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Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 16 (2020) 100229

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Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy


journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/scp

Integrating perspectives from indigenous knowledge and Western science


in secondary and higher chemistry learning to contribute to
sustainability education
Robby Zidny a, b, Ingo Eilks a, *
a
Department of Biology and Chemistry, Institute for Science Education (IDN) - Chemistry Education, University of Bremen, Leobener Str. NW2, 28334, Bremen,
Germany
b
Department of Chemistry Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, 42117, Serang, Indonesia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this paper, we suggest integrating perspectives from indigenous and Western science into chemistry learning.
Chemistry education Doing so is suggested to enhance students’ views on sustainability issues. Integrating indigenous and Western
Sustainability views can provide students with insight into using multiple perspectives. Cross-disciplinary knowledge offers
Indigenous knowledge
ways to solve problems more holistically and to promote respect for different worldviews. This claim is supported
Systems thinking
by a case study testing a lesson plan incorporating indigenous science in secondary and tertiary chemistry ed­
ucation. The study was carried out in Indonesia and used a socio-scientific issues-based, sustainability-oriented
approach and the context of the Baduy community. University student teachers (n ¼ 73) and upper secondary
school students (n ¼ 40) participated in this study. The study focuses on pesticide use, including a discussion of
alternative, green pesticide use in an indigenous community. The lesson focuses on the role of different per­
spectives taken from indigenous and Western science and connects the issue with chemistry concepts from
general and organic chemistry. A post-intervention questionnaire (ten Likert scale items and one open-ended
question) was used to explore students’ feedback regarding the learners’ experiences and attitudes towards
the lesson plan. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and text analysis. Our findings indicate that
students’ perception of the lesson was positive and that the lesson was considered to be interesting and relevant.
Learning by integrating perspectives of indigenous and Western science aided students’ insight. It showed them
that chemistry learning can be enriched by an interconnected system of worldviews in order to find solutions to
sustainability issues.

1. Introduction has already been addressed by several different national science edu­
cation standards (e.g., the National Curriculum in the UK and AAAS in
Delivering scientific content to students is the aim of chemistry ed­ the US (NC, 2004; American Association for the Advancement of Sci­
ucation, however, a societal perspective to the application and impacts ence, 1993)). This has also become part of international educational
of chemistry also needs to be included (Hofstein et al., 2011). Modern policy in general (UN, 2015) and, more specifically, with a direct
chemistry teaching should prepare students for societal participation, reference to sustainability and green chemistry (UNEP, 2019).
including the development of an environmentally reflective attitude Over the last twenty years, several cases were published which dis­
among students (Sjo €stro
€m et al., 2016). One way to achieve this goal is cussed the integration of chemistry education with sustainability issues.
to integrate sustainability-related socio-scientific issues (SSIs) into Some of them were following the socio-critical and problem-oriented
chemistry lessons. This can help students to understand the role of chemistry lesson approach (Marks and Eilks, 2009). The studies
chemistry in society and prepare them to become future responsible addressed bioethanol usage (Feierabend and Eilks, 2011), learning
citizens (Holbrook and Rannikmae, 2007; Marks and Eilks, 2009; Sadler, about and evaluating plastics (Burmeister and Eilks, 2012), life-cycle
2011). The need for the inclusion of societal issues in chemistry learning analysis (Juntunen and Aksela, 2014), and comparing traditional and

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ingo.eilks@uni-bremen.de (I. Eilks).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scp.2020.100229
Received 3 December 2019; Received in revised form 7 February 2020; Accepted 8 February 2020
Available online 7 March 2020
2352-5541/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
R. Zidny and I. Eilks Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 16 (2020) 100229

