Designing and Validating a Sustainability Education Model in the Competencies of Primary School Math Lessons

The main issue in the present study is the design and validation of a sustainability education model in the competencies of primary school mathematics courses, an education that build capacity and create comprehensive programs to balance the dimensions of sustainability in mathematics lessons as an educational field to cultivate and discipline and increase the power of thought and logical reasoning along with the growth of mental creativity to achieve a sustainable society with a plan and problem-solving capability. This research is applied in terms of purpose and is a qualitative-quantitative research (mixed) with an exploratory approach. First, the most important components of math lessons stability training were identified and extracted by documentary study method. Cognitive, evaluation and functional categories with 26 sub-categories in mathematical competencies in sustainability education were selected and the proposed model was presented. A questionnaire model with 112 items was designed to validate the main elements. Content validity (CVR) and its reliability were confirmed by Cronbach's alpha and provided to 38 experts. The validation of the proposed model was performed through the PLS structural equation modelling. Based on the findings, the functional dimension had the highest share in explaining the model. Development of knowledge and skills related to communities and environment in " explaining the cognitive dimension," "developing problem solving skills" in the evaluation dimension and" designing effective methods to meet personal needs and inequalities" in the functional dimension, had the highest shares among the other studied components. It also showed that the structural model of sustainability education in primary mathematics courses had a good fit. Therefore, it can be concluded that the inclusion of sustainability concepts in the curriculum in mathematics courses with an interdisciplinary approach can be effective in applying innovative strategies in the learning process and paying attention to problem solving and problem statement in the real world.