Explaining and validating the green curriculum’s characteristics based on the critical competencies of education for the 21st century

Articles in Press
Authors
M. Hosseini Largani 1
H. Taimour 2
M. saadvandi 3
1 Faculty members of the Institute for Research and Planning in Higher Education
2 2Masters Graduate, Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University
3 Graduate of Agricultural Education and Extension, Tarbiat Modares, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
This research aimed to explain and validate the green curriculum’s (GC) characteristics based on the critical competencies of education for the 21st century. Hence, a mixed research method was used. In the qualitative section, being used for identifying characteristics of GC, experts who have scientific experience(s) related to sustainability in Iran's higher education system were selected using snowball sampling, data were collected and analyzed through semi-structured interviews and content analysis, respectively. The validity of the identified GC characteristics was examined quantitatively based on the Lawshe method. In this section, based on the Lawshe method, 40 faculty members and doctoral students in educational sciences were selected using simple random sampling to evaluate the characteristics’ appropriateness by a three-level scale. Based on the results, 50 characteristics were extracted from the interviews and the documents. However, two of them were not acceptable based on the Lawshe method. Moreover, results revealed that each of the five competencies defined for education in the 21st century (including learning to know, learning to be, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to transform oneself and society) is aligned with several characteristics of the green curriculum. Finally, some of our suggestions to operationalize the mentioned competencies in the format of GC can be offered as follow; considering environmental management in academic curricula in various fields, defining practical projects for students to apply whatever they have learned, encouraging students to communicate with environmental organizations, and also global research communities to widen their horizons toward environmental issues.

Keywords

Subjects

  1. Alibaygi, A. H., Barani, S., Karami, E., and Pouya, M. (2013). Employability determinants of senior agricultural students in Iran. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 15(4), 673-683.

    Avvisati, F., and Borgonovi, F. (2020). Learning Mathematics Problem Solving through Test Practice: A Randomized Field Experiment on a Global Scale. Educational Psychology Review, 32(3), 791-814.

    Borg, W., and Gall, M. D. (1989). Educational research: An introduction. (5th edition). New York: Longman.

    Chankrajang, T., & Muttarak, R. (2017). Green returns to education: Does schooling contribute to pro-environmental behaviors? Evidence from Thailand. Ecological Economics, 131, 434-448.

    Delors, J. (1996). Learning: The Treasure Within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century. Paris: UNESCO.

    Gabrys, G., Arlene, W., and Lesgold, A. (2020). Learning by problem solving in a coached apprenticeship system. In Cognitive science foundations of instruction ,119-148, Routledge.

    Green heart education. (2019). Greening the curriculum, Available at https://www.greenhearted.org/ (Accessed 28 February 2022)

    Guba, E. G., and Lincoln, Y. S. (1989). Fourth Generation Evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

    Haigh, M. (2005). Greening the University Curriculum: Appraising an International Movement. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 29(1), 31-48.

    Hamzerobati, M., Javdani, H., Moharerani, B., Seyed Abbaszadeh, M.M., and Bazrafshan Moghadam, M. (2017). Sustainable University: Prerequisites for Achieving Sustainable Education. Process Development and management, 30 (3), 61-96.

    ICC (Illinois Central College). (2019). Green Curriculum, Available at: https://icc.edu/about-icc/sustainability/green-curriculum/ [Accessed 15 March 2022].

    Karami, Sh., Fathi Vajargah, K., Khosravi Babadi, A.A., and Farajzadeh, M. (2020). Green Curriculum in the Higher Education of Iran: Water Crisis, Climate Change, Sources of Knowledge. Quarterly Journal of Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, 9 (1), 81-94.

    Kountouris, Y., & Remoundou, K. (2023). Does higher education affect pro -environmental behaviour? Evidence from house hold waste recycling in Greece. Environmental Research Letters, 18(8), 084017.

    Louw, W. (2013). Green Curriculum: Sustainable Learning at a Higher Education Institution. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 14(1), 1–15.

    Munro, B. H. (2004). Statistical Methods for Health Care Research. Philadelphia. Lippincott.

    Otto, S., and Pensini, P. (2017). Nature-based environmental education of children: Environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature, together, are related to ecological behaviour. Global Environmental Change, 47, 88-94.

    Paykari A, Mazloumi A, Halvani GH., Ghaneh S, and Mashayekhi M. (2018). Validation and reliability study of a ventilator usability assessment tool. Occupational Medicine. Quarterly Journal. 10(3), 1-12.

    Pe'er, S., Goldman, D., and Yavetz, B. (2007). Environmental literacy in teacher training: Attitudes, knowledge, and environmental behavior of beginning students. The Journal of Environmental Education, 39(1), 45-59.

    Rebello, N. S., Cui, L., Bennett, A. G., Zollman, D. A., and Ozimek, D. J. (2017). Transfer of learning in problem solving in the context of mathematics and physics. In Learning to solve complex scientific problems, 223-246, Routledge

    Saunders, B., Sim, J., Kingstone, T., Baker, Sh., Waterfield, J., Bartlam, B., Burroughs, H., and Jinks, C. (2017). Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization. Quality & Quantity, Springer, 1-15, Netherlands.

    Schilling, J. (2006). On the pragmatics of qualitative assessment. European journal of psychological assessment, 22(1), 28-37.

    Shaeffer, S. (2007). Education for Sustainaable Development: A Framework for Reform. UNESCO Bangkok, Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. [Online] Available at: http://www.unescobkk.org/esd.

    Singer-Brodowski, M., Beecroft, R., and Parodi, O. (2018). Learning in real-world laboratories: A systematic impulse for discussion. GAIA-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 27(1), 23-27.

    Taqipour, M., Abbasi, E., Naeimi, A., Ganguly, S., and Zamani, N. (2016). An investigation of self-directed learning skills among the Iranian agricultural students (Case of Agricultural College, Tarbiat Modares University). Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 18(1), 15-26.

    Zou, L. L. (2012). A Meta-Analysis Framework and Its Application for Exploring the Driving Causes to Social Vulnerability. In D. Erasga (Ed.), Sociological Landscape-Theories, Realities and Trends,127-142, London: In tech Open.
Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 16 September 2025