| author_facet | Patrícia Pessoa J. Bernardino Lopes Joelyn de Lima Alexandre Pinto Peter Søgaard Jørgensen Xana Sá-Pinto |
| author_sort | Patrícia Pessoa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract In the face of growing societal, public health and environmental challenges linked to the functioning of the biosphere, strong evolutionary literacy emerges as indispensable to plan and achieve sustainable futures. However, research on evolution education has mainly focused on the content taught in classrooms, leaving its application to sustainability issues largely unexplored. Given this, in this paper, we suggest an integrated view of biological evolution education and sustainability education. For that, we argue for the pivotal role of evolutionary literacy to address diverse sustainability issues and for the development of key competencies in sustainability, namely systems thinking and anticipatory competencies. To support the implementation in classrooms, we propose educational strategies to promote evolutionary literacy, systems thinking and anticipatory competencies through socioscientific issues linked to sustainability topics. Finally, we identify future research needed at the intersection of evolution education and education for sustainability to effectively promote evolutionary literacy and the development of key competencies in sustainability. With this, we aim to contribute to further enhancing education for sustainability through the lens of evolution. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-715b2033db514ea5a2f5d90aeedb3df9 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1936-6434 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolution: Education and Outreach |
| spelling | doaj-art-715b2033db514ea5a2f5d90aeedb3df92024-12-08T12:19:40ZengBMCEvolution: Education and Outreach1936-64342024-12-0117111810.1186/s12052-024-00213-0Evolutionary literacy as a catalyst for sustainable futures: connecting biological evolution education and education for sustainabilityPatrícia Pessoa0J. Bernardino Lopes1Joelyn de Lima2Alexandre Pinto3Peter Søgaard Jørgensen4Xana Sá-Pinto5Research Centre in the Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers (CIDTFF.UA), Department of Education and Psychology, University of AveiroResearch Centre in the Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers (CIDTFF.UA), Department of Education and Psychology, University of AveiroThe Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL)Centre for Research and Innovation in Education—inED, ESE, Polytechnic of PortoGlobal Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere, Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesResearch Centre in the Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers (CIDTFF.UA), Department of Education and Psychology, University of AveiroAbstract In the face of growing societal, public health and environmental challenges linked to the functioning of the biosphere, strong evolutionary literacy emerges as indispensable to plan and achieve sustainable futures. However, research on evolution education has mainly focused on the content taught in classrooms, leaving its application to sustainability issues largely unexplored. Given this, in this paper, we suggest an integrated view of biological evolution education and sustainability education. For that, we argue for the pivotal role of evolutionary literacy to address diverse sustainability issues and for the development of key competencies in sustainability, namely systems thinking and anticipatory competencies. To support the implementation in classrooms, we propose educational strategies to promote evolutionary literacy, systems thinking and anticipatory competencies through socioscientific issues linked to sustainability topics. Finally, we identify future research needed at the intersection of evolution education and education for sustainability to effectively promote evolutionary literacy and the development of key competencies in sustainability. With this, we aim to contribute to further enhancing education for sustainability through the lens of evolution.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-024-00213-0Evolutionary literacyEducation for sustainable developmentSocioscientific issuesSystems thinking competencyAnticipatory competencyKey competencies for sustainability |
| spellingShingle | Patrícia Pessoa J. Bernardino Lopes Joelyn de Lima Alexandre Pinto Peter Søgaard Jørgensen Xana Sá-Pinto Evolutionary literacy as a catalyst for sustainable futures: connecting biological evolution education and education for sustainability Evolution: Education and Outreach Evolutionary literacy Education for sustainable development Socioscientific issues Systems thinking competency Anticipatory competency Key competencies for sustainability |
| title | Evolutionary literacy as a catalyst for sustainable futures: connecting biological evolution education and education for sustainability |
| title_full | Evolutionary literacy as a catalyst for sustainable futures: connecting biological evolution education and education for sustainability |
| title_fullStr | Evolutionary literacy as a catalyst for sustainable futures: connecting biological evolution education and education for sustainability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evolutionary literacy as a catalyst for sustainable futures: connecting biological evolution education and education for sustainability |
| title_short | Evolutionary literacy as a catalyst for sustainable futures: connecting biological evolution education and education for sustainability |
| title_sort | evolutionary literacy as a catalyst for sustainable futures connecting biological evolution education and education for sustainability |
| topic | Evolutionary literacy Education for sustainable development Socioscientific issues Systems thinking competency Anticipatory competency Key competencies for sustainability |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-024-00213-0 |
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