Educating for Sustainable Development: Opportunities for Progress in the U.S.
Educating for Sustainable Development: Opportunities for Progress in the U.S.
In spring 2023, the Smithsonian Science Education Center contracted with Gallup to conduct a study of U.S. K-12 teachers and school administrators, as well as teachers of students in comparable grade levels in four peer countries: Brazil, Canada, France and India. The goal was to gauge attitudes toward, and demand for, education and resources related to sustainable development. This study was an outgrowth of the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s Smithsonian Science for Global Goals project, which aims to improve science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education for sustainable development for youth around the world.
As a follow-up to this report, the Smithsonian’s STEAM Education Working Group contracted with Gallup to dig more deeply into the U.S. results to better understand how science standards in the U.S. do (or do not) align with sustainable development topics. Gallup conducted a landscape analysis of U.S. standards, and then interviewed teachers, administrators, parents and students in the U.S. to better understand what they want and need from scientific, cultural and educational organizations like the Smithsonian to teach sustainability in schools. This report summarizes these findings.