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A Case Study of an Australian University Embedding EfS in a Pre-service Teaching Program

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Educating Science Teachers for Sustainability

Part of the book series: ASTE Series in Science Education ((ASTE))

Abstract

As part of a whole-of-program approach to embedding sustainability in a pre-service, 4-year Bachelor of Education program, academic staff at an Australian university engaged in collaborative projects to design dedicated sustainability subjects and embed science and sustainability principles, concepts, and issues across early childhood and primary subjects. This chapter examines aspects of learning, teaching, and assessment in a first-year core sustainability and science education subject, Foundations of Sustainability in Education; an embedded component in a third-year core professional studies subject, Early Childhood Education and Care; and a final-year elective, Environmental and Climate Change Education for the Tropics. The intent of these subjects is for pre-service teachers to develop understanding of the underlying science and complexity of key socio-ecological challenges, as well as the capacity to plan and implement sustainability and climate change learning experiences and actions in diverse school and community contexts. In order to promote pre-service teacher engagement and learning across multiple cohorts—including community-based Indigenous students and early childhood majors in online modes—the focus is on active and collaborative inquiry-based, technology-enabled, and praxis-oriented learning and assessment experiences.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Research and Innovation in Sustainability Education (CRISE), James Cook University, Cairns City, Australia

    Michelle Lasen, Hilary Whitehouse & Reesa Sorin

  2. Centre for Research and Innovation in Sustainability Education (CRISE), James Cook University, Townsville City, Australia

    Louisa Tomas

  3. College of Arts, Society and Education, Division of Tropical Environments and Societies, James Cook University, Cairns campus, Cairns, QLD, Australia

    Neus (Snowy) Evans

  4. Center for Research & Innovation in Sustainabity Education, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia

    Robert B. Stevenson

Authors
  1. Michelle Lasen
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  2. Louisa Tomas
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  3. Hilary Whitehouse
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  4. Reesa Sorin
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  5. Neus (Snowy) Evans
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  6. Robert B. Stevenson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michelle Lasen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Childhood and Early Childhood Education, State University of New York at Cortland, Cortland, New York, USA

    Susan K. Stratton

  2. Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Pembroke, North Carolina, USA

    Rita Hagevik

  3. Department of Teaching and Learning, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Allan Feldman

  4. Department of Biology, Dallas Baptist University, Dallas, Texas, USA

    Mark Bloom

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Lasen, M., Tomas, L., Whitehouse, H., Sorin, R., Evans, N.(., Stevenson, R.B. (2015). A Case Study of an Australian University Embedding EfS in a Pre-service Teaching Program. In: Stratton, S., Hagevik, R., Feldman, A., Bloom, M. (eds) Educating Science Teachers for Sustainability. ASTE Series in Science Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16411-3_17

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