Abstract
The objective of this paper is to prove that interdisciplinary educational approaches foster knowledge and competences for sustainable development in primary education. The intervention methodology employed is an educational and pedagogical approach to teaching science through physical activities and is based on developing dynamic reflective and cooperative learning environments to strengthen teaching–learning relationships. The educational approach included analyzing students’ reflections from their focus groups, in which five categories of cooperative learning: positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, the appropriate use of social skills, and group processing, were considered. The results show that, to a significant statistical degree, when the interdisciplinary approaches were adopted the primary school students reached higher levels of understanding, reflective and critical thinking development, and that cooperative learning provided them with a greater perception of sustainable development competences through systems and critical thinking, analysis, interpersonal relationships and collaboration, and strategic action.
Highlights
The strategy of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe postulates that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) stresses that education systems at all levels, be underpinned by and embedded with ethics of solidarity, equality, and mutual respect among people, countries, cultures and generations [1]
A post-hoc pairwise comparison between courses was made based on a Mann–Whitney U test. The results describe both the qualitative and quantitative primary school students’ acquisition of cooperative and sustainable development competences through a self-regulated and continuous exercise of knowledge of scientific and physical education practices
The research involved analyzing both the sustainable development competences, and the capacity of the students to self-regulate the process of cooperation
Summary
The strategy of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe postulates that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) stresses that education systems at all levels, (i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary), be underpinned by and embedded with ethics of solidarity, equality, and mutual respect among people, countries, cultures and generations [1]. Education institutions play a fundamental role in empowering individual reflection on one’s own actions to foster current and future social, cultural, economic and environmental understanding and impacts [6], to activate participation both locally and globally and to reframe complex situations on a sustainable basis. Teachers should produce class conditions that foster critical thinking to develop the sustainability competence levels of children and young students, and to develop and test activities that assess an individual’s sustainable competences and skill acquisition. While there is a long tradition of studies that have investigated pedagogical approaches and their effects on sustainable competences in higher education, in primary education the research, it is still considered limited [8]
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