Integrating Environmental Justice into Secondary Science Education: A Systematic Literature Review (2016–2026)

Environmental justice connects science learning with questions of fairness. This systematic review examined how environmental justice has been integrated into secondary science education, which dimensions of justice the teaching addressed and what student outcomes were reported. Following PRISMA 2020, Scopus and Web of Science were searched for English-language empirical journal articles published from 2016 to October 2026. Twelve reports of 11 studies were included, two of them as boundary cases. Place- and community-based learning was the most common approach, followed by socio-scientific issues, inquiry and citizen science, project-based learning and online modules. Distributive justice was explicit in 10 studies, procedural justice in four and recognition justice in six. Cognitive, affective and behavioural or civic evidence appeared in 10, 11 and 10 reports. Most of this evidence was qualitative or self-reported. Only two studies reported significant pre-post test gains, and neither used a control group. Quality appraisal found incomplete quantitative outcome data and weak control of confounding. Ten studies were conducted in the United States. The review offers an analytical framework that links pedagogical approaches, justice dimensions and outcome domains. Future research should move beyond the United States and measure scientific literacy and civic participation with validated instruments.