Transformative STEAM Education for Sustainable Living: Ethical Valuing in The Classroom

Abstract

Humanity has recently entered the Anthropocene, a geological era that is unprecedented in the history of our planet. Our addiction to fossil fuels and powerful technologies has dangerously altered the Earth’s natural systems, giving rise to well-documented global crises such as climate change, plastic pollution of the oceans, and tragic loss of biocultural diversity. These global crises have created a unique challenge for STEM educators, given that STEM disciplinary knowledge and skills are traditionally viewed as the key to solving the world’s economic development needs, a narrow view that results in STEM students learning objectively about the world out there, beyond the classroom. Such a restrictive approach largely ignores the crucial role STEM education can and should (ethically) play in shaping students’ attitudes and values - their inner worlds - that fuel their moral agency for living and working in sustainable ways. Around the world, however, many STEM educators with a moral conscience are embracing a socially responsible vision by adapting Arts-based methods of teaching and learning to prepare young people with transformative capabilities, including moral values, for actively contributing to the sustainable development of a world in crisis. Practical examples of these innovative pedagogical approaches are illustrated in my co-edited book: Transformative STEAM Education for Sustainable Development.