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13.3 Teaching Approaches for Environmental Citizenship
Several educational approaches can serve as an answer to the requirements for a
Future 2 education. In the context of non-formal education (Chap. 14), pedagogies
have been described that can also be included in formal settings. These include
place-based education, civic ecology education, ecojustice pedagogy, action competence, socio-scientific inquiry-based learning and pedagogies that could build
student competencies for civic participation contributing to environmental and
social change. Here, we elaborate one approach that is only briefly described in
Chap. 14 – Socio-Scientific Inquiry-Based Learning (SSIBL) – since it has been
extensively evaluated in formal secondary science education settings (in addition to
primary education) as well as teacher professional development programmes in 11
countries (www.parrise.eu). SSIBL integrates educational approaches that are often
presented independently in schools: inquiry-based science education and citizenship education. Integration of these approaches has been inspired by the European
Union call for an ongoing involvement of the society in all phases of the research
and innovation process (European Commission 2019). For Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, this calls for the integration of
both inquiry-based science education and citizenship education in the curriculum
and classroom.
Inquiry-based science education is a problem-based approach with an emphasis
given to experiment (Rocard et al. 2007). Methods for inquiry-based science education provide children with the opportunities to develop a large range of complementary skills such as working in groups, being able to express themselves textually and
verbally, and experiencing open-ended problem-solving and other cross- disciplinary
skills (Rocard et al. 2007). This call for inquiry-based science education is based on
the recognition that science is essentially a question-driven, open-ended process and
that students must have personal experience of scientific inquiry to understand this
fundamental aspect of science. The understanding of inquiry is guided by five
essential features of inquiry that have been recognised by the US National Research
Council (2000), which state that the learner (a) engages in scientifically oriented
questions; (b) gives priority to evidence in responding to questions; (c) formulates
explanations from evidence; (d) connects explanations to scientific knowledge; and
(e) communicates and justifies explanations. Learning and teaching about inquirybased science education can be seen as a continuum beginning with close-ended and
ending with open-ended inquiry.
SSIBL is a recently developed approach and combines inquiry-based science
education with citizenship education, starting from socio-scientific issues. This
approach has been evaluated extensively in science teacher professional development, as well as in classroom settings (Amos et al. in press; Knippels and van
Harskamp 2018; Levinson 2018; Levinson et al. 2017). Socio-scientific issues –
such as global warming – are problems that often arise in our society and have a
scientific and/or a technological component. They are issues or problems because
there is no consensus on how such problems might best be solved for the well-being
13 Environmental Citizenship in Secondary Formal Education: The Importance…
13.3 Teaching Approaches for Environmental Citizenship
Several educational approaches can serve as an answer to the requirements for a
Future 2 education. In the context of non-formal education (Chap. 14), pedagogies
have been described that can also be included in formal settings. These include
place-based education, civic ecology education, ecojustice pedagogy, action competence, socio-scientific inquiry-based learning and pedagogies that could build
student competencies for civic participation contributing to environmental and
social change. Here, we elaborate one approach that is only briefly described in
Chap. 14 – Socio-Scientific Inquiry-Based Learning (SSIBL) – since it has been
extensively evaluated in formal secondary science education settings (in addition to
primary education) as well as teacher professional development programmes in 11
countries (www.parrise.eu). SSIBL integrates educational approaches that are often
presented independently in schools: inquiry-based science education and citizenship education. Integration of these approaches has been inspired by the European
Union call for an ongoing involvement of the society in all phases of the research
and innovation process (European Commission 2019). For Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, this calls for the integration of
both inquiry-based science education and citizenship education in the curriculum
and classroom.
Inquiry-based science education is a problem-based approach with an emphasis
given to experiment (Rocard et al. 2007). Methods for inquiry-based science education provide children with the opportunities to develop a large range of complementary skills such as working in groups, being able to express themselves textually and
verbally, and experiencing open-ended problem-solving and other cross- disciplinary
skills (Rocard et al. 2007). This call for inquiry-based science education is based on
the recognition that science is essentially a question-driven, open-ended process and
that students must have personal experience of scientific inquiry to understand this
fundamental aspect of science. The understanding of inquiry is guided by five
essential features of inquiry that have been recognised by the US National Research
Council (2000), which state that the learner (a) engages in scientifically oriented
questions; (b) gives priority to evidence in responding to questions; (c) formulates
explanations from evidence; (d) connects explanations to scientific knowledge; and
(e) communicates and justifies explanations. Learning and teaching about inquirybased science education can be seen as a continuum beginning with close-ended and
ending with open-ended inquiry.
SSIBL is a recently developed approach and combines inquiry-based science
education with citizenship education, starting from socio-scientific issues. This
approach has been evaluated extensively in science teacher professional development, as well as in classroom settings (Amos et al. in press; Knippels and van
Harskamp 2018; Levinson 2018; Levinson et al. 2017). Socio-scientific issues –
such as global warming – are problems that often arise in our society and have a
scientific and/or a technological component. They are issues or problems because
there is no consensus on how such problems might best be solved for the well-being
13 Environmental Citizenship in Secondary Formal Education: The Importance…