Integrated approach to ESD towards enhancing Knowledge on sustainable development

ABSTRACT
Sustainable Development (SD) is one the most discussed issue now days, which is gaining
priority day by day due to the exploitation of nature in a drastic way. It is from this apprehension that
‘Education for sustainable development’ (ESD) emerged with an immediate urge to preserve and
conserve our nature and natural resources. The concept of ESD entangles the different countries and
states across the world as a whole for a sustainable society, which merges the environment, economic
and social dimensions. The paper discusses about the effect of integrated approach to education for
sustainable development on the students’ knowledge on sustainable development. The investigator
developed a curriculum by integrating SD concepts into science and social science of VII standard of
NCERT syllabus and various learning activities for their transaction by incorporating several
pedagogical strategies that lead to constructing knowledge, developing social perspectives and
analytical abilities.The study was of quasi experimental in nature with two group pre-test- post-test
design, whereby the integrated curriculum was taught to the experimental group for about five months
and the control group was exposed to the conventional curriculum and methodology. It was found that
there was a significant difference on the knowledge on sustainable development between experimental
and control group. The experimental group had a higher mean knowledge score than the control
group.On the basis of the findings from the study, it is concluded that there is a sheer need to highlight
the importance of integration of SD components in pedagogy at all levels.

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WSN 29 (2016) 1-11