Ensuring sustainability of tomorrow through green chemistry integrated with sustainable development concepts (SDCs)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe a best practice: an approach to teaching chemistry that our quantitative research has shown to produce large differences between experimental and control groups in terms of achievement, pro-environmental attitudes, values, and motivation. Our interest in teaching chemistry by focusing on sustainable development arises from the environmental concerns that as the country of this study, Malaysia is facing in many different areas—including rampant logging and pollution. As educators, we are interested in educating future generations so that they can cope with the environmental challenges that not only this nation but also the world as a whole is increasingly facing. The “green chemistry” approach we describe here may be just the answer that other developing nations and emergent economies in closing the gap with industrialized nations. We provide a detailed description of how green chemistry has been implemented in a curriculum for pre-service science teachers and in the curriculum of secondary school chemistry.