Integrating environmental and sustainability education to enhance students’ scientific literacy: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Despite the growing integration of Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into science education, existing reviews have largely focused on sustainability competencies, environmental literacy, or general ESD implementation, providing limited synthesis of how Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE-ESD) contributes to the multiple dimensions of scientific literacy. This study therefore aims to systematically examine the contribution of ESE-ESD to scientific literacy development, identify the pedagogical approaches used, and explore emerging conceptual, theoretical, and methodological gaps. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines was conducted using Scopus and Web of Science databases for publications from 2016-2025. After screening and quality appraisal, 32 empirical studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. The findings indicate that ESE-ESD is associated with the development of scientific reasoning, inquiry skills, evidence-based argumentation, ecological understanding, environmental awareness, and informed decision-making. Inquiry-based learning, socioscientific issues, and citizen science were most frequently linked to cognitive and procedural dimensions of scientific literacy, whereas ecological literacy and identity-based approaches were more commonly associated with affective and value-oriented outcomes. This review contributes an integrated synthesis of educational contexts, pedagogical approaches, scientific literacy dimensions, and research gaps, highlighting the need for geographically diverse, longitudinal, and theoretically grounded studies to strengthen sustainability-oriented science education.