Eldri Scheie

Eldri Scheie serves as an Associate Professor at the Norwegian Centre for Science Education, University of Oslo, where she leads nationwide professional development initiatives including the Sustainable Backpack program since 2009. Her work spans multiple educational levels from policy development to teacher training and school leadership, with significant contributions to Nordic cooperation in sustainability education through projects like the 2017 Nordisk modul for bærekraftig utvikling.

Dr. Scheie earned her M.Sc/Engineer in Biotechnology from NTNU in 1992 followed by a PhD in photosensitivity from the Department of Feed and Food Hygiene at the National Veterinary Institute. Her academic journey evolved from veterinary science research (including publications on phylloerythrin measurement and toxicity testing in the early 2000s) to educational leadership, building on her experience teaching science and mathematics at upper secondary schools and leading project management courses at BI Norwegian Business School.

Her research focuses on Environmental Sustainability Education, Education for Sustainable Development, Interdisciplinarity, and Critical Thinking, with particular emphasis on practical implementation strategies for teachers. She investigates how science educators understand and implement sustainability concepts, examining both curriculum design challenges and student engagement with complex sustainability issues. Recent work explores pluralistic approaches to sustainability education and how to foster democratic dialogue in classrooms when addressing contested environmental topics.

Analysis of her publication record reveals a clear trajectory toward more sophisticated understanding of sustainability education implementation. Early work focused on foundational concepts and key factors in ESD, while recent research delves into nuanced aspects like teacher perceptions of sustainable development, critical thinking integration in science curriculum, and students' openness to pluralistic perspectives. Her 2022-2025 publications show increasing methodological sophistication in examining how interdisciplinary curriculum units are implemented and how they affect student learning outcomes.

Dr. Scheie has secured significant project funding including Nordic cooperation initiatives and nationwide teacher development programs. She collaborates extensively with researchers like Associate Professor Shelley Stromholt (USA) and Associate Professor Eli Munkebye (NTNU), and has served on boards for international networks like COMENIUS multilateral projects. Her professional development work reaches thousands of Norwegian teachers through structured nationwide programs.

She leads the Interdisciplinarity in Environmental Sustainability Education research group and coordinates major projects including The Sustainable Backpack and Nordic cooperation initiatives. Her work connects university researchers with classroom teachers, school leaders, and policy makers to create practical frameworks for implementing sustainability education across Norway's educational system, with particular attention to how critical thinking skills can be developed through sustainability-focused learning experiences.