Developing Indonesian Preservice Science Teachers’ Understanding of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Through Integrated Courses

Educating future generations with education for sustainable development (ESD) can have significant effects on the sustainability of the world. As teachers play a very important role in educating young generations, the Faculty of Mathematics and Science Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, responds to the need by offering courses on ESD. The implicit approach and explicit approach are chosen as the implementation strategy. In the implicit approach, ESD principles are infused into two faculty-wide compulsory courses designed to develop literacy in mathematics, science, technology and engineering, scientific process skills, and engineering design skills. The two courses are offered in the first and the second semesters consecutively. The basic model of the courses is scientific processes (conducting scientific investigations), followed by engineering processes (solving real-life problems by developing a technology). In the first step, students conduct a scientific inquiry, while in the second step, they develop creative and innovative technology solutions. In the explicit approach, ESD is offered as elective courses at the departments. In the explicit approach, ESD is linked to the content of each department, such as Biology for Sustainable Development. Results of questionnaires distributed at the end of the semesters show that both implicit approach and explicit approach promote preservice teachers’ sustainability awareness and ESD teacher competencies.