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Özden Şengül, Boğaziçi University, TürkiyeAbstract
Transition to a sustainable society requires transformative changes in people’s sense of their role in the natural world rather than a mere technical process. Using anchoring and objectification as lenses, we analyzed student comments in a science education course. The dataset consisted of reflective writings and responses of 163 students from various fields. Using qualitative thematic analysis, this research explores how students consistently anchor sustainability to their lived experiences and enact this approach by translating abstract concepts into concrete behaviors and specific results. Seven major themes were developed as different ways to anchor and objectify the themes. For instance, concepts such as “Waste & Resource Management” link biodiversity, resource conservation, water/energy saving, and waste reduction, as evidenced by observable waste management systems. “Environmental Protection & Biodiversity” situated the preservation of the environment in the context of being a natural outtake of public behavior in shared space with people, invoking clear social norms surrounding what constitutes cleanliness in public space. Conservation of biological diversity was also seen as integral to the structure of education and socialization, as the era when the value was best articulated in “Education & Awareness.” Abstract theories of biodiversity become objectified through recycling, waste segregation, and the use of locally sourced products. Lastly, learning nature through sustainability education would be integral to students’ ability to construct their understanding of how knowledge is constructed, how values affect research priorities, and how scientific discoveries are told, debated, and re-emerge in public discourse.
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Conference: ECE2026Stream: Education
This paper is part of the ECE2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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