Braiding Two-Eyed Seeing and Education for Sustainable Development in science teacher education: The One Health Teaching Clinic model

Abstract

Science education increasingly requires integrative approaches that bridge scientific knowledge with cultural, ethical, and societal perspectives to effectively address sustainability and global health challenges. In response, this article presents the One Health Teaching Clinic, an innovative educational model specifically designed for science teacher education. Grounded in the principle of Two-Eyed Seeing—a framework that combines Indigenous and Western epistemologies—the One Health Teaching Clinic systematically incorporates Education for Sustainable Development using the Synoptic Transfer Framework. Within the One Health Teaching Clinic, pre-service science teachers collaborate intensively with interdisciplinary subject-matter experts to co-design and implement lesson plans centered on contemporary One Health issues, such as pandemic preparedness, ecosystem health, and sustainable food systems. Drawing from detailed qualitative analyses of four exemplary case studies, we illustrate how this structured co-design process enables educators to navigate the complexity of socio-scientific issues by balancing rigorous scientific accuracy, cultural relevance, practical applicability, and value-driven narrative shaping. Our findings highlight how integrating Two-Eyed Seeing through the One Health Teaching Clinic model effectively promotes transdisciplinary competencies, epistemic pluralism, and transformative pedagogical practices among future science educators. We argue that embedding Two-Eyed Seeing within structured, collaborative frameworks significantly enhances the ability of teachers to serve as empowered sustainability change agents, ultimately fostering secondary students’ holistic understanding and critical engagement with pressing health and environmental concerns.