Cover In the face of escalating environmental challenges, there is an urgent need to better equip future generations with sustainable thinking.
In the face of escalating environmental challenges, there is an urgent need to better equip future generations with sustainable thinking.
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In the face of escalating environmental challenges, there is an urgent need for a more scientific and systematic approach to sustainable thinking education, one that will better equip future generations.
As the world grapples with climate change, environmental pollution, and resource depletion, the need to instil sustainable thinking in future generations has moved from being an option to an absolute necessity. Generation Alpha, children who are immersed in STEM education from kindergarten, require a more scientific, logical, and structured understanding of sustainability than the emotional explanations that have been common in the past. For over 25 years, Singapore’s The Young Scientist magazine has successfully introduced a unique way of conveying scientific knowledge through comics and visuals, sparking curiosity and gradually building sustainable thinking in children in an engaging, natural way.
Generation Alpha demands a different kind of explanation.
Why save paper?
- To protect the environment
Why should we protect the environment?
- Because the environment is our home.
This emotional rationale, familiar to older generations, may struggle to resonate with Generation Alpha (born 2013 and onwards), who have been learning STEM since their early years. They expect a more data-driven, systematic explanation. Yet, many parents are not equipped with the scientific knowledge to meet this demand.
“This is a challenge for many young parents who come to me,” says Ms Ngo Huong Thao, a key supporter of the Vietnamese edition of The Young Scientist magazine.
Moreover, in the current climate of climate change, environmental pollution, and the energy crisis, it is no longer sufficient to merely explain the phenomena to children. The focus must shift to solutions: how to live with the Earth. This is encapsulated in the concept of "sustainable thinking".
Above A nation cannot hope to develop sustainably unless it invests properly in the foundation of knowledge and science surrounding sustainability. Photo: Young Scientist
A nation cannot hope to develop sustainably unless it invests properly in the foundation of knowledge and science surrounding sustainability. Photo: Young Scientist
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A nation cannot hope to develop sustainably unless it invests properly in the foundation of knowledge and science surrounding sustainability. Meanwhile, the consequences of Vietnam’s unsustainable approach to globalisation are already painfully clear. Climate change, resource depletion, and regional inequality are no longer mere risks; they have begun to negatively impact the lives of people across all sectors. It is akin to “building a house on sand.”
However, according to Ms Thao, there remains a mindset that “building sustainable thinking” is a grand, macro-policy endeavour, one that even many adults fail to grasp or even acknowledge, let alone children. “Children must be made aware of sustainable thinking now—there can be no more delay,” Ms Thao says passionately.
In fact, children often have a better grasp of sustainable thinking than many adults. They do not yet view everything through the lens of economic profit, nor do they see the world as fragmented, with separate, unrelated parts. Children retain their innocence, curiosity, love of learning, and an untainted desire for a peaceful, green planet.
Sustainable “codes” come from simple things
So, how can we communicate sustainable thinking to children? The answer is not through conferences, research projects, or reports. It must come through simpler, more accessible means: small stories, comics, humorous images, and familiar situations. The challenge for publishers lies in how to weave academic knowledge of sustainability into these formats in a systematic way.
Ms Thao dedicated considerable time to finding a solution to this challenge. Through persistence and seizing various opportunities, she discovered a successful model just next door to Vietnam: Singapore. As a neighbouring Southeast Asian nation, Singapore, despite its small size and limited natural resources, has embedded sustainable science into its education programme from primary school age.
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Above For the past 26 years, Singapore has consistently maintained The Young Scientist—a science publication aimed at elementary school students. Photo: Young Scientist
For the past 26 years, Singapore has consistently maintained The Young Scientist—a science publication aimed at elementary school students. Photo: Young Scientist
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For the past 26 years, Singapore has consistently maintained The Young Scientist magazine—a science publication aimed at elementary school students, offering simple, engaging, and relatable stories:
- Mom, can I give this Quokka an apple?
- No, darling. You can't feed wild animals here, as it could poison them or make them overly dependent on humans for food. We could be fined, or even imprisoned, if we feed or touch wild animals.
Above Children will remember and adhere to the lessons, as they simultaneously witness the humanisation of legal thinking and the ecosystem. Photo: Young Sci
Children will remember and adhere to the lessons, as they simultaneously witness the humanisation of legal thinking and the ecosystem. Photo: Young Sci
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This educational resource follows the framework of Singapore's secondary school entrance exam syllabus. What sets this magazine apart from similar publications worldwide is its format: vivid and practical comics. Each story conveys concise, accurate information about a natural phenomenon, animal, or plant, while crucially placing them within the harmonious relationship between humans and nature. For instance, the Quokka story is woven into the family’s journey to Australia, while the tale of “finding water in the desert” teaches survival skills based on the habits of the Arabian oryx.
From her experiences with many children, Ms Thao has found that sustainable thinking “needs to be that simple, with no frills or complications.” Children will remember and adhere to these lessons, as they simultaneously witness the humanisation of legal thinking and the ecosystem. Sometimes, they even become “propagandists” for this “interdisciplinary” knowledge to their own parents.
Nurturing for a sustainable future
In Vietnam, there are numerous magazines for children, but none focus solely on natural sciences, sustainable development thinking, and substantial technological investment in children’s education like The Young Scientist magazine.
“There has never been a publication as popular with children as this magazine in my eight years of running a children’s publishing business,” said a respected bookstore owner. “Even children who previously disliked reading are excited by this magazine. Bookworms love it even more. Every month, they eagerly await its release. If it’s even slightly delayed, they ask questions, urge, and put pressure on us.”
Fortunately, prominent scholars such as journalist Tran Gia Bao, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre Newspaper; Dr Le Dinh Phong, Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology at Hoa Sen University; and Dr Nguyen Tran Vy, Conservation Ecologist at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, have agreed to serve as professional consultants and Vietnamese translators for the publication.
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Above In today’s publishing industry, distributing a magazine is an immensely difficult task. Photo: Young Sci
In today’s publishing industry, distributing a magazine is an immensely difficult task. Photo: Young Sci
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In today’s publishing industry, distributing a magazine—no matter how important its educational content—is an immensely difficult task.
For dedicated intellectuals like the team behind the Vietnamese version of The Young Scientist, “it’s simply what needs to be done, right now.” “The story of sustainable development cannot be achieved overnight,” they say, but it will certainly fail if everyone assumes it’s someone else’s responsibility.
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