green pesticides (Zowada et al., 2020). According to these studies, the agricultural products. Pesticide consumption has increased in recent
integration of sustainability topics into chemistry education works well years, especially in the agricultural sector, where high productivity is
when focusing on controversial societal issues with direct links to sci­ necessary to cover market demand (Popp et al., 2013). Economic and
ence and technology (Burmeister et al., 2012; Sadler, 2004). This environmental losses, however, also result from the use of pesticides and
approach has also been suggested to make chemistry learning more must be weighed against their benefits. For instance, the investigation of
authentic, interesting and relevant for students (Stuckey et al., 2013) in the application of pesticides in the United States has shown major eco­
Western science classrooms. In Indonesia, socio-scientific issues-based nomic and environmental losses. More than nine billion US dollars are
(SSI) and sustainability-oriented education have been contextualized in spent each year on environmental and public health costs (Pimentel,
inquiry-based chemistry learning which is suggested to have positive 2005). The societal implications of pesticide use need to consider the
effects on students in terms of their perceived ability, interest, need to increase food production in order to feed the global population.
commitment and values (Rahayu et al., 2018). Socio-scientific issues are The world must find enough food to feed people where the human
also suggested to consider aspects of socio-cultural and geographical population increases every year. There is a continuing debate about the
aspects which have different characteristics in various countries use of pesticides all over the world today. The UN Food and Agriculture
(Wiyarsi and Çalik, 2019). Research on SSIs and sustainability-oriented Organization (FAO) estimates that up to 40% of global crop yields are
education in Indonesia is, however, still very limited. lost each year due to pests (Popp et al., 2013). This issue raises the
This paper reports on a spin-off of SSI and sustainability-oriented question of whether food production can be guaranteed without the use
education. It looks, in the case of Indonesia, at a country with indige­ of conventional pesticides such as glyphosate (Zowada et al., 2020).
nous communities and records their views about integrating science into A discussion of sustainability issues surrounding pesticides considers
their indigenous lifestyles. It is suggested that multiple perspectives on benefit-risk factors. Such a discussion which contrasts the benefits and
scientific worldviews could make a strong connection between indige­ risks as portrayed in the public media offers a fruitful starting point for
nous and Western science, sustainability issues, cultural values, and the chemistry learning about sustainability. This has been the case when
relevance of science learning (Murray, 2015; Stuckey et al., 2013; Zidny using a socio-scientific issues-based approach like the socio-critical and
et al., 2020). Western science in this paper is understood as Western problem-oriented curriculum model for chemistry education (Marks and
science knowledge and alternative Western thinking which is shaped by Eilks, 2009). The issue of pesticides fits well with the criteria used to
modern Western societies (Zidny et al., 2020). It is understood in its select topics for this curriculum model (Stolz et al., 2013). It is authentic,
contemporary dominant interpretation of science in Western countries relevant, open to evaluation, allows for open discussions, and deals
which in the literature is generally described as Western modern science. directly with questions from science and technology. For Indonesia, the
To avoid the impression that indigenous science is suggested as not topic of pesticide use is closely related to the socio-economic and
being modern, we are using the term Western science in this means geographical background of the country which has a significant agri­
throughout this paper. It also needs to be said that although it has been cultural production. Although pesticide use is not a common topic in
suggested to name the science of indigenous communities as Indigenous chemistry curricula at the high school and undergraduate level in
science (with an upper case I) to show respect to the knowledge of Indonesia, this context is suggested to be relevant to Indonesian students
indigenous communities we decided to use indigenous science (with a because of Indonesia’s large agriculutural economy and thus the ques­
lower case i, later abbreviated as IS) as this is still the most often used tion of pesticide use has potential to directly influence students’ live and
term in the literature. This study aims to explore student’s perception should have meaning to them (Wiyarsi and Çalik, 2019).
and experiences toward a teaching intervention which integrates the
perspective of indigenous and Western science in socio-scientific 2.2. Chemistry learning and indigenous knowledge
issues-based and sustainability-oriented learning.
So far, the implementation of socio-critical and problem-oriented
2. Background chemistry education (Marks and Eilks, 2009) is mostly restricted to
Western chemistry classrooms. Application has so far been restricted to
2.1. Pesticides as a controversial issue for chemistry learning incorporating Western scientific views into chemistry learning. Often,
this does not integrate cultural components, which is also the situation
One controversial sustainability issue which has already been tested in many countries worldwide (e.g., Ideland, 2018; Khaddoor et al.,
for chemistry learning is the use of pesticides (Zowada et al., 2020). The 2017). The question, therefore, arises whether such cultural components
use of conventional pesticides, such as glyphosate, has been discussed by can enrich teaching and learning. This is especially relevant in countries
the mass media and in public debate for a long time. Pesticides un­ where different cultural perspectives, values, and worldviews exist, for
doubtedly help to increase agricultural output. However, they also example, in countries with indigenous communities.
harbor the risk of producing undesirable impacts on human health and In this paper, we suggest adding relevance and meaningfulness to
the environment. The debate on the utilization of agricultural pesticides chemistry learning by considering the application of science in different
as a sustainability issue in education must be informed by three main cultural and socio-economic environments. In some regions of the
viewpoints borrowed from the dimensions of sustainability: ecological, world, for example in Asia, there are indigenous communities which still
economic and societal sustainability (Burmeister et al., 2012). maintain their unique and diverse cultural traditions. Indigenous com­
From an ecological standpoint, pesticides pose a potential risk to munities generally have unique knowledge about their direct sur­
human health and other organisms. They also may have undesirable roundings, which is orally passed on in various forms of indigenous
environmental side effects such as decreasing biodiversity. Pesticides science (IS). In some literature, IS is also conceptualized under different
can accumulate in soil or water, then harm non-targeted plants, animals, names such as traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) (Kim and Dionne,
birds, fish, and other wildlife species (Damalas and Eleftherohorinos, 2014) or ethnoscience (Fasasi, 2017).
2011). Recent research revealed pesticide side effects which can disrupt The wisdom of indigenous knowledge is often based on a sacred
aquatic microbial environments (Muturi et al., 2017) and can have le­ respect for nature, due to indigenous peoples’ relationships and re­
thal and sub-lethal effects leading to decreases in bee populations in sponsibilities towards their natural environment (Knudtson and Suzuki,
agricultural ecosystems (Azpiazu et al., 2019). Some reports also 1992). The practice of indigenous science generally centers around the
examined the persistence of pesticides and the possibility of atmospheric utilization of natural resources in order to fulfill needs in the areas of
pollution (Nascimento et al., 2018, 2017; Yusa � et al., 2009). agriculture, medicine, land and forest management, or water and soil
In economic and societal terms, it is impossible to deny that the use conservation (Zidny and Eilks, 2018). We would suggest that indigenous
of pesticides has led to an increase in global production and yields of science offers rich and authentic contexts for science learning which can

