Justin Dillon
Biographic Data
| ID | 4611036 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Justin Dillon |
| GIVEN NAMES | Justin |
| FAMILY NAME | Dillon |
| SIGNATURE | DILLON J |
| AFFILIATIONS | King's College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5154-8306 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 119 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Global citizenship education as a destabilising force for education systems: A scoping review of glocalised, justice-oriented pedagogies
Global Citizenship Education (GCE) is widely promoted as a response to climate change, inequality and social injustice, yet its transformative promise remains contested. This scoping review examines how GCE is conceptualised and integrated across national contexts (2013-2025) and interrogates whether it operates as a destabilising force that challenges rigid curricula and epistemic hierarchies. Guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and report…
‘Entertainment’ or ‘good for the self’: Use and exchange-value cultural capital in White British working-class students’ constructions of science
Diversifying science remains an ongoing challenge, and while there is a good understanding of the barriers to participation for women and ethnically minoritised groups, there is far less research about the experiences of those from working-class backgrounds. White working-class students are often generally framed as suffering from a deficit of aspirations, values and understanding. Drawing on interview data with 12 White British working-class stu…
Towards a model of plant awareness in education: A literature review and framework proposal
The inattention to plants, known as 'plant blindness' or 'plant awareness disparity', is an established concern amongst biologists and educational practitioners alike. Many studies have called for a teaching and learning reform in botany, but there has been no thorough or critical examination of the pedagogic literature to date, an issue which this narrative review of studies (1998-2022) seeks to address. We use a framework based on theories of p…
Exploring the use of digital technologies for ocean literacy education using a material-dialogic theoretical framework
Digital technologies, including Extended Reality (XR) can benefit learners by making the inaccessible, accessible. In Ocean Literacy, XR can enable children to connect with the ocean differently. We use a material-dialogic theoretical perspective which sees the material world as dialogically entangled with human understanding to explore the role of digital technologies in ocean literacy education in the context of an ocean literacy project in Den…
The science curriculum: Issues, Tensions and Future Prospects
Early childhood immersion in nature: Chinese kindergarten educators’ perspectives on nature play
Engagement with nature is crucial for child development and kindergarten educators’ pedagogical beliefs about nature play significantly affect children’s access to and experiences of nature in kindergarten. This study examines the role of nature play in children’s holistic development, engaging 12 Chinese kindergarten educators through in-depth interviews. The results demonstrated a consensus among participating educators regarding the significan…
Climate change education implementation: The voices of policymakers, professional development providers, and teachers in five countries
Climate change (CC) is the most significant global issue facing humanity, yet research addressing the perspectives of the key players influential in developing and implementing school-based climate change curricula at a cross-country national level is scarce. This study examined the perceptions of educators and educational leaders active in climate change education (CCE) in relation to: CC knowledge, representation in the curriculum, content and …
Chilean physics teacher educators' hybrid identities and border crossings as opportunities for agency within school and university
This study examines the sense of agency developed through the hybrid identities of two Chilean educators working across a university physics department (as teacher educators), a secondary school (as part‐time teachers), and a self‐organized professional community to which they belong. A Freirean conceptualization of agency together with border crossing and hybridity was used as theoretical frameworks. Data were collected through biographical inte…
Scientists’ warnings and the need to reimagine, recreate, and restore environmental education
Three decades have passed since approximately 1,700 scientists signed the World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity highlighting severe environmental problems and trends affecting local and global communities. To reverse the situation, their 1992 Warning argued we need to change our behaviour. In 2017, a larger group issued a second consensus statement warning that the direction and rates of environmental change had worsened and remained unsustainabl…
The views of teachers in England on an action-oriented climate change curriculum
To inform current debate around climate change education (CCE) in the school curriculum in England, we surveyed the views of primary and secondary teachers (N = 626). In England, direct reference to climate change in the National Curriculum is confined to secondary Science and Geography but, unrelated to their subject area, teachers favoured a cross-curricular approach with most already communicating to their students about it. Feeling comfortabl…
Changing How We Teach Acid-Base Chemistry: A Proposal Grounded in Studies of the History and Nature of Science Education
University declarations of environment and climate change emergencies
