2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The pressing global issues of climate change, environmental degradation, social inequity, and economic instability have elevated sustainable development to a top priority in education. At its core, sustainable development is the pathway we can take to a balanced future. That is, a future where we can live in harmony with each other and with the planet, allowing resources to replenish.

In this context, integrating Education for Sustainable Development into STEM is critical. The reason is that STEM skills are essential for developing technological and scientific solutions to tackle complex sustainability challenges. Traditional STEM education, however, often emphasizes technical concepts and rarely focuses on the emotional connection, missing the link between them and sustainability. Because of this disconnect, students are less motivated to learn and address real problems related to sustainable development. Bridging this gap is essential to fostering students to contribute meaningfully to sustainable solutions.

To address this issue, storytelling, with its capability of fostering empathy, emerges as a potential transformative pedagogy. UNESCO also recognized storytelling as an engaging pedagogy that makes abstract ideas come alive. It connects sustainability concepts not only to learners’ lived experiences and values but also to indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage (UNESCO, 2012). This systematized literature review examines how storytelling has been used to promote awareness, foster social emotions, and encourage sustainability-related behavior in STEM education, which is still not widely and effectively used. Particularly, this study will seek to address the following research questions:

• RQ1: How have storytelling teaching strategies been employed in STEM education for the purpose of sustainable development?
• RQ2: How have storytelling teaching strategies in STEM education fostered changes aligned with sustainable development?

A systematic search was conducted across four databases, including Scopus, PsycInfo, Education Source, and ERIC, using keywords related to four aspects - storytelling, STEM education, sustainable development, and expected outcomes about awareness, attitude, and behavior. With a strict adherence to the Prisma process, in total, 13 peer-reviewed articles were included in the final step for synthesis.

The results show that a story-based approach in STEM education is implemented in diverse forms, such as oral storytelling, digital storytelling, visual/image narratives, and VR 360-degree experiences. The positive impacts, not only in awareness but also in emotional responses and shifts in attitude among participants, were descriptively analyzed. Besides, we also identified the limitations of the studies themselves and the interventions that have been conducted. Involving only English-language papers, there will inevitably be omissions in the final ones included in the synthesis. However, following the PRISMA process strictly strengthens the reliability of the findings in the paper. It can provide educators with comprehensive practical insights to optimize interventions, helping to bring sustainability into the classroom in meaningful and lasting ways.

"I am a student member, lead author of the paper, and eligible for the Environmental Engineering Division Best Student Paper Award."