Integrating Perspectives from Education for Sustainable Development to Foster Plant Awareness among Trainee Science Teachers: A Mixed Methods Study

Khalifatulloh Fiel’ardh (), Indra Fardhani and Hiroki Fujii
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Khalifatulloh Fiel’ardh: Graduate School of Education, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
Indra Fardhani: Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jl. Cakrawala No.5, Sumbersari, Malang 65145, Indonesia
Hiroki Fujii: Graduate School of Education, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: This mixed-method study aimed to investigate the efficacy of an intervention unit that integrates perspectives from Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to foster plant awareness, within the context of botanical lessons for trainee science teachers. Third-year undergraduate students ( n = 91) studying to become lower secondary school (grade 7–9) science teachers from a public university in East Java, Indonesia, participated in this study. Data were collected through a self-reported questionnaire, reflective journal entries, and focus group interviews. The findings revealed a statistically significant increase in the participants’ attention and attitude towards plants, relative interest in plants, and self-efficacy in teaching plant-related topics. The triangulation of the analysis results from the reflective journals and focus group interviews demonstrated that through transformative learning, the participants’ experiences, perceptions, and learning evolved throughout the intervention unit, leading to their more comprehensive understanding of plant-related issues and their connection to broader sustainability concerns. These findings imply that the integration of ESD perspectives into botanical education positively affects plant awareness. Future research could further investigate the long-term impact of integrating ESD perspectives on teacher training programs.

Keywords: education for sustainable development; transformative learning; botanical education; science teacher education; plant awareness; mixed-method study; Indonesia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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