On 20 May, 2019, my university declared an environment and climate emergency (https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/university/title_717135_en.html). The University of Exeter’s announcement came just over
Young Children's Aspirations in Science: The unequivocal, the uncertain and the unthinkable
Students' lack of interest in studying science and in science-related careers is a concern in the UK and worldwide. Yet there is limited data, particularly longitudinal, on the sources and development of science-related aspirations. In response, the ASPIRES (Science Aspirations and Career Choice: Age 10–14) longitudinal study is investigating the development of students' educational and occupational aspirations over time. In the first phase of th…
‘Not girly, not sexy, not glamorous’: Primary school girls’ and parents’ constructions of science aspirations
Internationally, there is widespread concern about the need to increase participation in the sciences (particularly the physical sciences), especially among girls/women. This paper draws on data from a five-year, longitudinal study of 10–14-year-old children’s science aspirations and career choice to explore the reasons why, even from a young age, many girls may see science aspirations as ‘not for me’. We discuss data from phase one – a survey of…
Barriers and Benefits to Learning in Natural Environments: Towards a Reconceptualisation of the Possibilities for Change
Policies designed to increase public engagement with biodiversity advocate increased education across a range of educational contexts. Evidence of the benefits of learning in natural environments (LINE) continues to be amassed. LINE affords direct benefits as diverse as educational, health and psychological and indirect benefits ranging from social to financial. Research into the value of LINE has failed to address the full range of benefits. Ins…
International Handbook of Research on Environmental Education
“Balancing acts'': Elementary school girls' negotiations of femininity, achievement, and science
There is international concern over persistent low rates of participation in postcompulsory science—especially the physical sciences—within which there is a notable underrepresentation of girls/women. This paper draws on data collected from a survey of more than 9,000 10/11‐year‐old pupils and 170 interviews (with 92 children and 78 parents) from a 5‐year study of children's science aspirations and career choice in England, to explore how gender …
Science, society and sustainability: Education and empowerment for an uncertain world
Science Aspirations, Capital, and Family Habitus: How Families Shape Children’s Engagement and Identification With Science
Low participation rates in the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) post-16 are a matter of international concern. Existing evidence suggests children’s science aspirations are largely formed within the critical 10 to 14 age period. This article reports on survey data from over 9,000 elementary school children in England (age 10/11) and qualitative data from 160 semi-structured interviews (92 children aged 10/11 and 7…
“Doing” science versus “being” a scientist: Examining 10/11‐year‐old schoolchildren's constructions of science through the lens of identity
The concern about students' engagement with school science and the numbers pursuing the further study of science is an international phenomenon and a matter of considerable concern among policy makers. Research has demonstrated that the majority of young children have positive attitudes to science at age 10 but that this interest then declines sharply and by age 14, their attitude and interest in the study of science has been largely formed. This…
Environmental Education and STEM Education: New Times, New Alliances?/Formation environnementale et formation en sciences, technologies, ingénierie et mathématiques: temps nouveaux et alliances nouvel…
Broadening Views of Learning: Developing Educators for the 21st Century Through an International Research Partnership at the Exploratorium and King's College London
This article describes efforts to develop educators, in both formal and informal settings, who possess theories of teaching and learning that not only encompass but, perhaps, depend on bridging institutional and contextual boundaries. It describes the experiences of The Exploratorium, a museum in San Francisco, King's College London, and the University of California Santa Cruz, in a National Science Foundation-funded project. The article begins w…
Towards creating an inclusive community of researchers: The first three years of the North American Association for Environmental Education research symposium
This article uses a series of interlinked, personal vignettes to discuss the first three years of the North American Association for Environmental Education research symposium, from the perspectives of the key organizers. Seven challenges in the field of environmental education research are identified in a recent historical context, and we illustrate how the symposium sought to address them. The challenges were, that: (i) environmental education …
On the danger of blurring methods, methodologies and ideologies in environmental education research
When deciding what to cook, there are certain questions to be borne in mind including: who the meal is for; what food is available; and what cooking utensils and equipment one has. Other, more indi
Controversial issues ‐ teachers' attitudes and practices in the context of citizenship education
Current conceptions of citizenship favour public involvement in dialogue on controversial issues such as GM food. ‘Students with higher levels of civic knowledge are more likely to expect to participate in political and civic activities as adults’ (Kerr et al., Citation2003, p. 4). Young people need to be aware of the nature of controversy and be able to see how arguments are constructed to sway our opinions if they are to be fully scientifically…
