Environmental Science · Research topic

Open research questions in Environmental Education and Sustainability

249 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 5,777 Environmental Education and Sustainability papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Operationally, priority teaching modules include: First, that skills-oriented material integrate green (Kamis the development of environmentally friendly practice skills assessment rubrics (Wang et al., 2025). Third, attitude strengthening programmes through structured activities (e.g. ecoprojects, school waste management, and energy-saving campaigns) that evaluate behavioural aspects (Azahar et al., 2024; Saputri & Ediyono, 2022). Fourth, outcomebased monitoring and evaluation (technical competence and attitude and practice 2020). Second, and green laboratories al., et Indonesian Journal on Learning and Advanced Education (IJOLAE)| p-ISSN 2655-920x, e-ISSN 2656-2804 Vol.

    Fostering Green Skills in Vocational Students: The Impact of Learning Environment, Attitudes, and Competence · 2026 · DOI
  • The findings of this study indicate that while BEED students possess moderately high ecological knowledge and strong proenvironmental attitudes, their ecological practices remain only moderate. This gap between awareness and sustained action suggests the need for stronger practical integration of ecological literacy within teacher education programs. Climate change education and environmental sustainability concepts should be systematically embedded across the Bachelor of Elementary Education curriculum rather than confined to science-related courses. Integrating ecological themes into professional education subjects, including teaching strategies, curriculum planning, and field study components, may enhance the translation of environmental knowledge into pedagogical practice. Given the significant influence of coastal residence on ecological literacy, contextualized and place-based learning approaches should be prioritized. Incorporating local environmental issues, communitybased environmental projects, and partnerships with local government units and environmental organizations can provide preservice teachers with meaningful opportunities to apply ecological knowledge in real-world settings. Experiential learning strategies such as service-learning, coastal conservation initiatives, and sustainability-focused community immersion may strengthen ecological practices and reduce the observed gap between attitudes and behavior. Institutional support mechanisms should also be reinforced to sustain environmental engagement among preservice teachers. Establishing structured environmental programs, providing training in climate change education, and supporting student-led sustainability initiatives can create a supportive environment that encourages consistent ecological action. Strengthening institutional sustainability policies may further ensure that ecological literacy development is maintained as a core priority within teacher preparation programs. Future research may further examine the long-term development of ecological literacy and explore additional factors influencing ecological practices, including institutional culture, resource availability, and community engagement structures. Continued assessment and monitoring of ecological literacy outcomes may guide evidence-based improvements in curriculum design and teacher education policy. 7. Educational and Policy Implications for Teacher Education The findings of this study offer important implications for teacher education policy, curriculum development, and environmental education practice, particularly in climate-vulnerable coastal contexts.

    Preparing Environmentally Responsive Teachers: Ecological Literacy of Preservice Teachers in a Climate-Vulnerable Coastal Community · 2026 · DOI
  • Since the findings propose a strategic shift from passive homework to collaborative tasks, a redefinition of parent involvement is necessary. Rather than limiting interactions to administrative meetings, educators may invite families to actively participate in workshops and tangible production processes that utilize local, natural resources. When designing these activities, practitioners should be sensitive to the specific socioeconomic realities of rural families, ensuring that tasks align with their daily workloads. The successful implementation of such collaborative models is grounded in educators' pedagogical readiness. Therefore, professional development programs need to empower teachers with effective strategies for family engagement and communication. Schools can further support this by reimagining traditional parent-teacher meetings as “sustainability workshops” focused on building a collective intergenerational culture. In parallel with teacher training, it is crucial to position students as active agents of change. Modules focused on social skills can foster students’ capacity for constructive dialogue. To strengthen these efforts, schools should not work alone. Partnering with local community leaders, cooperatives, and NGOs can help environmental education reach a wider audience. Such local collaborations can inspire community events that celebrate family achievements and raise public awareness within the immediate social circle. Finally, the advantages of a rural setting, where environmental education can be directly linked to family livelihoods, such as agriculture, should be the cornerstone of any practitioner’s strategy. 6.2. For Future Research While this study is phenomenological and focused on a specific small-scale rural context, future research could use mixed methods to quantify long-term impacts of family-involved interventions across more diverse rural populations. Comparative studies are also needed to explore how cultural backgrounds, socioeconomic levels, and urban-rural settings influence family participation and environmental perceptions. Additionally, comparing these settings may reveal how natureconnectedness shapes the learning outcomes. Finally, longitudinal research should track students over extended periods. Such studies would show if initial behavioural shifts observed in this intensive small group setting lead to permanent changes in the home environment and whether the reverse socialization effect remains sustainable in the long term.