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potentially interest students who live in the corresponding environ­ conventional pesticides. The issue of the use of potentially harmful
ments or coexist with indigenous communities, especially in times of synthetic pesticides is a concern in both agriculturally developed and
globalisation. Indigenous perspectives can contribute to understanding developing countries, such as Indonesia. Studies indicated that the res­
the relationship between socio-cultural and environmental ethics. They idues of harmful pesticides such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) can
can also help to better reflect upon Western views of science in order to be found in food products (Shoiful et al., 2013) and contaminated rivers
develop more holistic perspectives (Snively and Williams, 2016). This is (Isworo et al., 2015) in Indonesia. We suggest that learning about
seen as necessary for relevant science education for sustainability pesticide use connected with IS will provide students with new insights.
(Sjo
€stro
€m et al., 2016). It has also been suggested that indigenous They will realize how using multiple perspectives and trans-disciplinary
knowledge provides chances to reflect upon views of nature and science knowledge can lead to solving problems more holistically. This will also
in contemporary (Western) science education. This can aid in the allow them to better contribute to collective decisions about the future.
development of better-balanced, more holistic worldviews, intercultural Another argument is to enrich chemistry learning by systems thinking
understanding, and sustainability (Zidny et al., 2020). (Mahaffy et al., 2018). Systems thinking means that chemistry education
looks at the interconnection of chemistry with other systems. These
2.3. Connecting learning about pesticide use with indigenous knowledge include human societies, nature, biospheres, socio-economics, politics,
legal systems and knowledge borrowed from other disciplines (Matlin
In the recent debate on more green and sustainable chemistry, the et al., 2016). Reorientation of chemistry education around systems
search for agricultural pest management in a more sustainable manner thinking can enhance learners’ understanding of chemistry concepts and
came to the attention of chemists and environmentalists. Approaches principles in a rich social context. It can also address the impact of
have been tried which include integrated pest management and bio- chemistry on global problems and advance sustainable development
rational control of pests (Metcalf and Luckmann, 1994). The use of (Mahaffy et al., 2018).
green pesticides is currently one of the most popular options for dealing The case study presented below provides an illustration of the ideas
with pest problems without causing negative effects in the environment presented above. It describes the implementation of a teaching unit
(Zuin and Ramin, 2018). Natural plant compounds are selected to which incorporates science-related indigenous knowledge into
develop green pesticides as an alternative to synthetic pesticides, due to sustainability-oriented chemistry education for students at the second­
their ecological compatibility (Hikal et al., 2017). Phytochemical com­ ary and tertiary levels. The chemistry concepts behind the use of bio-
pounds which can be employed as green insecticides include essential pesticides produced from natural products are believed to better
oils, alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, esters and fatty acids (Altemimi learning in the classroom. The case below shows a regional example
et al., 2017; Cantrell et al., 2012; Hikal et al., 2017; Koul, 2008). The from Indonesia, but also promotes education for sustainable develop­
utilization of plant extracts as bio-pesticides for pest control has already ment (ESD) and intercultural learning. An educational design frame­
been used by indigenous communities. Studies in IS and ethnobotany work was used which introduces IS as both content matter and context
have explored the potential use of phytochemical compounds showing for science education (Fig. 1) (Zidny et al., 2020). The framework uses
pesticide activity (Gospel Ajuru, 2017; Mkindi et al., 2015; Vabeiryur­ the ESD pedagogical approach in connection with science education
