Book Reviews

This book is one of the titles in the ‘Innovations in Science Education and Technology’ series. The series has its origins in 1992 with the recognition of the enormous challenge facing science education in the USA and the perceived need to expand and improve. It was felt that this reform should be brought about, not just by taking account of the advances in the scientic disciplines themselves, but also by recognising among other factors societal pressures and relationships, cognitive development and the impact of standards. A multidisciplinary forum was launched in 1992 for sharing ideas among the community of people interested in addressing the challenge to science education. These perspectives were shared in the Journal of Science Education and Technology. Contributions to the journal have highlighted recurring topics and themes that have become the foci for expanded treatment in the form of a book. This title is one of the series. It is important to understand where this text has emerged from because one then begins to understand the context for the contributions. There is a recognition in the introductory chapter by Keith Wheeler that sustainability is a way of thinking as much as it is a content. He recognises that many struggle to articulate what sustainability means and suggests that when discussing sustainable development we recognise the interconnections between environmental, economic and social systems, often approaching predominantly from one of these viewpoints. ‘Education about sustainability in essence is about learning to make and understand the connections and interactions between these three complex systems,’ (taken from p. 2 of the text). It is suggested that to engage successfully in sustainable development we must train ourselves to think holistically. Wheeler goes on to identify what he perceives to be the challenges to educators seeking to achieve this goal. Here, quite interestingly, he identies what he describes as the “ah ha” factor—the when and how did we rst see the world through new eyes of sustainability? It is suggested that if we identify the event or process that leads to this transformation and share experiences with others, we may be able to synthesise these shared experiences. Based upon this synthesis we may begin to construct experiences for our students so that they too can move towards achieving ‘ah ha. ’ This opens up a very interesting area of debate that is not thoroughly developed in the text. It could be argued for example that some of the material developed by the Institute for Earth Education could go some way towards achieving these aims of awakening a wider understanding and engagement. If we accept that sustainability is a frame of mind rather than merely a policy we should be aware of the further implications. Bonnett (2002) explores the notion that such a frame of mind implies the idea of a ‘right relationship’ with nature. The contributors in this text may perhaps reect further upon how this relationship is encouraged or constrained by the motives and values of the dominant Western view. During the following 17 chapters, various aspects of education for sustainability are discussed. Five of these chapters deal with issues loosely related around the heading of the nature of education for sustainability and the remaining twelve report on more specic projects and approaches. Notably, Lynn Mortensen in chapter 2, ’Global Change Education: Educational Resources for Sustainability’, does recognise that sustainable development is, among other