    Exploring environmental perceptions through family involvement: A phenomenological inquiry with students and parents · 2026 · DOI
  • The insights of this baseline case study are deemed valuable for consideration by higher education policy developers, university programme managers and lecturers as the need grows to develop students as transformational environmental leaders to address mounting integrated challenges of climate change. We concur with similar recommendations in the literature that there is a need for categorical focus on developing transformational leadership attributes in higher education students in a holistic, systemic and synergetic way. Given that policy development and endorsement at higher education lengthy process, we recommend that practitioners who engage directly with immediate strategies to students begin cultivate transformational attributes through curriculumbased activities, undergraduate research initiatives, and community engagement programmes.

    Reimagining transformational environmental leadership: Higher education students’ perspectives within the context of climate change – A South African baseline case study · 2026 · DOI
  • Campaign S4 S3, S5, S6 Seek funding S5 activities ….’ (S2, student) ‘I will create awareness and tell them what they must do to address climate change, tell them how climate change affects their health and lives.’ (S6, student) ‘I will make a discussion in my class, ask my colleagues, what they think about climate change … actively write my thoughts down and ask others what they think about it.’ (S4, student) ‘Maybe I can really get some help from like school [university], whereby I’m going door to door approaching people in their homes.’ (S3, student) ‘I think maybe may be if you can hold awareness campaigns. whereby you, you are talking to them about this issue of climate change ….’ (S5, student) ‘Approach people by not being harsh to them.’ (S6, student) ‘… and maybe try to secure funds. Those funds can be used to buy plants to make the community green.’ (S5, student) TABLE 3: Responses in the questionnaire to environmental leadership actions (agency enactment) within the context of climate change (N = 40). No.

    Reimagining transformational environmental leadership: Higher education students’ perspectives within the context of climate change – A South African baseline case study · 2026 · DOI
  • Originality/value This research provides a systematic overview of the growing use of NAM, grounded in moral motivation to influence PEB, a topic that has not been previously explored.

    Bibliometric analysis of the norm activation model and pro-environmental behavior: implications and future research · 2026 · DOI
  • This research is, of course, limited in time and space. The highly beneficial effects of contextualising environmental education at various cognitive and behavioural levels can be confirmed or refuted by further research conducted in other countries and cultures. We recommend that future researchers and practitioners from different regions of the world study the impact of this dual contextualization (cultural and environmental) on the quality of learning related to environmental education and on the resolution of local environmental problems in the short, medium, and even long term.

    <b>Impact of active learner involvement in a contextual and relevant environmental education programme on learning effectiveness</b><b></b> · 2026 · DOI
  • nvolvement of (line workers) lower- level managers in the initiation and implementation of environmental initiatives, future studies may consider the effects of the empowerment of line workers on the hypothesised relationships. For example, future studies could investigate the effect of implement- ing an incentive program to recognise and reward environmental management achievements, and/or utilising technology platforms that allow timely interac- tive communication and data sharing in respect to environmental related activi- ties. Further, while this study highlights the distinct role of the interactive use of EMCSs and employee environmental empowerment, future research could explore how the integration of these factors with other organisational contextual factors is associated with the success of EAM. Hence, future studies may investigate the role of these and other contextual variables in order to deepen our understanding of how environmental management practices can be tailored to different organ- isational settings. Finally, while this study focused on the effects of the interac- tive use of EMCSs on the success of EAM, future studies may consider the effects of alternative levers of control and/or different types of controls.

    The success of environmental activity management · 2026 · DOI
  • While limited by a small sample size ( n = 33) and its exploratory scope, the study makes a meaningful contribution to environmental education scholarship by extending the application of the ACF to informal residential settings.

    Misplaced Waste: The Importance of Community Education on Effective FOGO Waste Sorting Practices · 2026 · DOI
  • The study further identifies a persistent gap in the literature: few studies have examined the long-term effects of culturally specific meanings on identity formation and social learning in school-based fungi education, and fewer still have systematically tracked household-level spillover.