eilai and Chandra, 2015; Wadood, 2013). In this respect, IS found in based on socio-scientific issues (Burmeister et al., 2012). It combines
local communities should be considered as a source of knowledge and social-cultural contexts, local wisdom, and the philosophical aspects of
inspiration for developing sustainable approaches towards pest control. IS in the same sense that socio-critical sustainability issues do.
Related to the chemistry context, a case study analyzing IS in Socio-cultural aspects of IS can be used in ESD as potential contexts to
Indonesia revealed that indigenous communities apply various princi­ achieve science learning. This encourages teachers and students to
ples and concepts from chemistry in a sustainable fashion. We can call develop enhanced respect for local cultures. It also provides pathways
this “ethnochemistry” (Zidny and Eilks, 2018). The communities merge for teaching and learning locally relevant knowledge and skills, as well
science with their socio-cultural context regarding values, philosophy as promoting ESD simultaneously.
and environmental ethics. The application of indigenous knowledge in
the Baduy community is based on mutually agreed principles and norms 3. Integrating IS and chemistry learning in Indonesia
to maintain the sustainability of life in the community for both present
and future generations. The Baduy have a philosophy that has a deter­ 3.1. Research background, sample and method
mination (pikukuh) to preserve nature, that is, "The mountain is not
allowed to be destroyed, the river is not allowed to be destructed. If it is long, it The case study in this paper is part of a larger educational design
is not allowed to cut and if it is short, it is not allowed to be connected." The project which aims at incorporating IS and perspectives of sustainability
essence of the Baduy’s determination means that humans are not into modern chemistry education in Indonesia. The framework of the
allowed to change anything that could cause damage to nature. As a project (Fig. 1) was adapted from the Model of Educational Recon­
sustainable approach to pest control, the Baduy use natural compounds struction (MER) (Duit et al., 2005). MER links together the analysis of
extracted from plants as bio-pesticides, which we can consider to be content structure, research on teaching and learning, and the develop­
green pesticides. In the process of pest control, the Baduy community ment and evaluation of instruction. The research framework further
has paddy treatment activities which they call "ngubaran pare". This integrates multiple perspectives on science worldviews in order to arrive
treatment uses a blend of local plant ingredients as bio-pesticides known at stronger connections between IS and Western science, sustainability
in the local language as "samara pungpuhunan". These ingredients have a issues, cultural values and the relevance of science learning (Murray,
function as botanical pesticides to control pests in their paddy planta­ 2015; Stuckey et al., 2013; Zidny et al., 2020). The phenomenon or
tions. In accordance with their culture and belief, the production of process of IS serves as a source for socio-scientific and cultural issues,
bio-pesticide ingredients is accompanied by a traditional ceremony. The which are suggested to promote higher levels of relevance for science
story of the life journey of the Baduy and a fairy tale about Nyi Pohaci education.
Sanghyang Asri (the rice god) are presented in the ceremony (Senoaji, Within the research framework, the study in this paper attempts to
2011). IS is generally in line with the principles of green and sustainable investigate students’ perception and experiences during a teaching unit
chemistry. This includes using biodegradable chemicals and avoiding which introduces pesticide sustainability issues based upon IS and
environmental pollution. IS also offers valuable perspectives which can Western perspectives. The learners’ responses are considered of signif­
complement Western scientific views in order to achieve sustainability icant value for the development and evaluation of potential future
(Zidny et al., 2020). curriculum design. The study was conducted at the university and upper
The recognition of IS might enrich the debate about the global use of secondary school level in Indonesia. The total number of participants

