Education for sustainable development in Chinese secondary chemistry education under consideration of Confucian ecological ethics

Abstract

This dissertation is a cumulative doctoral work. It contains four international journal articles. Two published articles are literature reviews, while the other two articles under review are case studies. This dissertation work focuses on the inclusion of Confucian ecological ethics in chemistry education for sustainability at Chinese secondary schools to promote education for sustainable development, for devoting to the cultural aspects of scientific literacy. In detail, this research aims at developing and implementing teaching interventions about fusing Confucian ecological ethics into chemistry education for sustainability in mainland China, with a socio-scientific issue of disposable plastic takeout food containers use. It is based on the related literature investigations and the development of the theoretical frameworks. The first and second journal articles portray the contexts and theoretical frameworks of this research. The first article illustrates the state of the art of chemistry education for sustainable development in mainland China by a systematic literature review based on leading international and national databases. It is that Chinese chemistry education for sustainable development was at the initial stage and lacked the related teaching models and examples; and tertiary education was better than secondary education, with more related examples and multiple instruction methods. The current Chinese high school chemistry curriculum standards underscore the societal aspect of chemistry education and nurture students’ awareness of sustainable development. This further proves the meaningfulness of this research. Hence, the second journal article presents a theoretical framework for the design of the teaching interventions for integrating Confucianism into Chemistry education towards sustainability. It was developed by a systematic reflection of related academic publications in related databases on Confucianism, sustainability, and science education from a philosophical perspective. There are many connections between sustainability and Confucian ecological ethics, such as respecting nature and holistic thinking. The Confucian way of thinking and views of nature differ from the Western, and Confucian harmony with nature and humans could be beneficial for the global community. The third and fourth journal articles describe the development and implementation of two lesson plans and thus present related practical learning examples and empirical evidence for this research. They display the integration of Confucianism into chemistry education for sustainability at Chinese upper secondary schools. The third journal article depicts a lesson plan designed based on the framework developed in the second article. It contains an introduction, learning related scientific knowledge, a role-playing debate, and a reflection, referring to the socio-scientific issue of plastic takeout food container use. It was implemented at one suburban Beijing public high school in June 2022 online, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Two learning groups of 10th-Grade students (N=79) joined the intervention. The lesson plan was evaluated by a feedback questionnaire. According to the analysis of the students’ feedback questionnaire, the following results were obtained: most students were motivated to learn and satisfied with the teaching methods; Confucianism can improve their environmental awareness; and they thought Confucian ecological ethics and sustainable development in chemistry education were interconnected. In the last journal article, another lesson plan was designed based on the positive results of Confucianism for chemistry education for sustainability. Moreover, some researchers called for nurturing students’ deep understanding of Chinese traditional cultures in chemistry classrooms. The lesson plan in the fourth journal article was designed including four phases: an introduction, understanding Confucianism and sustainability, an application with the issue of plastics use, and a reflection with a feedback questionnaire. Sixty-five 10th-Grade students at an urban key public high school in Beijing participated online in this intervention in January 2023 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The feedback questionnaires were analyzed by descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis. Their assignments and one teacher’s observation were also analyzed as references. Finally, this article found that most students were engaged in learning and satisfied with the teaching methods; the lesson made them open-minded, culturally confident, and knowledgeable of the complexities of chemical issues; and most of them acknowledged the active role of Confucian ecological ethics in chemistry education towards sustainability. In summary, this dissertation shows the sound role of Confucian ecological ethics in Chinese chemistry education towards sustainability and enriches multi-worldviews to the cultural aspects of science education.