Ecosystem services (ES) are the benefits people obtain from nature contributing to our well-being. Although this concept has high didactic potential, its presence in education literature is scarce. This article presents the ES framework as a new teaching principle that, taught together with the biodiversity concept, may help students develop…

How children piece together their reasons for protecting the environment is an important but under-research area in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS). This article reviews findings related to young Maltese children's (aged 3-7 years) reasons for protecting the environment. Adopting a qualitative case study approach, preliminary…

Environmental knowledge and awareness are the major environmental tools for sustainable development. The rise in environmental problems such as river siltation, uncontrolled population growth, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, pollution and climate change are due to lack of environmental education. The current study analyses the level of…

Biodiversity plays a crucial role in ecosystem functioning by providing essential benefits to people and improving their well-being, i.e., regulating material and non-material services; especially in cultural and natural rich landscapes, such as those found in Latin-American countries. Nevertheless, in spite of the utmost importance of sustaining…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of foundation chemistry learners concerning the sustainable development concept. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted. Atlas.ti software was used to analyse the chemistry curriculum based on selected themes and sub-themes. A…

Mankind could not exist without the earth to which it owes its life and could not have continued to exist to this day. This earth we call our world is an ecosystem. Mankind could not survive alone in this ecosystem. Mankind was able to continue its existence to the present day forming a whole with the other elements of this ecosystem. Aware of…

Purpose: This paper aims to provide data on the self-perceived state of sustainability consciousness of first-year Hong Kong students. Design/methodology/approach: Within a mixed-method research design framework, the authors conducted 787 questionnaires and collected 989 reflective narratives of first-year students of a university in Hong Kong,…

Knowledge of species, interest in nature, and nature experiences are the factors that best promote interest in and understanding of environmental issues, biodiversity and sustainable life. The aim of this study is to investigate how well student teachers identify common local species, their interest in and ideas about species identification, and…

This study investigated the consciousness of the pre service teachers of nesting animals in certain ecosystems. The study group included primary school and subject teacher students. The students were asked to name 10 different nesting animal species in each ecosystem drawing. Spruce dominated coniferous forest got the highest number of animals…

A number of recent surveys of public opinion claim that there is now widespread acceptance of the need for sustainable development, and that the general public, through its social and consumer activity is already successfully engaged. However, in all this, the focus has primarily been on individual and family behaviours such as recycling and…

In order to achieve the regional sustainability and bio-cultural preservation, environmental education of youth will be critical, however due to the lack of the specific subject of regional studies at the educational curriculum, students are not able to achieve the skills to understand the local environment and feel isolated from nature. We…