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Fig. 1. Educational design framework to incorporate indigenous knowledge into science education (Zidny et al., 2020).

included two classes of university chemistry student teachers (N ¼ 73) Sentiment analysis in a survey is a technique which measures the overall
and 40 students in upper secondary school (12th grade, science majors). attitude towards a particular topic or product. In terms of educational
These groups of learners were chosen because all groups learn at in­ purposes, it can be used to analyze students’ attitudes towards learning
stitutions which are located near the Baduy indigenous community, an experiences, based on their feedback to the open-ended question (e.g.,
indigenous tribe on Java in Indonesia. The study involved two groups of Liu et al., 2019; Yu et al., 2018). DisplayR uses an R algorithm to analyze
participants to grasp students’ feedback toward the complexity of the the text by scoring the words as positive (þ1 scores), negative ( 1
issue at different levels of education, which is suggested important to scores), or neutral (0 scores). For example, the word “interested” would
better understand developing teaching and learning designs. After the generate a score of 1 instead of 1. The score calculation in the text or
intervention, students answered a questionnaire about their perceptions statement such as “I am really interested (þ1) with the lesson, it was fun!
and learning experiences. The questionnaire was validated prior to the (þ1)” would yield a score of þ2. The final sentiment score is the sum of
intervention by discussions with experts. all the scores. The average sentiment score represents student attitudes
The research instrument for the study was a questionnaire adminis­ and shows whether learners express positive or negative sentiments
tered after completion of the teaching unit. It contained ten Likert-scale towards a given lesson.
items and one open-ended question. The development of the question­
naires involved a professor with relevant knowledge and experience in 3.2. Teaching intervention
chemistry education. After the revision process, the questionnaire was
translated into Indonesian language and reviewed by three Indonesian The teaching unit centered around sustainability issues of pesticide
researchers in the field of chemistry education. Furthermore, the ques­ use, compared to an alternative green pesticide selected from IS. During
tionnaire was pilot-tested by a small group of students, then revised 2½ hours of teaching time, tasks were given to the students in the form of
before finally being used in this research. a set of worksheets, which encompass four activities. In the first session,
In the questionnaire, the Likert-based items focused on: 1) students’ the students’ preconceptions were explored to find their a priori un­
interests, 2) their motivation for the topic, 3) the perceived relevance in derstanding of pesticides, pesticide function, and the difference between
the context of both their personal learning and the chemistry curricu­ synthetic and natural pesticides. Their knowledge of green pesticides
lum, 4) their concern about sustainability, and 5) the perspectives for IS was also examined. After this, the students wrote down their answers
and Western science to work together to solve sustainability issues and and explored them in a class discussion. A video entitled “Do we really
promote intercultural learning. Chronbach’s alpha as a measure of need pesticides?” from TEDx (by Fernan P� erez-G�alvez) was presented to
reliability of the Likert-questionnaires was 0.75 (between acceptable give the students new insights into sustainability issues surrounding
and good). The final, open-ended question focused on the student’s pesticide use. The video has subtitles in Indonesian and 22 other lan­
opinions regarding both the topic and the overall learning process. guages. It can be found on the internet under the link: (https://ed.ted.
The students’ answers to the Likert-items were subject to descriptive com/lessons/do-we-really-need-pesticides-fernan-perez-galvez#watch
statistics, which attempts to obtain a general description of the feedback ). This video discusses the history of the development of pesticides, the
given about the teaching and learning design. The percentage distribu­ pros and cons surrounding pesticides, and global issues regarding the
tions for agreement levels to the statements were calculated. Such persistence of common synthetic pesticides in the environment. It also
analysis is typical in research-based design studies, in which the main emphasizes the role of scientific developments when it comes to solving
objective is to yield cyclical improvement of instruction (Bodner et al., the problems of pesticide use. In this part of the lesson, students were
1999). given the task of watching the video and analyzing the controversial
The open-ended question was analyzed using DisplayR text analysis issues related to pesticide use. After that, the participants completed a
software. This software has the ability to create word cloud visualization worksheet, which examined the risks of using conventional pesticides
and calculate sentiment analysis scores. (Both software and instructions and presented several ideas for avoiding potential risks. The learners
are available online at https://www.displayr.com.) With the help of were asked to decide which group they would join: the group supporting
word clouds, every word or phrase in a student’s response to the ques­ the utilization of synthetic pesticides or the group refusing to do so. Then
tionnaire can be visualized. This is based on the size of words and the the class was divided along these lines and expressed their arguments
corresponding frequency with which the word is mentioned. The process regarding their position in a class debate. The teacher guided the stu­
of cleaning and processing the texts (translating to English, correcting dents as they explored their answers in an interview and in the class
spelling, stop-word removal, performance stemming, replacing words/ discussion.
synonyms) was conducted to concentrate the unique words or phrases In the next step, a discussion about multiple perspectives was initi­
found in the analysis into a manageable and meaningful collection. ated. An alternative view from a local indigenous context was

