Conceptualizing Environmental Citizenship for 21st Century Education

This Open Access book is about the development of a common understanding of environmental citizenship. It conceptualizes and frames environmental citizenship taking an educational perspective. Organized in four complementary parts, the book first explains the political, economic and societal dimensions of the concept. Next, it examines environmental citizenship as a psychological concept with a specific focus on knowledge, values, beliefs and attitudes. It then explores environmental citizenship within the context of environmental education and education for sustainability. It elaborates responsible environmental behaviour, youth activism and education for sustainability through the lens of environmental citizenship. Finally, it discusses the concept within the context of different educational levels, such as primary and secondary education in formal and non-formal settings.

Environmental citizenship is a key factor in sustainability, green and cycle economy, and low-carbon society, and an important aspect in addressing global environmental problems. It has been an influential concept in many different arenas such as economy, policy, philosophy, and organizational marketing. In the field of education, the concept could be better exploited and established, however. Education and, especially, environmental discourses in science education have a great deal to contribute to the adoption and promotion of environmental citizenship.

Andreas Ch. Hadjichambis is Chair of the European Network for Environmental Citizenship (Cost Action CA16229). He is the Scientific Director of the Cyprus Centre for Environmental Research and Education (CYCERE) and a Researcher in the Cyprus University of Technology. He is a biologist (Bsc) with MSc, MEd in education and a PhD. He is Biology Advisor and Coordinator of Environmental Education Programs. He participated in many European research projects and is a co-author of the biology books in Cyprus secondary education.

Pedro Reis is Sub-Director and Associate Professor in Science Education at the Instituto de Educação, Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal). In addition to his PhD and MEd in education, he holds a BSc degree in biology. He has been involved in research, teacher training and curriculum development projects in Portugal, other European countries (supported by the European Commission), Africa (supported by the World Bank, Foundations and local Governments) and Latin America (supported by the Portuguese, the Brazilian and the Colombian Governments).

Demetra Paraskeva - Hadjichambi is head of Environmental Education Department of the Cyprus Centre for Environmental Research and Education (CYCERE). She is a biologist and holds a PhD in Environmental Education. She is working as a biology advisor in the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture. She participated in Biology Curriculum Committee in the framework of Cyprus Educational Reformation. She is a co-author of the Biology books in the Secondary Education of Cyprus. She has been a SCIENTIX Ambassador.

Jan Činčera works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. He focuses on environmental education theory, research, and instructional strategies. His main interest lies in analyzing instructional strategies that help achieve the goals of environmental education. He is the author of more than twenty studies published in international journals, the national guidelines for evaluation of environmental education programs and books focusing on environmental education and interpretation.

Niklas Gericke is Professor in Science Education, and Director of the SMEER (Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education Research) research Centre at Karlstad University in Sweden and visiting professor at NTNU in Trondheim, Norway. His main research interests are biology education and sustainability education from conceptual, teaching as well as implementation perspectives. Other research interests include history and philosophy of science, models and representations in science, genetic education and textbook research.

Marie-Christine Knippels is an Assistant Professor in Science Education and has been head of the Biology education team at the Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. She is a biologist, developed the ’yoyo-strategy’, and holds a PhD in Genetics Education. She completed a postdoc research project (NWO) at RISBO, Erasmus University Rotterdam and serves as a member of the Academic Board of ERIDOB. She led the EU-FP7 PARRISE-project, and was partner representative in the SYNENERGENE project.