Science Aspirations, Capital, and Family Habitus: How Families Shape Children’s Engagement and Identification With Science
Low participation rates in the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) post-16 are a matter of international concern. Existing evidence suggests children’s science aspirations are largely formed within the critical 10 to 14 age period. This article reports on survey data from over 9,000 elementary school children in England (age 10/11) and qualitative data from 160 semi-structured interviews (92 children aged 10/11 and 7…
The views of teachers in England on an action-oriented climate change curriculum
To inform current debate around climate change education (CCE) in the school curriculum in England, we surveyed the views of primary and secondary teachers (N = 626). In England, direct reference to climate change in the National Curriculum is confined to secondary Science and Geography but, unrelated to their subject area, teachers favoured a cross-curricular approach with most already communicating to their students about it. Feeling comfortabl…
On Learners and Learning in Environmental Education: Missing theories, ignored communities
This response to Rickinson's (2001) review of empirical studies of learners and learning in school environmental education makes the points that Rickinson is only partially successful in achieving what he sets out to do, and that other, major shortcomings in environmental education theory and research have still to be addressed. Two major criticisms of the review are made: learning theories underlying the empirical research are not examined, and …
Climate change education implementation: The voices of policymakers, professional development providers, and teachers in five countries
Climate change (CC) is the most significant global issue facing humanity, yet research addressing the perspectives of the key players influential in developing and implementing school-based climate change curricula at a cross-country national level is scarce. This study examined the perceptions of educators and educational leaders active in climate change education (CCE) in relation to: CC knowledge, representation in the curriculum, content and …
Scientists’ warnings and the need to reimagine, recreate, and restore environmental education
Three decades have passed since approximately 1,700 scientists signed the World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity highlighting severe environmental problems and trends affecting local and global communities. To reverse the situation, their 1992 Warning argued we need to change our behaviour. In 2017, a larger group issued a second consensus statement warning that the direction and rates of environmental change had worsened and remained unsustainabl…
Valuing and utilizing traditional ecological knowledge: Tensions in the context of education and the environment
The paper discusses the ‘value‐through‐utility’ argument as a key ingredient of environmental educators' interests in traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and examines some of the epistemological and philosophical tensions it generates in employing TEK within the context of learning with sustainability in mind. In an earlier article (Reid et al., 2002 Reid A Teamey K Dillon J (2002) Traditional ecological knowledge for learning with sustainabi…
Identity and Culture: Theorising emergent environmentalism
This article critically examines the methodology and findings of the emergent environmentalism research project as reported in Environmental Education Research (EER), 4(4). We challenge both the ontological stance implicit in the research as well as its explicit epistemology. We argue for a wider theoretical underpinning to the research and specifically advocate the use of identity theories to explain personal and social phenomena. We also argue …
The science curriculum: Issues, Tensions and Future Prospects
Issues in case‐study methodology in investigating environmental and sustainability issues in higher education: Towards a problem‐based approach
Case studies are put to a variety of uses in investigating environmental and sustainability issues in higher education. These uses include: to document, describe (in detail), contextualize, investi
Exploring the use of digital technologies for ocean literacy education using a material-dialogic theoretical framework
Digital technologies, including Extended Reality (XR) can benefit learners by making the inaccessible, accessible. In Ocean Literacy, XR can enable children to connect with the ocean differently. We use a material-dialogic theoretical perspective which sees the material world as dialogically entangled with human understanding to explore the role of digital technologies in ocean literacy education in the context of an ocean literacy project in Den…
Towards creating an inclusive community of researchers: The first three years of the North American Association for Environmental Education research symposium
This article uses a series of interlinked, personal vignettes to discuss the first three years of the North American Association for Environmental Education research symposium, from the perspectives of the key organizers. Seven challenges in the field of environmental education research are identified in a recent historical context, and we illustrate how the symposium sought to address them. The challenges were, that: (i) environmental education …
Early childhood immersion in nature: Chinese kindergarten educators’ perspectives on nature play