    From Fear to Inquiry: Ecological Knowledge, Affective Change, and Behavioural Spillover in a Fungi-Focused School Environmental Education Programme in Himachal Pradesh of India · 2026 · DOI
  • The results of the study indicate that pre-service science teachers are cognitively and affectively prepared to engage in the sustainability process; however, this readiness remains weak in the economic dimension and is not supported by practical Facing Economic Gap: Assessing the Multidimensional Sustainability Awareness … 167 pedagogical skills. In light of the current findings and the synthesis of international literature, the following recommendations are proposed: Whole-Institution Approach: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) should no longer be an add-on course in the curriculum, but rather be transformed into a holistic structure that permeates all science disciplines, as emphasized by Özdemir- Yılmazer (2025) and Hurd & Ormsby (2020). Systems Thinking and 4C Skills: The curriculum should be enriched with systems thinking tasks to enable candidates to analyze the interaction between economic and environmental systems. Furthermore, "4C" skills (Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity) (González-Salamanca et al., 2020) should be placed at the center of teacher training. Systems-Oriented Pedagogical Scaffolding: Following the recommendations of Peretz (2025), teacher training should move beyond one-time activities toward sustained integration of conceptual modelling and visual representations, such as causal-loop diagrams or DPSIR frameworks. These tools allow candidates to externalise their mental models and confront cognitive biases that simplify complex sustainability issues. Furthermore, providing teachers with ready-to-use frameworks and rubrics is essential to reducing the implementation burden and bridging the identified 'knowledge-action gap'. Economic Sustainability Literacy: For the economic dimension, which is the weakest area for candidates, "sustainable production and consumption" themed modules should be added from the first years of university education to create a "multiplying effect," as suggested by Vega-Cervera and Gallardo-Vazquez (2024). Action-Oriented Education and Self-Efficacy: To enable candidates to move from 'knowing to doing,' action competencies should be developed through community service applications and project-based learning (Sass et al., 2022; Baena-Morales et al., 2023). Technological and Artificial Intelligence Integration: In line with the TALIS 2024 vision (OECD, 2025) and the work of Kayaalp et al. (2025), candidates should be equipped with the skills to utilize AI-supported educational technologies to address and teach complex sustainability issues. Sustainable Lifestyle Role Modeling: In light of Özdemir-Yılmazer's (2025) findings, training programs should incorporate an awareness process that not only transforms the professional knowledge of candidates but also their personal life choices, such as sustainable consumption habits, to ensure they serve as authentic role models.

    Facing Economic Gap: Assessing the Multidimensional Sustainability Awareness of Pre-Service Science Teachers · 2026 · DOI
  • The four scales used in the study (the ecological knowl- edge scale; the new ecological paradigm scale; university student personal responsibility scale; organizational envi- ronmental citizenship behavior scale) limit their ability to capture the diversity of student experiences. The degree of internationalization of students in private universities in Malaysia is higher than that of public universities in Ma- laysia. Therefore, more psychological scales are needed to explain the diversity of student experiences in private universities. Future research should consider longitudinal studies, adding the variables of self-efficacy and self-determination to knowledge, attitude, and responsibility, and studying how they evolve over time and how these changes affect students’ environmentally responsible behavior in differ- ent situations. Extending this research to psychological research, self-efficacy scales and self-determination scales can be added to allow self-efficacy and self-determination to serve as mediating variables between environmental knowledge and environmentally responsible behavior and studying how they affect the understanding of sustainable behavior.

    Modeling sustainable environmental responsibility behavior of students in private university · 2026 · DOI
  • Modeling sustainable environmental responsibility behavior of students in private university Some researchers contend that simply increasing knowl- edge can directly foster pro-environmental behavior, while others argue that knowledge alone is insufficient and must be coupled with supportive attitudes and a sense of personal responsibility (Dunlap et al.

    Modeling sustainable environmental responsibility behavior of students in private university · 2026 · DOI
  • This reinforces assertions in recent TPB-based climate research that pro- environmental attitudes alone are insufficient without supportive norms and efficacy beliefs (Kim et al.

    Understanding climate change awareness, social impacts, and adaptive behavior among university youth in Bangladesh · 2026 · DOI
  • Theoretical insights (1) This research is the first one to reflect a systematic gap in the research at the cross-site of ESD and art education. This gap in the research is evident in the mapping results. Practical contributions (1) This research provides sufficient direction to the policy makers, the design of the curriculum, and art teachers by defining the knowledge structure, gaps in research, and potential areas of overlap to prevent blindly or patchy implementation.

    Mapping the Integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into Art Education: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Evolution and Future Directions · 2026 · DOI
  • While outdoor experiences can influence adults’ environmental engagement, it remains unclear whether early OE exposure: (i) encourages interest in OE teaching careers, or (ii) affects students’ entry-level knowledge and competence in university OE programs.

    Exploring the impact of formative outdoor education experiences on young people entering higher education outdoor education programmes in Australia · 2026 · DOI
  • In view of the analyses currently undertaken for this Report and following the work of the Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations concerning Teachers (CEART), the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, and the Secretary-General’s HLP on the Teaching Profession, the following recommendations are essential to address the systemic and persistent global teacher shortages and ensure an adequate supply of teachers to achieve universal primary and secondary education, accelerate the achievement of SDG4 (including Target 4.c on teachers) and, more generally, advance the Education 2030 Agenda. 1. Develop holistic teacher policies aligned to national priorities and the policy landscape that include all dimensions affecting teachers in an integrated manner, using a collaborative framework and social dialogue.

