Globalizing STEM Instruction Using Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Global education presents an opportunity for all classroom teachers, regardless of subject or grade level, to engage students in understanding globally relevant issues that extend from content taught in class and providing opportunities for students to develop solutions and enact strategies in addressing these issues. These issues are embodied within the Sustainable Development Goals—a series of 17 goals established by the United Nations that collectively work toward providing an opportunity for all global citizens to survive and prosper today and for generations to follow. This paper describes strategies for STEM teachers to integrate global education within their classroom and empower their students to solve real-world problems experienced in the global community.

Keywords:

• Project-based learning
• STEM
• sustainable development goals
• twenty-first century learning skills
• collaboration
• global education

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge participation in the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short-Term, Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms, and Fulbright Specialist programs as the motivating stimulus for the topic, content and instructional process described in this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online https://doi.org/10.1080/00368555.2024.2358182

Additional information

Notes on contributors

George Hademenos

George Hademenos ([email protected]) completed his 23rd year of teaching physics at Richardson High School in Richardson, TX (a suburb north of Dallas). He was awarded a BS degree in Physics from Angelo State University and the MS and PhD degrees in Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas. As a teacher, George has always searched for innovative approaches and creative strategies to help bring STEM alive for his students, providing the impetus for the implementation of global issues as described by the Sustainable Development Goals into instructional content and activities conducted in his classroom. He is excited to share his experiences in global education with the wider teacher community through this paper. He encourages teachers to actively seek opportunities outside the classroom to expand learning opportunities for their students on a global platform and empower their students to make a difference in the world.