When we are talking about education for sustainable development (ESD) we are talking about our Planet, the life in the planet and the sustainable future of the planet. We are talking about plants, animals and micro organisms and their ecosystems. We are talking about people and our need for food seurity, medicines, fresh air and  water, shelter and a clean and healthy environment  where we live. We are talking about the quality education, teaching and learning and how to transform our education towards sustainable development. ESD is a holistic concept. Bioderversity is the invisible basis for human existence.

Sustainability is a complex concept including ecological, economic and social dimensions, which in turn involve several aspects that are interrelated in a complex way, such as cultural, health and political aspects. Systems thinking, which focuses on a system’s interrelated parts, could therefore help people understand the complexity of sustainability (Palmberg et. 2017).

SCIS (Science Curriculum Improvement Study) learner-centered inquiry based

program gives a theory for teaching and learning that promotes critical and

systemic thinking needed in ESD

The SCIS (Science Curriculum Improvement Study) program is intended to affect the ways

children think and develop their thinking skills. It is expected to influence how children

reason and make decisions about challenges they face as teenagers and adults. Such

thinking and decision-making will determine their responses of personal and societal

issues: how to care of my health and wellbeing, should I vote for or against the use of coal

as an energy source of my community (Thier & al, 1978).

The scientific literacy

Through investigation, scientists’ understanding of nature advances from simple

hypotheses to complex theories. At the same way children’s thinking advances from the

concrete to the abstract as they accumulate experiences and ideas (Thier & al.,1978).

In order to reach the objective of scientific literacy, developers of SCIS felt that the science

curriculum had to provide students with experiences that are different from their usual

ones. These experiences should be direct and concrete and not read from the books or told

by teachers. There should be substantial guidance and discussion and opportunity to relate

the unusual experience to the more usual experience. In this way, the abstract concepts that

are at the basis of the scientific point of view could be built up. As the children made further

observations they would look at them

more scientifically. The abstractions form a link between children’s earlier experiences and

later experiences (Kratoclvil & Crawford, 1971).

Scientific literacy derives from basic knowledge, investigate experiences, and curiosity. In

the SCIS program these three factors are integrated, balanced and developed through the

children’s involvement with basic scientific concepts (interaction, matter, energy, organism

and ecosystem), process-oriented concepts (property, variable, system, reference object,

scientific theory), and challenging problems for investigation.

Process-oriented concepts lead to development of competency in observing, describing,

comparing, classifying, measuring, interpreting evidence, predicting, and experimenting.

SCIS program helps children to form positive attitudes (curiosity, inventiveness, critical

thinking, and persistence) toward science as they explore phenomena (Thier & al., 1978).