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introduced and contrasted with the developments of modern science in Table 2


order to possibly resolve the issue. A short video on the utilization of The connection between problem-solving, aspects of chemistry relevance and
natural pesticides in the indigenous community, the Baduy tribe, pre­ chemical content.
sented this context. Furthermore, the students read an article entitled Aspects of Problem-solving Chemical content
“Indigenous Biopesticide: Bio-rational control of pest insects in the Baduy relevance
Community”. This article provided information about the Baduy agri­ Societal context: DDT - Structure of
cultural system, their cultural values and philosophies about conserving The social issue (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is a Matter
nature, and information about their indigenous biopesticides. The of pesticides (a synthetic insecticide belonging to the (molecular
case study on family of organic halogen compounds. structure)
learners were then given the task of discussing the alternative solution
DDT) on the Although it was very useful, it is - Chemical
from the indigenous perspective, which offers the sustainable approach environment resistant to environmental degradation bonding
of using green pesticides from plant extracts. During the task, the stu­ because of great stability. DDT also can (polarity,
dents analyzed the risks and benefits of using natural (green) pesticides be accumulated in the fatty tissues of stability or
derived from local plants. Then they were guided by the teacher through living organisms for long periods of reactivity of
time and exhibits toxicity. compounds)
a class discussion of their arguments. - Organic
In the end, the students were asked to apply concepts from chemistry chemistry
in order to explain the different alternatives offered. The relationship (aromatic
between chemistry and pesticide use was connected to the three relevant compounds,
functional
dimensions of chemistry education: the personal, societal and profes­ In your understanding, what makes groups)
sional context (Stuckey et al., 2013). In terms of the societal context, the DDT resistant to environmental
students analyzed the case of DDT synthetic pesticides on the environ­ degradation? Please give an
explanation. (connected with chemical
ment. In the personal context, chemistry content was related to the
structure and stability)
potential effects of pesticides on personal health. The professional
context asked the students to explain the chemical phenomena in IS from Personal context: In your understanding, what causes - Structure of
The issue of DDT to be accumulated in the fatty Matter
a scientist’s point of view. Reflection was also carried out to find which pesticides that tissues of living organisms and exhibit (molecular
chemical content was necessary for students to master these questions. endanger human toxicity? Please give an explanation. structure)
This content analysis was based on the school curriculum and the gen­ health (connected with chemical structure - Chemical
eral chemistry textbook. The structure of the unit is given in Table 1. The and solubility) bonding
(solubility,
connection between problem-solving, the aspects of chemistry educa­
polarity, stability
tion’s relevance, and chemical content are shown in Table 2. or reactivity of
compounds)
3.3. Findings - Organic
chemistry
(aromatic
Students’ responses to the Likert-items in the questionnaire could be compounds,
categorized into three main areas: (a) student interest in and motivation functional
for the topic (items 1, 5, and 6), (b) perception of relevance to students groups)
and the chemistry curriculum (items 3, 9, and 10), and (c) student views Professional Indigenous knowledge of bio-rational - Structure of
on the integration of IS and Western science to solve sustainability issues context: pest insects may be used as an Matter
and to foster intercultural learning (items 4, 2, 8 and 7). How do students alternative to synthetic pesticides. The (molecular
The feedback from the student teachers (Fig. 2) and upper secondary explain the Baduy community located in Banten structure)
chemical (Indonesia) uses plants as natural - Chemical
school students (Fig. 3) reveals almost the same distribution of answers. phenomena pesticides to protect their crops (read bonding
In terms of the students’ interest and motivation, most of the students about IS from a the article). Please give a scientific (solubility,
were interested in the lesson (over 90% agreed or mostly agreed among scientist’s point explanation regarding the polarity, stability
of view? phenomena/processes of indigenous or reactivity of
people to answer the questions: compounds)
Table 1 a The Baduy community uses natural - Organic
The teaching unit. pesticides extracted from local Chemistry
Activities Tools and Tasks Time plants to protect their rice crops. (physical and
(min) Some plants contain secondary chemical
metabolite compounds, which properties of
� The students explore their a Worksheet 1 150 exhibit “strong scent” to repel pest compounds,
priori knowledge about insects. In your understanding, what functional
pesticides and green pesticides. functional groups are responsible groups)
� The students watch a video Video from TEDx: “Do we really 450 for those properties? - Chemical
about global issues regarding need pesticides?”Worksheet 2 b To manufacture their crude extract reaction
the risks of conventional of natural/botanical pesticides, the (oxidation
pesticides in the environment. Baduy people use fermented sugar reaction)
Then they express their palm juice. What compounds might - Chemical
arguments in writing and be formed from these solvents? analysis
through a discussion. Please give an explanation.
� The learners consider an Article and video about pesticides 450 c Please predict what kind of
alternative approach borrowed from the Baduy chemical compounds (based on
from IS, based on an article. communityWorksheet 3 polarity) can be extracted using
Then they review and discuss these solvents? Please give an
the arguments. explanation.
� The participants apply Worksheet 4 300 d In your understanding, how do
chemistry concepts to answer chemists identify and analyze
questions about the topic. bioactive compounds in plants?
� The students describe their own Questionnaire 150 Please explain the process.
perceptions of the topic and the
incorporation of alternative
views taken from IS.

