An Analysis of Education Implementation for the Improvement of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) of Pre-service Science Teachers: Focusing on the Integration of Sustainable Happiness and Complexity Theory – A Secondary Publication

Abstract

In this study, class demonstrations conducted integrating science education and ‘Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)’ by preservice science teachers were analyzed, focusing on the concept of ‘sustainable happiness’ and the main elements of ‘complexity theory.’ In addition, changes before and after participating in such education implementation were analyzed from various angles. Through this, preservice science teachers tried to derive implications for developing multidimensional teacher professionalism in ESD. The main findings are as follows. First, as a result of peer evaluation of class materials and class demonstrations designed by preservice science teachers, the average of the integration for ‘sustainable happiness’ was relatively high. Next, it was analyzed that the elements of ‘sustainable happiness’ and ‘complexity theory’ generally had a positive correlation with ESD. In addition, after participating in the study, preservice science teachers considered individual and social behavioral patterns as important in the sense of ESD. Regarding the need to integrate science education and ESD, preservice science teachers thought it was necessary to deal with the concept of ‘sustainable happiness’ in science education to understand a sustainable way of life. It was analyzed that the elements of ‘sustainable happiness’ and ‘complexity theory’ generally had a positive correlation with ESD. It was found that preservice science teachers’ confidence in incorporating ESD in science classes was significantly higher after participation in the study. In addition, it was analyzed that preservice science teachers have come to think more about the role of teachers who can communicate with students and think about happy lives together than before. Overall, it is thought that preservice science teachers have come to think of multidimensional science teacher professionalism by applying the perspective of the teaching and learning strategy of the new ESD, which integrates the concept of ‘sustainable happiness’ and elements of ‘complexity theory.’