Citizenship in Sustainability-Oriented Science Education: A Systematic Review

<ns3:p>Background As there is a critical need for citizens with the ability to comprehend science-related issues, reason through contradictory information, and take action, citizenship has emerged as a central focus of sustainability science education. Yet, while there is growing recognition of socioscientific issues (SSI), environmental citizenship, and civic engagement, the literature remains fragmented across a range of conceptual labels, sustainability issues, pedagogic approaches, and outcome measures, making it challenging to discern what types of citizenship science education supports, and under what conditions. Methods To address this fragmentation, the current study conducted a systematic review of 36 empirical studies retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and Dimensions. Results Findings indicate that citizenship is multidimensional and is conceptualized not only as environmental or ecological, but also as democratic, scientific, global, civic, and responsible citizenship. The investigated sustainability issues focused on climate action and sustainable energy, biodiversity and land use, water, marine and coastal sustainability, responsible consumption and production, and local community sustainability. Within these contexts, classroom-based socioscientific simulations and role-play designs facilitated informed decision-making, argumentation, and reflection, whereas place-, community-, citizen science-, and action-focused designs fostered participation, agency, and action. Deployed pedagogies were predominantly socioscientific issue-based, dialogue-based, place- and community-based, alongside citizen science, project-based, and interdisciplinary approaches. Documented outcomes pertained to conceptual understanding, civic-scientific reasoning, values, identities, participation, and action; however, evidence of sustained ongoing action remained scarce. Conclusions The review recommends the Understanding, Judgment, Participation, and Action (UJPA) framework be utilized to design and assess responsible citizenship in sustainability-oriented science education for future curriculum, pedagogical, assessment, and research designs.</ns3:p>