Diverse, Disengaged and Reactive: A Teacher's Adaptation of Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy as a Strategy to Re-engage Learners in Education for Sustainability

It is of great concern that science education is failing to impress many young people to engage deeply in learning, in learning for a purpose other than preparing for tests and exams. Many of these future decision-makers demonstrate a sense of hopelessness and helplessness with regard to the challen...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Taylor, Elisabeth, Taylor, Peter, Chow, Mei Ling
Other Authors: Nasser Mansour
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Springer 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15748
_version_ 1848748977617371136
author Taylor, Elisabeth
Taylor, Peter
Chow, Mei Ling
author2 Nasser Mansour
author_facet Nasser Mansour
Taylor, Elisabeth
Taylor, Peter
Chow, Mei Ling
author_sort Taylor, Elisabeth
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description It is of great concern that science education is failing to impress many young people to engage deeply in learning, in learning for a purpose other than preparing for tests and exams. Many of these future decision-makers demonstrate a sense of hopelessness and helplessness with regard to the challenges lying ahead of them, particularly global issues of sustainability, with many feeling disempowered. So, what can be done to reverse the trend of disengagement? In this chapter, we present an overview of ongoing research into science teachers’ adaptation of ethical dilemma story pedagogy as a classroom strategy for enacting socially responsible education with a special focus on sustainability. This pedagogical approach marries values and ethics education with science and environmental education. It promotes dilemma-based, content-related and values-dependent decision-making. Teachers participated in our research with a view to re-engaging academically and socioculturally diverse, and often disenchanted, learners in science education by linking ethical dilemma stories to science and sustainability topics directly relevant to community issues. Education for sustainability has far-reaching implications for many learning areas, especially science education which is well suited to providing the necessary knowledge, skills and values base for informed ethical decision-making with a view to achieving a sustainable future for the world. Drawing on the results of a recent case study of an innovative science teacher engaging her students in education for sustainability, we address the question: What makes ethical dilemma story teaching compelling for students?
first_indexed 2025-11-14T07:13:37Z
format Book Chapter
id curtin-20.500.11937-15748
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:13:37Z
publishDate 2013
publisher Springer
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-157482023-02-07T08:01:25Z Diverse, Disengaged and Reactive: A Teacher's Adaptation of Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy as a Strategy to Re-engage Learners in Education for Sustainability Taylor, Elisabeth Taylor, Peter Chow, Mei Ling Nasser Mansour Rupert Wegerif It is of great concern that science education is failing to impress many young people to engage deeply in learning, in learning for a purpose other than preparing for tests and exams. Many of these future decision-makers demonstrate a sense of hopelessness and helplessness with regard to the challenges lying ahead of them, particularly global issues of sustainability, with many feeling disempowered. So, what can be done to reverse the trend of disengagement? In this chapter, we present an overview of ongoing research into science teachers’ adaptation of ethical dilemma story pedagogy as a classroom strategy for enacting socially responsible education with a special focus on sustainability. This pedagogical approach marries values and ethics education with science and environmental education. It promotes dilemma-based, content-related and values-dependent decision-making. Teachers participated in our research with a view to re-engaging academically and socioculturally diverse, and often disenchanted, learners in science education by linking ethical dilemma stories to science and sustainability topics directly relevant to community issues. Education for sustainability has far-reaching implications for many learning areas, especially science education which is well suited to providing the necessary knowledge, skills and values base for informed ethical decision-making with a view to achieving a sustainable future for the world. Drawing on the results of a recent case study of an innovative science teacher engaging her students in education for sustainability, we address the question: What makes ethical dilemma story teaching compelling for students? 2013 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15748 10.1007/978-94-007-4563-6_6 Springer restricted
spellingShingle Taylor, Elisabeth
Taylor, Peter
Chow, Mei Ling
Diverse, Disengaged and Reactive: A Teacher's Adaptation of Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy as a Strategy to Re-engage Learners in Education for Sustainability
title Diverse, Disengaged and Reactive: A Teacher's Adaptation of Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy as a Strategy to Re-engage Learners in Education for Sustainability
title_full Diverse, Disengaged and Reactive: A Teacher's Adaptation of Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy as a Strategy to Re-engage Learners in Education for Sustainability
title_fullStr Diverse, Disengaged and Reactive: A Teacher's Adaptation of Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy as a Strategy to Re-engage Learners in Education for Sustainability
title_full_unstemmed Diverse, Disengaged and Reactive: A Teacher's Adaptation of Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy as a Strategy to Re-engage Learners in Education for Sustainability
title_short Diverse, Disengaged and Reactive: A Teacher's Adaptation of Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy as a Strategy to Re-engage Learners in Education for Sustainability
title_sort diverse, disengaged and reactive: a teacher's adaptation of ethical dilemma story pedagogy as a strategy to re-engage learners in education for sustainability
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15748