    Sustainability Literate Preschool Teachers: Exploring Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability—A Quantitative Model · 2026 · DOI
  • Kagiso Maimela teaches geography at a secondary school in North West Province, South Africa. © UNESCO/Ilan Godfrey 146 Global Report on Teachers — Addressing teacher shortages and transforming the professionChapter 8 Conclusions Teachers are at the core of all education systems and key to achieving SDG 4: to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. However, there exist persistent and increasing teacher shortages around the world which are exacerbated by continued attrition, the use of contract and unqualified personnel to fill teacher gaps, the lack of professional development and support, inadequate working conditions and salaries, lack of adequate funding and crisis contexts, among others. This first Global Report on Teachers sounds the alarm about the projected global shortfall of 44 million teachers needed to reach the goal of universal primary and secondary education by 2030. The Report examines the dire consequences of these shortages, including increased workloads and diminished well-being, the discouragement of future educators, the perpetuation of educational inequalities caused by the unequal distribution of qualified teachers, the implications for student learning and well-being, and the increased financial burden placed on educational systems. This inaugural Global Report on Teachers sounds the alarm on existing teacher shortages affecting all countries, though the size of the challenge is unequally distributed. It highlights the global deficit of 44 million teachers needed to achieve the SDG 4 targets for universal primary and secondary education by 2030. Following an analysis of the reasons for the shortages, the report highlights the levers for action that can be taken to improve the situation. Using examples from several regions of the world and from countries of varying income levels, the Report demonstrates that it is possible to reverse the trend. Its analyses offers conclusions, recommendations and policy measures necessary to address systemic and persistent global shortages and ensure an adequate supply of teachers to achieve universal primary and secondary education, accelerate the achievement of SDG 4 (including target 4.c on teachers) and, more generally, advance the Education 2030 Agenda. The report details the ways in which the challenge is unequally distributed. For example, by education level, we see that nearly 70 per cent of teachers needed Chapter 8. Conclusions and recommendations are for secondary education, while, geographically, needs vary heavily with sub-Saharan Africa requiring the largest share of additional teachers at 15 million. Likewise, the Report shows that teaching workforces do not always reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, linguistically, culturally, and otherwise.

    Sustainability Literate Preschool Teachers: Exploring Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability—A Quantitative Model · 2026 · DOI
  • Develop holistic teacher policies aligned to national priorities and the policy landscape that include all dimensions affecting teachers in an integrated manner, using a collaborative framework and social dialogue. 2. Collect more and better data to systematically report on the indicators agreed in the Education 2030 Framework for Action. 3. Transform teacher education and professional development from course-based, individual endeavours to lifelong, collaborative, and teacher-led processes. 4. Improve the working conditions of teachers, beginning with salaries and incentives to ensure teachers receive competitive compensation and benefits and ensure gender equality in pay and treatment. 5. Ensure adequate public, domestic funding that is consistent with the existing benchmarks of 6 per cent of GDP and 20 per cent of total government expenditure. 6. Enhance international cooperation to engage different constituencies in collaborative efforts to address teacher shortages and amplify the outreach of teacher policies. 24 Global Report on Teachers — Addressing teacher shortages and transforming the profession Introduction Sophea Keo teaches physics and life skills in Prey Veng, Cambodia. © UNESCO/Erika Pineros 26 Global Report on Teachers — Addressing teacher shortages and transforming the professionChapter 1 Chapter 1. Introduction The global education context: Where teachers stand Six years away from the deadline of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the targets of SDG 4, it is clear that, despite considerable progress made in securing access to education, huge and varied global challenges persist. These include environmental and climate crises, humanitarian emergencies, socio-economic instabilities, and political conflicts. These overlapping crises have further disrupted and hindered the achievement of inclusive, equitable and quality education for all. This complex landscape underscores the urgent need to reassess and reinforce our strategies to ensure that educational advancements are not just widespread but also resilient to these multifaceted global challenges (International Commission on the Futures of Education 2021). Given these circumstances, global education policy-makers and stakeholders are increasingly focused on addressing the interlinked challenges of equity and relevance. These dual crises demand careful consideration as we navigate the path towards fulfilling the commitment outlined in SDG 4 (United Nations 2023a). The crisis of equity in education is multi-faceted. Firstly, it includes the persistent issue of exclusion from learning opportunities, as it is estimated that 244 million children from 6 to 17 years old were out of school in 2021, only 9 million less than in 2015 (Global Education Monitoring Report Team and UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2022).

