Sustainability Education in Teacher Education
In addition to research in middle and secondary education, sustainability education also
has been examined in teacher education. Pre-service teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, beliefs,
and behaviors towards such issues (including plastic use) were examined with a questionnaire
(Esa, 2010). Similar to Sara Pe’er et al. (2007), study findings included generally positive
beliefs regarding sustainability issues but less positive personal behaviors towards sustainability.
In another study, one pre-service teacher’s course experiences, resulting pedagogical
knowledge, and evolving teacher identity while enrolled in a teacher education program with a
strong emphasis on sustainability education were studied (Kennedy, Taylor, & Maxwell, 2008b).
The subject took part in multiple course experiences with sustainability issues including teaching
lessons within a school environment where her values related to sustainability education were
shared. The authors concluded that the subject’s values and program experiences seem to inform
her identity and pedagogy. Further, Kennelly et al. suggest their subject’s increased pedagogical
knowledge towards sustainability does influences her future teaching, particularly when
sustainability education is positioned as comprehensive approach. Similarly Graham Corney and
Alan Reid (2007) found that using a variety of instructional resources for sustainability education
promoted pre-service teachers’ content knowledge. They also suggested that PSTs’ personal
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Volume 10 Number 2 141 Summer 2015
sustainability actions likely begin with increasing their content knowledge of related
sustainability issues.
In a similar study, Pe’er et al. (2007) implemented pre and post questionnaires to measure
pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards sustainability education, including what factors have
influenced their attitudes (e.g., the influence of prior experiences on their attitudes). In addition
to pre- and post-questionnaires, other teacher educators have implemented guest lecture(s), films,
and structured discussions to elicit pre-service teacher thinking about sustainability (Corney &
Reid, 2007). Secondary pre-service teachers’ use of images related to sustainability education in
the methods course, for example, was examined in a study by Debbie Muthersbaugh and Anne
Kern (2012). In the context of interdisciplinary lessons, the researchers found an
interdisciplinary approach to teaching environmental sustainability using images proved
successful and seemed to improve their subjects’ attitudes towards teaching sustainability issues.
Two commonalities found in research on sustainability education in teacher education are
the evaluation of pre-service teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, and the tension
between their stated beliefs and personal behaviors toward sustainability. The literature
suggests when incorporating a controversial sustainability issue in the course design, pre-service
teachers’ content knowledge increases, particularly when using structured discussion to examine
issues. As established in social studies scholarship (e.g., Kissling & Barton, 2013; Kruidenier &
Morrison, 2013; Shuttleworth & Marri, 2014), the work described here illustrates how to teach
for sustainability education through an approach that fosters pre-service teachers’ thinking,
furthers the scholarship of SE in teacher education, and provides a model for examining SE in
elementary social studies. In summary, this manuscript aims to contribute to gaps in the
literature. First, it addresses the need for research in elementary teacher education that outlines
interdisciplinary course methods in sustainability education. Second, it couches such work
specifically within elementary social studies, where little scholarship has been conducted on
interdisciplinary sustainability education.