Education for sustainable development: Student’s biophilia and the Emome model as an alternative efforts of enhancement in the perspectives of education

Abstract

Massive engagement with the meaningful learning in the topic of nature may affect student emotional feeling and attitude towards nature. This research aims to reveal student’s biophilia or attitude towards the nature and to provide an analytical teaching and learning setting in addressing the challenge learning outcome in the Education for Sustainable Development/EfSD. Student participants were observed using the questionnaire measuring their feeling towards nature or biophilia. The data were then analysed descriptively using simple descriptive analysis and scrutinized in term some possibilities of meaningful teaching and learning efforts using theoretical frameworks and propositions. The observed student’ biophilia is considered low, showing unsatisfying level of attitude towards nature among participants. Teaching and learning design engaging meaningful educational processes may be of alternatives in enhancing student’s better attitude towards nature. The Emome enriched by an active learning method is assumed to be able to address the challenge of biophilia reinforcement since its power in smoothing student’s feeling towards biodiversity, environment and nature.