    Sustainability Literate Preschool Teachers: Exploring Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability—A Quantitative Model · 2026 · DOI
  • Future studies are recommended to employ larger samples and inferential statistical analyses to further examine the relationships among environmental knowledge, attitudes, awareness, environmental support, and pro-environmental 52 Didakta Nusantara: Journal of Education and Learning Volume 1 Issue 2 – 2026 pp 43-54 E-ISSN: 3124-5536 behavior.

    Analisis Tingkat Literasi Lingkungan Mahasiswa Penghuni Kos di Kecamatan Medan Tembung · 2026 · DOI
  • Future research should focus on investigating the impact of the above strategies on inhaler recycling uptake, harnessing a mixed-methods approach to identify effective interventions and reasons for their success or otherwise. Future research should focus on implementing and evaluating these interventions to identify effective methods for increasing inhaler recycling uptake. Most existing schemes have been limited to a single setting, typically the pharmacy.

    Patient attitudes, beliefs, and practices in environmentally friendly inhaler disposal: a mixed-methods evaluation with behaviourally informed recommendations · 2026 · DOI
  • Although our research has a strong methodological design, several limitations should be acknowledged. First, the study represents secondary analyses of TIMSS data, so scale Lehre et al. Large-scale Assessments in Education (2026) 14:29 Page 17 of 20 construction and variable choice rely heavily on the TIMSS framework. For example, the environmental values scale includes five items in Grade 5 and six in Grade 9. Although CFA supported the overall scale reliability in both grades, this discrepancy did not allow us to compare Grade 5 and Grade 9 results. Consequently, the analyses were conducted and interpreted separately for each grade. However, we tested measurement invariance within grades across genders, allowing comparisons for scales that reached scalar or par- tial scalar invariance. Second, the study is cross-sectional and does not permit causal interpretations. Third, as noted, the number of books at home was used as a proxy for SES, which represents a very rough indicator and certainly does not capture the full, multifaceted nature of SES. Fourth, the study focuses on Norwegian students and has limited generalizability to other educational systems. For example, science education in Norway is delivered as an integrated subject, whereas in some neighboring coun- tries, such as Finland, science is taught as separate subjects (biology, chemistry, phys- ics), which may limit the generalizability of our findings to those educational contexts. Finally, the environmental knowledge subscale reported in TIMSS is constructed from items originally designed to assess general science knowledge rather than environmental or sustainability achievement specifically (Liaw et al., 2025). As a result, the environmen- tal knowledge subscale contains fewer items and demonstrates lower reliability (Liaw et al., 2025). Given this limitation, we relied on the overall science score in the analyses. Consequently, the findings may not fully reflect student achievement in environmen- tal or sustainability topics, and the observed patterns could differ if a more targeted or robust measure were available. Future research should further investigate the mechanisms underlying these relation- ships by examining how specific types of learning experiences and instructional prac- tices are associated with students’ pro-environmental behaviors. In particular, research should explore whether emphasizing the real-world consequences of environmental problems, engaging students in hands-on activities (e.g., field visits, community projects, or waste collection), or providing opportunities for experiential and participatory learn- ing—in combination with value-based education—are linked to greater willingness to act pro-environmentally. Such work could also clarify how school practices can effec- tively bridge the gap between scientific understanding and pro-environmental action.

    Environmental values as predictors of environmentally responsible behaviors: insights from Norwegian TIMSS 2023 results · 2026 · DOI
  • Longitudinal studies are also encouraged to assess the sustainability of this model's impact across educational levels, and future research may explore AI-assisted rational decision-making learning in socioscientific contexts to examine how adaptive digital experiences can deepen students' reflective, predictive, and collaborative reasoning in elementary education.

    A rational decision-making learning model to enhance elementary students' environmental understanding · 2026 · DOI
  • In this perspective, a complementary line of reflection could be explored through the concept of quasi-communities (Emad and Roth, 2016), which may provide a relevant framework for enhancing student engagement beyond the university setting.

    Environmental citizenship among Spanish pre-service teachers: sustainability awareness and online civic engagement at the University of Granada · 2026 · DOI
  • The paper identifies collectivist cultural values (group harmony, social responsibility) as potentially increasing environmental attitude moderation effects, but provides no empirical comparison of moderation strength between high-collectivism and low-collectivism subsamples or methodological approach to isolate this cultural mechanism.

    Psychosocial factors in sustainable youth social work: enhancing resilience, self-efficacy, and pro-environmental behavior among Chinese youth · 2026 · DOI

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249 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 5,777 Environmental Education and Sustainability papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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