Sustainability in formal Education: ways to integrate it now

Sustainability emerged as a way to address global challenges “without leaving anyone behind”. Nevertheless, sustainability is hard to implement. At the individual level, education can help,  as recognised at the international level. This paper looks at sustainability for education, and vice versa to decipher why the two benefit from each other. Education fosters literacy, forming the citizens of tomorrow: it can thus support sustainability, promoting a positive understanding of nature among students. Thanks to its interdisciplinary nature, sustainability can foster collaboration among different subjects and offer new practices helping education to prepare students for a complex future. This interplay can exist without intervening in the national curricula, by focussing on student-centred pedagogies, and the role of teachers. Three projects show how, through learning scenarios, massive online open courses and competitions, teachers can support sustainability education. Hence, this paper shows that the integration of sustainability in education is recommendable and achievable

Why is an integrated STEM approach an important element in the teaching of the future?

The global urgency to improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education is driven by environmental and social needs of the twenty-first century, which in turn jeopardizes global security and economic stability. The complexity of these global factors reaches beyond helping students achieve high scores in their class assessments and refining how we teach STEM courses is necessary to ensure our students are ready to confront the realities of their environments and communities. STEM is not a new discipline, nor is it a question of integrating science and scientific technology into all disciplines. It has a much wider scope than that, and it cannot be limited only to the four disciplines individually. In fact, STEM is about the different disciplines working together, making connections between each of them, as well as the school and communities where they are being taught. STEM subjects should be taught together, intertwined

Education for environmental sustainability : policies and approaches in European Union Member States : executive summary

In the recent years, there has been a growing consensus in Europe and beyond on the role that education can play in the transition towards a green economy and society needed to address the severe decline in biodiversity, environmental degradation and risks posed by climate change. Education has an essential role to play by supporting citizens in developing the competences needed to live responsibly, change consumption models, design solution, transform society and shape a green economy. In the context of the EU’s efforts to promote a sustainable and green Europe, the purpose of this study is to map EU Member States’ national and institutional practices, processes, tools and strategies in education for environmental sustainability (EES) at various levels and in different forms of education. To date, no such comprehensive comparative analysis has yet been carried out on the delivery of education for environmental sustainability in the EU. The study will help inform the actions of the European Commission with regard to education for environmental sustainability and policy for the implementation of the European Education Area and the European Green Deal. This study understands education for environmental sustainability as education that makes students aware of, sensitive to, and knowledgeable about the environment and its interconnectedness to social and economic systems, while encouraging them to develop attitudes of concern and motivation, as well as practical, complex systems and critical thinking skills to identify and solve environmental problems. It recognises that EES is strongly linked to the economic and social dimensions of sustainability, but focuses on environmental topics and views these in social and economic contexts. The study understands EES beyond topical knowledge, as an inter-disciplinary issue that must be approached holistically. EES should closely follow learners through all phases and stages of education and take place in a supportive learning environment and by way of thoughtful and engaging pedagogies. This requires learning to occur along three dimensions: cognitive (relating to knowledge, understanding and critical thinking); socio-emotional (relating to a sense of common humanity, values and responsibilities, empathy, solidarity and respect); and behavioural (relating to skills development). As members of society, individuals should be empowered to act in a sustainable manner in complex situations. This may require them to strike out in new directions and participate in socio-political processes that require every member of society to acquire a ‘sustainability mindset’ and environmental literacy.peer-reviewe

Nature-based solutions for climate adaptation in school environments:An interdisciplinary assessment framework

International audienc

Bringing Research into the Classroom – The Citizen Science approach in schools.

The way science is approached in the classroom can be instrumental in dispelling negative stereotypes about science and scientific research in future generations. The present report looks at the Citizen Science approach as an opportunity to connect schools with the world of research to foster a better command of scientific processes in the young, raise their awareness of current issues faced in certain sectors and geographical regions, and help them make sense of the surrounding world. The purpose of this report is to provide a baseline for understanding the key conditions of successfully implementing citizen science activities in schools. This report is based on three main sources of information: (1) review of recent literature on Citizen Science and its applications in schools; (2) a collection of citizen science case studies selected by educational organisations in four countries (Belgium, Greece, Poland and Spain) and from the Scientix repository of resources; and (3) the discussions between project managers, project representatives and science educators participating in the 14th Science Projects Networking Event (SPNE14), organisedbyScientixwiththecollaborationoffour other organisations and projects – GFOSS, Jet Propulsion Theatre, EDU-ARCTIC and ERIS. The report includes three main sections. The first explores the current literature on citizen science, guided by three main questions: (1) how do we define citizen science, (2) what are the main actors involved in citizen science projects and how do they contribute, and (3) what are the particularities of citizen science activities run in the context of formal education. The second section illustrates 20 citizen science projects, indicating the target audiences and main areas of research covered, as well as a description of the activities, outlining which part of the scientific method is carried out by volunteers, and, when such information is available, descriptions of the roles and interactions between the researchers and citizen scientists. Finally, the third section presents a discussion on the case studies included in the report, with a focus on the main challenges and opportunities of bringing citizen science in schools. The main challenge of running citizen science activities in school which transpired from the literature review and the review of the case studies is the issue of balancing research and educational outcomes. For educational outcomes to be achieved, citizen science projects in schools need to go beyond engaging pupils only in data collection and simple analysis, and look to involving them in meaningful research practices, which will give them the opportunity to develop scientific inquiry skills. On the same line, if genuine science outcomes are to be met, the ‘novice’ scientists (teachers and their students) need to interact with the researchers in order to be exposed to the requirements of the scientific method, and be supported in implementing it. Research suggests that carefully designed projects, created in dialogue between schools (teachers) and researchers which take into consideration the needs and constraints of both groups can successfully achieve both goals.status: Published onlin