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Fig. 2. Undergraduate chemistry teacher’s experiences from the lesson.

Fig. 3. Upper secondary school student’s experience toward the lesson.

the student teachers; 80% among the secondary school students, agreed or strongly agreed that the lesson was relevant to the chemistry
respectively). Both groups of participants did not like chemistry learning curriculum. The same acknowledgment was echoed by nearly 65% of
which solely focuses on content matter and lacks any relationship to the the upper secondary students. A majority in both groups (over 60%)
societal issues surrounding sustainability (90%/80%). The student agreed or strongly agreed on the importance of sustainability issues in
teachers were more motivated by the topic (90%) than secondary school chemistry lessons.
students (60%). Student feedback on integrating IS and Western science in chemistry
Student responses to the relevance of the lesson to the chemistry learning revealed significant support for the idea. Both groups of stu­
curriculum and their personal learning experiences generally indicated a dents (over 90%) agreed or strongly agreed that comparing IS and
positive perception of the topic. Based on their personal learning expe­ Western science is useful for addressing global issues. A majority of the
riences, both groups of students felt that the topic was relevant. student teachers supported decision-making based on multiple per­
Approximately 90% disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement spectives to realize sustainable science (over 90% agreed or strongly
that the topic had no relevance for them. Over 70% of student teachers agreed). This point of view was also stated by approximately 80% of

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secondary school students. In terms of promoting intercultural learning, indicate that the average perception of the lesson was more positive than
roughly 75% of both groups of students acknowledged that the lesson negative. In terms of the distribution of sentiment scores, the high school
had given them insights into different cultures. students had a greater proportion of both neutral (0) and slightly posi­
The responses to the open-ended question varied. The word cloud tive perceptions. The student teachers had slightly more negative
analysis visualized the phrases the students used to express their feed­ sentiment scores and fewer total positive sentiments than among high
back. The size of the words indicated the frequency with which they school students.
were mentioned (Fig. 4). “interesting topic, interesting lesson, open
insight, environmental care,” are words or phrases that were often 4. Discussion and conclusion
mentioned by both groups of students. The phrases “interesting topic”
and “interesting lesson“ showed that learners liked the lesson, mostly The case study presented in this paper shows that chemistry learning
because it was perceived as related to daily life. One student said: “The can be enriched by encouraging higher levels of student interest and
topic we discussed was interesting to me because it is related to daily life and it increasing the personal perception of a topic’s relevance. This can be
also gave me insight into the need for environmental conservation for sus­ done by (a) facilitating student learning with the help of authentic and
tainability”. Some of the students also stated that they were interested in controversial sustainability issues, (b) providing multiple perspectives
the topic because they perceived it as relevant to societal, economic, and on science, and (c) integrating locally relevant cultural aspects into the
environmental issues. The words “open insight” appeared often in the discussion on sustainable development. Our findings show that the
students’ statements, referring to their learning experience. They felt participants gave significantly positive responses to the topic of pesti­
that the lesson could open their minds. They accepted the responsibility cide use. They considered it to be both interesting and relevant to their
to preserve nature by avoiding harmful pesticides. Some of the students personal learning experience. Sentiment analysis could also support
also mentioned that learning using multiple perspectives can open in­ such positive perceptions of the students for this lesson plan. These
sights to solve problems related to sustainability. The lesson also findings suggest that giving students more frequent opportunities to
encouraged students to develop a sense of caring for the environment. discuss sustainability issues in a broader, societally-embedded
This was usually mentioned by the phrase “environmental care”. This is perspective is a good thing. This can also be connected to IS, which in­
illustrated by the quote: “The discussion on indigenous and Western science cludes environmental ethics, cultural values, and the knowledge of
opened my eyes to environmental care. We need to preserve the environment indigenous communities. These factors can complement Western sci­
with sustainable science”. entific worldviews to lend relevance to science education and promote
There were some words frequently mentioned by the student learning for and about sustainability (Zidny et al., 2020).
teachers which did not appear among the responses of the high school The feedback from the students in both groups indicates that
students, e.g., “understanding pesticides” and “connecting concepts”. learning with the aid of multiple perspectives has great potential. Such
The student teachers referred more often to understanding sustainability learning can broaden learners’ insights and show that chemistry needs
issues based upon connections with chemistry concepts: “My response to to be studied as part of an interconnected system, if we want to find
this lesson was very interesting with regard to different learning methods. The solutions to global sustainability issues. Chemistry education should be
topics discussed were very interesting, relevant and helpful for studying interconnected with other science worldviews (including IS) and disci­
chemical concepts in the context of everyday life”. A small number of sec­ plines. This would allow us to collectively develop a comprehensive
ondary school students seemed to have had trouble recognizing the perspective on how physical and biological environment systems
relationship between the context and the chemistry concepts behind it. interact, behave and affect each other. Most of the students in the case
This was expressed by “not fully understand” and “lack of concept”. One study described above supported the multiple viewpoint stance. They
participant stated: “I was happy about this learning unit, but I did not un­ believed that various disciplines need to be involved in decision-making
derstand a number of things related to organic chemistry”. Another student to solve the problems facing sustainability. This showed that the overall
said: “The chemistry learning was good enough, but discussion about organic learning process supported students’ awareness that chemistry has
chemistry was lacking”. complex interactions with both society and the environment. This is in
Further analysis of the students’ attitudes towards their learning line with the philosophy of ESD (Burmeister et al., 2012), a growing
experience was based on the sentiment analysis performed on the open- awareness of the need for trans-disciplinary learning (Koutalidi and
ended question. This analysis tried to identify whether students’ atti­ Scoullos, 2016; Matlin et al., 2016), and systems thinking (Matlin et al.,
tudes towards the lesson were positive, neutral or negative. Fig. 5 shows 2016; Mahaffy et al., 2018) in chemistry education. Further research and
the average sentiment scores for both groups of participants. The mean curriculum development should identify further potential topics. It
sentiment score of the high school group is with 1.2, a value which is should also define the correct degree of connection between
slightly higher than that of student teachers (mean 1.0). Both results socio-scientific issues and content learning. In the current case, this

