Students for a Democratic Society

Students for a Democratic Society, The Port Huron Statement (New York Students for a Democratic Society, 1962), 22. 

The central focus of education for sustainable development (ESD) is to prepare the younger generation to become responsible citizens in the future. Students should be able to participate in a democratic society and to help in shaping future society in a sustainable fashion. They should learn to take responsibility for both themselves and future generations, based on the concept of sustainable development. ... 

Through evaluating the different examples such an approach it was found that it proved to be very motivating for the students. The students learned how difficult societal decisions about questions regarding the application of science and technology can be. But, the students also learned about how society is conducting this debate and how a democratic decision making process is enacted. 

A democratic emphasis for the teaching of chemistry is clearly designed for all students irrespective of their future career plans. It is relates chemistry with everyday life. On the other hand, the economic approach takes chemistry as an intellectual exercise in its own right and is much more clearly designed for students who wish to further their studies in the area of chemistry. Fensham (2008) argues for two different types of courses one that is general and focuses on chemistry for functionality in society and the other, which is more academic and sees the subject of chemistry as the main focus learning area, albeit in a wider sense than pure conceptual content. 

In Table 1 there is one example of a didactic sequence, developed in Latin America, which may serve to illustrate how a more democratic thrust can be developed in chemistry teaching. The lesson tries to focus on a problem facing society, in this case Back lagoons — are they recoverable and is designed to be part of chemistry teaching for 15-17 year old students. The lesson is centred in the Ecuadorian Amazon region, where a successful project had managed to extract... 

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