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308 D.B. Zandvliet
technological issues only within prescribed or predetermined limits (Sammel and
Zandvliet 2003). Environmental learning of this kind is viewed as a modified
“science education.” Without the inclusion of an important sociocultural compo-
nent, environmental learning of this kind maintains and promotes only hegemonic
beliefs and values while not addressing collateral problems relating to scientific
developments. Environmental learning (broadly defined) can seek to promote an
understanding of scientific and environmental issues in the wider interdisciplinary
context and in particular provide a model for the interpretation of curriculum in
local communities. To make this happen educators must look outside the traditions
of classic curriculum reform and insist on the adoption of place-based and socially
relevant strategies that make scientific (and environmental) issues readily accessi-
ble to communities. McBean and Hengeveld (2000) state:
Society in general, accumulates and processes knowledge through experience, perception
and intuition. Thus new information and facts are best understood and assimilated if these
are placed within the context of the existing knowledge and past experience of the indi-
vidual or community. (p. 5)
To summarize, a “scientific” environmental education can be seen as another
case of reactive change dominated by technical influences. To counter this influ-
ence a consideration of science and environment should begin on a personal level,
assisting students in learning about their own community while aiding in their
understandings of scientific ideas relevant to their own personal context. Essentially,
content learning would focus on defining a notion of community and with sense-
making activities within more personally defined (or value-laden) contexts.
Environmental learning of this nature has been described as an interdisciplinary
endeavor addressing multiple themes including complexity as well as themes such
as aesthetics, social responsibility, and ethics (Ministry of Education 2007).
Socioscientific Issues-Based (SSI) Approaches
In recent years, the discourse within science education has broadened from earlier
STS/STSE views of scientific and technological issues to include a discussion of
how science and societies share a more complex interdependence. This academic
dialogue at once acknowledges that scientific research agendas are frequently based
on the perceived needs of society. However, it also acknowledges that in other
instances, the pursuit and development of science helps shape and influence the
development of social norms. For example, perceived social needs such as the
desire to eliminate disease and improve agricultural productivity have also led
scientists to develop techniques for harvesting stem cells and genetically modifying
organisms. As a result, these technologies have given rise to a host of ethical quan-
daries as well as having presented new norms that society must now struggle with
and for which there may be no solutions (Sadler and Zeidler 2005).
The inclusion of socioscientific issues in curriculum is distinguishable from
earlier STS/STSE approaches as it considers the ethical and moral implications that