Microsoft Word juntunen väitös docx

Avainsanat
: kemian opetus, kestävä kehitys, vihreä kemia, opetusmallit, kehittämistutkimus 

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 
I wish to express my deepest gratitude for my dear and always supportive supervisor, 
Professor Maija Aksela. Without her positive encouragement, this thesis would not have come 
to be. 
The financial support I received from several foundations was necessary for finishing this 
project: the Research Foundation of the University of Helsinki, Maa- ja Vesitekniikan tuki ry, 
Emil Aaltonen Foundation, and Chancellors’ travel grant. I’m deeply thankful for their 
support.
I am grateful to walk this educational road together with my supportive family and the helpful 
research team at the university. The discussions with them have significantly improved my 
competence to tackle the issues discussed in this dissertation. I want to thank Professor Mikko 
Oivanen for his support. I also owe my gratitude to the pre-examiners Lecturer Ph.D. Jouni 
Välisaari and Adjunct Professor Senior Lecturer Ilkka Ratinen from the University of 
Jyväskylä. Thank you for all your insightful comments and corrections. A very special thanks 
also goes to Jyrki Laitinen for excellent proofreading. Besides scientific support, I have 
gained important knowledge and inspiration from several non-governmental charity 
organisations.
During the 15 years I have spent in three universities, I have learned that the world urgently 
needs scientifically literate, active and participating people. Improvements are needed on all 
possible levels and they can stem from every possible direction. Also, the development of 
science education needs a new kind of holistic understanding of sustainable development. 
Most of the people around me are profoundly sharing the same vision: we must try to change 
the world together and we must do it now. All levels of evolvement and involvement are 
equally important: life-long learning of individuals, informal and non-formal education, 
politics and policies, consumer actions, discussions between citizens, entrepreneurship, 
adaptation to changes and critical inspection of every aspect of life.
My thesis states that new education for sustainable development in chemistry is holistic, 
inquiry-based and socio-constructivist. This topic is both internationally and nationally 
interesting and current. Chemistry is related to numerous aspects of daily-life. In the field of 
education, chemistry should be approached in a more relevant and socially activating manner. 
The role of educators is to sow the seeds of sustainable progress. We, the teachers, are 
catalysts and sometimes only mere observers of what can and will happen through our 
students. 
Finally, a statement from a 15-year-old girl expressing her attitudes after an inquiry-based 
project that investigated the life-cycle of a product:
“I understood how much even a small 
thing, such as a simple newspaper, affects everything. It is simple to manufacture but it still 
consumes a lot. So the importance of recycling is huge. I mean, you need to recycle, otherwise 
nothing makes sense.” 
That statement closely resembles the description of an ideal future by 
Salonen (2010, 36): ”
Ecosystems formulate the basis of thinking… In material cycle there is 
an aim to know the life-cycle of a material from cradle to re-use. Waste and pollution issues 

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will be faced and solved. Polluting or waste producing processes is thought to be error 
planned. Energy is produced by using renewable resources.” 
In Espoo and Pelkosenniemi, May 2015 
Marianne Juntunen 

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