Engagement with nature is crucial for child development and kindergarten educators’ pedagogical beliefs about nature play significantly affect children’s access to and experiences of nature in kindergarten. This study examines the role of nature play in children’s holistic development, engaging 12 Chinese kindergarten educators through in-depth interviews. The results demonstrated a consensus among participating educators regarding the significan…
On the danger of blurring methods, methodologies and ideologies in environmental education research
When deciding what to cook, there are certain questions to be borne in mind including: who the meal is for; what food is available; and what cooking utensils and equipment one has. Other, more indi
From telling to selling: One historical perspective on consultancy in science education
(1995). From telling to selling: one historical perspective on consultancy in science education. Journal of Education Policy: Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 317-323
Identity and Culture: Theorising emergent environmentalism
This article critically examines the methodology and findings of the emergent environmentalism research project as reported in Environmental Education Research (EER), 4(4). We challenge both the ontological stance implicit in the research as well as its explicit epistemology. We argue for a wider theoretical underpinning to the research and specifically advocate the use of identity theories to explain personal and social phenomena. We also argue …
Reconceptualizing environmental education: Taking account of reality
On Learners and Learning in Environmental Education: Missing theories, ignored communities
This response to Rickinson's (2001) review of empirical studies of learners and learning in school environmental education makes the points that Rickinson is only partially successful in achieving what he sets out to do, and that other, major shortcomings in environmental education theory and research have still to be addressed. Two major criticisms of the review are made: learning theories underlying the empirical research are not examined, and …
Controversial issues ‐ teachers' attitudes and practices in the context of citizenship education
Current conceptions of citizenship favour public involvement in dialogue on controversial issues such as GM food. ‘Students with higher levels of civic knowledge are more likely to expect to participate in political and civic activities as adults’ (Kerr et al., Citation2003, p. 4). Young people need to be aware of the nature of controversy and be able to see how arguments are constructed to sway our opinions if they are to be fully scientifically…
Reconceptualizing the teaching of controversial issues
Science has a role to play in the resolution of many of the issues deemed controversial in all societies. However, evidence of a lack of public confidence in science and scientists as effective problem‐solvers continues to accumulate. This paper speculates that this lack of confidence might in part be due to the way in which science educators present controversial issues. In particular, we argue that current approaches to teaching about controver…
Issues in case‐study methodology in investigating environmental and sustainability issues in higher education: Towards a problem‐based approach
Case studies are put to a variety of uses in investigating environmental and sustainability issues in higher education. These uses include: to document, describe (in detail), contextualize, investi
Valuing and utilizing traditional ecological knowledge: Tensions in the context of education and the environment
The paper discusses the ‘value‐through‐utility’ argument as a key ingredient of environmental educators' interests in traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and examines some of the epistemological and philosophical tensions it generates in employing TEK within the context of learning with sustainability in mind. In an earlier article (Reid et al., 2002 Reid A Teamey K Dillon J (2002) Traditional ecological knowledge for learning with sustainabi…
On the danger of blurring methods, methodologies and ideologies in environmental education research
When deciding what to cook, there are certain questions to be borne in mind including: who the meal is for; what food is available; and what cooking utensils and equipment one has. Other, more indi
Towards creating an inclusive community of researchers: The first three years of the North American Association for Environmental Education research symposium
This article uses a series of interlinked, personal vignettes to discuss the first three years of the North American Association for Environmental Education research symposium, from the perspectives of the key organizers. Seven challenges in the field of environmental education research are identified in a recent historical context, and we illustrate how the symposium sought to address them. The challenges were, that: (i) environmental education …
“Doing” science versus “being” a scientist: Examining 10/11‐year‐old schoolchildren's constructions of science through the lens of identity
The concern about students' engagement with school science and the numbers pursuing the further study of science is an international phenomenon and a matter of considerable concern among policy makers. Research has demonstrated that the majority of young children have positive attitudes to science at age 10 but that this interest then declines sharply and by age 14, their attitude and interest in the study of science has been largely formed. This…
Environmental Education and STEM Education: New Times, New Alliances?/Formation environnementale et formation en sciences, technologies, ingénierie et mathématiques: temps nouveaux et alliances nouvel…
Broadening Views of Learning: Developing Educators for the 21st Century Through an International Research Partnership at the Exploratorium and King's College London
