Towards the Identification of ESD Competencies Required for Pre-service Science Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was threefold. First, a thorough review of models related to ESD competencies was completed. Second, the study developed and conducted a prospective science teachers’ course (“Elementary Science Education Methodology Development”) that targets Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) based on Lesson Study methodology. And third, the study evaluated the course’s merits and values based on the process of students’ understanding of science lessons. Stufflebeam’s (2003) Context, Input, Process, and Product (CIPP) evaluation model guided the development and assessment of this two-month course for third-year undergraduate students in the university’s science education department. When conducting a trial of the course, diverse evidence was acquired that suggests it promoted students’ understanding of and a capacity to accomplish, what science teachers should do in order to teach science lessons incorporating ESD. Consequently, this trial empirically identified essential competencies that are found as key components to the domains “Facilitate Learning” and “Continue to Learn and Create” located in the study’s draft version of an Asia-Pacific ESD Teacher Competency Framework.