ABSTRACT
Recent events in south-east Asia have shown all too clearly that the environment plays a major role in our lives and the lives of the billions of people around the world who we will never meet, some of whom make our clothes, grow our food and drink and benefi t from our overseas aid. Infl uenced by the 2002 Johannesburg Summit and the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro ten years earlier, the media frequently draw our attention to the links between the environment, poverty, development, politics and people. As science educators we take it for granted that our curricula enable (or mandate) us to teach these issues to today’s young citizens in the hope that they can make a better job of sorting out the planet than we have done so far. In England, key stage 3 (11-14 year-old) pupils should be taught ‘ about ways in which living things and the environment can be protected, and the importance of sustainable development ’. An appreciation of ecology and an awareness of ‘ how the impact of humans on the environment depends on social and economic factors, including population size, industrial processes and levels of consumption and waste ’ is a desired outcome of the curriculum at key stage 4 (14-16 year-olds). In Scotland, students visiting the heritage centre, the Robert Burns Experience, are encouraged to ‘research and debate opinions on the use of fertilisers, pesticides and crop enhancers used in modern farming ’ (see Websites) as a follow up to their visit. But it was not ever thus.
