TOWARDS AN ACTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CITIZEN: SCIENCE EDUCATION AS A CATALYST FOR SUSTAINABILITY IN STUDENTS’ THINKING AND BEHAVIOR

Abstract

Amid growing global environmental concerns, education plays a critical role in shaping students’ understanding and attitudes toward sustainability. Science education, in particular, is uniquely positioned to foster environmental awareness and encourage responsible behaviors. This research was conducted to identify science teachers’ perspectives regarding their role in instilling environmental sustainability values and reinforcing responsible behaviors among their students. A qualitative approach was employed through conducting interviews with a purposive convenience sample of 51 primary-stage science teachers in Saudi Arabia. Collected data was analyzed based on the grounded theory approach to facilitate the extraction of core ideas and themes. The findings demonstrated that teachers are deeply aware of their role in the reciprocal relation between human and the environment, which extends beyond knowledge transmission to shaping students’ environmental behaviors, and that their environmental practices function as a model that strongly influences students’ practices. Teachers’ awareness of modeling, intellectual empowerment, and capability to link learning to real life situations demonstrated their deep understanding of how environmental education shapes long-term environmental attitudes. They highlighted empowering students to expect environmental challenges through integrating science curricula into real-life concerns. The findings strongly support integrating sustainability across disciplines to provide a comprehensive understanding of the concept and demonstrate science teachers’ advanced educational vision to facilitate values and critical thinking rather than knowledge transmission. Keywords: primary science education, environmental sustainability, teachers’ beliefs, contextualized teaching.