Relevance of Life-Cycle Assessment in Context-Based Science Education: A Case Study in Lower Secondary School

Sakari Tolppanen, Ilpo Jäppinen, Sirpa Kärkkäinen, Anssi Salonen and Tuula Keinonen
Additional contact information
Sakari Tolppanen: School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education University of Eastern Finland, 80130 Joensuu, Finland
Ilpo Jäppinen: School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education University of Eastern Finland, 80130 Joensuu, Finland
Sirpa Kärkkäinen: School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education University of Eastern Finland, 80130 Joensuu, Finland
Anssi Salonen: School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education University of Eastern Finland, 80130 Joensuu, Finland
Tuula Keinonen: School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education University of Eastern Finland, 80130 Joensuu, Finland

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: The article introduces a science education intervention using life-cycle analysis of consumer products. The intervention aims to promote lower secondary school students’ science career awareness and interest toward science studies. In this study, two lower secondary school teachers planned an intervention on life-cycle analysis, which aimed to be relevant for the students from an individual, societal, and vocational perspective. The study then examined how students perceived the relevance of the intervention, based on classroom observations, students’ life-cycle presentations, questionnaire responses, as well as interviews. The findings indicate that students found life-cycle assessment to be a relevant topic both from an individual and societal perspective. However, findings on vocational relevance were two-fold, as students gained knowledge on different occupations, but this did not seem to directly affect their future career aspirations.

Keywords: life-cycle assessment; inquiry-based learning; careers; science education; circular economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/21/5877/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/21/5877/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:21:p:5877-:d:279394

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().