Invited
Sustainable development goals and systems thinking in chemistry education

In 2015, the UN listed 17 Sustainable Development goals (SDGs) that were adopted in a decision by the UN General Assembly in 2017. These goals are guidelines for development that will meet the present needs of humanity without harming those of future generations. Thus, SDGs are local, global, and international – both in scope and in importance. Meeting these goals requires chemistry understanding and therefore they can be integrated in our chemistry teaching. For example, SDG-13 deals with climate change, a problem that is linked to the carbon cycle, rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, and their effects on the climate. This concept was already discussed in the program “Environmental chemistry” that was developed in Israel 15 years ago, and receives now attention again. In addition, there is SDG-7, which sets goals for clean energy, SDG-3, which calls for advancing health, SDG-2, which deals with eliminating hunger, or SDG-5, which involves providing clean water. The essential role of chemistry in meeting these challenges will place chemists at the center of multidisciplinary teams. These teams will include scientists from different fields in addition to experts in the social sciences and humanities that will need to apply systematic thinking in order to address these challenges. Thus, in addition to providing a strong basis and depth of chemical content, a systems thinking approach should be woven into the chemistry teaching. In the presentation I will presents the framework of the SDGs, and provide examples of selected SDGs that are reach with chemistry content. In addition, I will present a contemporary understanding of how to apply systems thinking in chemistry teaching. Integrating systems thinking into our chemistry teaching can make chemistry more relevant for students as well as closer to the skills required in the 21Century.