Does integrated approach to ESD affect critical thinking on sustainable development?

Abstract

The concept of Sustainable Development (SD) has been of great significance during the last couple of decades due to the exploitation of nature and natural resources in a drastic way. ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) emerged with an immediate urge to preserve and conserve our nature and natural resources for the future generations to come. The concept of ESD aims for a society that attains sustainability by merging the dimensions of environmental, economical, social and political dimensions. The paper discusses about the effect of an integrated approach to ESD on the students’ critical thinking on SD. A curriculum was developed by integrating SD concepts into science and social science of VII standard of NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) syllabus of India with various learning activities for their transaction by incorporating several pedagogical strategies that lead to constructing knowledge, keeping in mind the social perspectives or the context of students. The study was of quasi experimental in nature wherein a control and an experimental group were employed. A non equivalent control group design was used whereby the integrated curriculum was taught to the experimental group for about five months and the control group was exposed to the conventional curriculum and methodology during the same period of time. It was found that the experimental group taught by the integrated approach to ESD had a higher mean score on critical thinking test compared to the control group. On the basis of the findings, it was concluded to highlight the importance of integration of SD components in various disciplines at all levels.