Fig. 4. Word cloud analysis of the learning experience of (a) undergraduate chemistry student teachers and (b) upper secondary school students, based on an open-
ended question.

7
R. Zidny and I. Eilks Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 16 (2020) 100229

Fig. 5. Sentiment analysis on the learning experiences of (a) undergraduate chemistry teacher students and (b) upper secondary school students, based on the open-
ended question.

connection seemed to be appropriate for undergraduate student teach­ Burmeister, M., Rauch, F., Eilks, I., 2012. Education for sustainable development (ESD)
and chemistry education. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 13, 59–68. https://doi.org/
ers, but needs further improvement concerning the upper secondary
10.1039/C1RP90060A.
school level. Cantrell, C.L., Dayan, F.E., Duke, S.O., 2012. Natural products as sources for new
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and science worldviews in other indigenous communities and in Damalas, C.A., Eleftherohorinos, I.G., 2011. Pesticide exposure, safety issues, and risk
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more regularly. Fischer, H. (Ed.), Developing Standards in Research on Science Education. Taylor &
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Declaration of competing interest educational status on learners’ attitude towards science. Int. J. Sci. Educ. 39,
548–564. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2017.1296599.
Feierabend, T., Eilks, I., 2011. Teaching the societal dimension of chemistry using a
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial socio-critical and problem-oriented lesson plan based on bioethanol usage. J. Chem.
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence Educ. 88, 1250–1256. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed1009706.
the work reported in this paper. Gospel Ajuru, M., 2017. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical screening of some
plants used in ethnomedicine in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. J. Food Nutr. Sci.
5, 198. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20170505.16.
CRediT authorship contribution statement Hikal, W.M., Baeshen, R.S., Said-Al Ahl, H.A.H., 2017. Botanical insecticide as simple
extractives for pest control. Cogent Biol. 3, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/
Robby Zidny: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Valida­ 23312025.2017.1404274.
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tion, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - contemporary science education:a pedagogical justification and the state of the art in
review & editing, Visualization, Funding acquisition. Ingo Eilks: Israel, Germany, and the USA. Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ. 9, 1459–1483. https://doi.org/
Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Resources, Writing - 10.1007/s10763-010-9273-9.
Holbrook, J., Rannikmae, M., 2007. The nature of science education for enhancing
review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding scientific literacy. Int. J. Sci. Educ. 29, 1347–1362. https://doi.org/10.1080/
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practices, places, and persons are culturally attached to one another in science
Acknowledgments education. Sci. & Educ. 27, 783–803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-018-0006-8.
Isworo, S., Purwanto, I., Sabdono, A., 2015. Impact of pesticide use on organophosphorus
We are grateful for the support given to the project by the Islamic and organochlorine concentration in water and sediment of Rawa Pening Lake,
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