This article describes efforts to develop educators, in both formal and informal settings, who possess theories of teaching and learning that not only encompass but, perhaps, depend on bridging institutional and contextual boundaries. It describes the experiences of The Exploratorium, a museum in San Francisco, King's College London, and the University of California Santa Cruz, in a National Science Foundation-funded project. The article begins w…
“Balancing acts'': Elementary school girls' negotiations of femininity, achievement, and science
There is international concern over persistent low rates of participation in postcompulsory science—especially the physical sciences—within which there is a notable underrepresentation of girls/women. This paper draws on data collected from a survey of more than 9,000 10/11‐year‐old pupils and 170 interviews (with 92 children and 78 parents) from a 5‐year study of children's science aspirations and career choice in England, to explore how gender …
Science, society and sustainability: Education and empowerment for an uncertain world
Science Aspirations, Capital, and Family Habitus: How Families Shape Children’s Engagement and Identification With Science
Low participation rates in the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) post-16 are a matter of international concern. Existing evidence suggests children’s science aspirations are largely formed within the critical 10 to 14 age period. This article reports on survey data from over 9,000 elementary school children in England (age 10/11) and qualitative data from 160 semi-structured interviews (92 children aged 10/11 and 7…
Young Children's Aspirations in Science: The unequivocal, the uncertain and the unthinkable
Students' lack of interest in studying science and in science-related careers is a concern in the UK and worldwide. Yet there is limited data, particularly longitudinal, on the sources and development of science-related aspirations. In response, the ASPIRES (Science Aspirations and Career Choice: Age 10–14) longitudinal study is investigating the development of students' educational and occupational aspirations over time. In the first phase of th…
‘Not girly, not sexy, not glamorous’: Primary school girls’ and parents’ constructions of science aspirations
Internationally, there is widespread concern about the need to increase participation in the sciences (particularly the physical sciences), especially among girls/women. This paper draws on data from a five-year, longitudinal study of 10–14-year-old children’s science aspirations and career choice to explore the reasons why, even from a young age, many girls may see science aspirations as ‘not for me’. We discuss data from phase one – a survey of…
Barriers and Benefits to Learning in Natural Environments: Towards a Reconceptualisation of the Possibilities for Change
Policies designed to increase public engagement with biodiversity advocate increased education across a range of educational contexts. Evidence of the benefits of learning in natural environments (LINE) continues to be amassed. LINE affords direct benefits as diverse as educational, health and psychological and indirect benefits ranging from social to financial. Research into the value of LINE has failed to address the full range of benefits. Ins…
International Handbook of Research on Environmental Education
University declarations of environment and climate change emergencies
On 20 May, 2019, my university declared an environment and climate emergency (https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/university/title_717135_en.html). The University of Exeter’s announcement came just over
Changing How We Teach Acid-Base Chemistry: A Proposal Grounded in Studies of the History and Nature of Science Education
Scientists’ warnings and the need to reimagine, recreate, and restore environmental education
Three decades have passed since approximately 1,700 scientists signed the World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity highlighting severe environmental problems and trends affecting local and global communities. To reverse the situation, their 1992 Warning argued we need to change our behaviour. In 2017, a larger group issued a second consensus statement warning that the direction and rates of environmental change had worsened and remained unsustainabl…
The views of teachers in England on an action-oriented climate change curriculum
To inform current debate around climate change education (CCE) in the school curriculum in England, we surveyed the views of primary and secondary teachers (N = 626). In England, direct reference to climate change in the National Curriculum is confined to secondary Science and Geography but, unrelated to their subject area, teachers favoured a cross-curricular approach with most already communicating to their students about it. Feeling comfortabl…
Chilean physics teacher educators' hybrid identities and border crossings as opportunities for agency within school and university
This study examines the sense of agency developed through the hybrid identities of two Chilean educators working across a university physics department (as teacher educators), a secondary school (as part‐time teachers), and a self‐organized professional community to which they belong. A Freirean conceptualization of agency together with border crossing and hybridity was used as theoretical frameworks. Data were collected through biographical inte…
Sociology (28 works) · Pedagogy (24 works) · Political science (18 works) · Psychology (18 works) · Environmental education (15 works) · Environmental Education and Sustainability (14 works) · Science education (11 works) · Mathematics education (10 works) · Engineering (8 works) · Engineering ethics (8 works)