Florida Atlantic University
Center for Teaching and Learning
Faculty Learning Community 2009-2010
Sustainable Pedagogy
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LEADER:
Tobin Hindle, Ph.D
Assistant Scientist, Department of Geosciences
FOCUS:
The concept of sustainability is one of the foremost paradigms influencing society today.
In 2002, the United Nations General Assembly declared the years from 2005 to 2014 to
be the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). Educational
institutions are uniquely positioned to help achieve sustainability goals through their role
of training students who have the potential to form a thriving, ethical and civil society.
Across this country, hundreds of universities, including Florida Atlantic University, have
signed on to the Presidents Climate Commitment to exercise leadership in their
communities in modeling ways that contribute to a sustainable society. To this end,
universities such as FAU should not only teach students about sustainability, but should
also seek to implement sustainability based pedagogies throughout their curriculum. A
sustainable pedagogy will require changes in faculty and student approaches to learning,
along with the development of particular student skill sets that encourage critical and
creative thinking that links all areas of learning to sustainability concepts such as fair and
equitable treatment of others and of the environment.
GOALS:
To transform the ideas put forward by the UN on Sustainable Development and the
Presidents Climate Commitment, this FLC would explore the theoretical and practical
implementations of sustainability pedagogy. Central goals would address learning
through the use of sustainability concepts involving social, economic, political and
environmental systems as well evaluative systems. These goals would include how to
produce positive changes in student attitudes and behavior towards these various systems.
A number of skills and abilities were identified during the UN conference in
Johannesburg that could contribute to a sustainable pedagogy; including criticism,
creativity, communication, cooperation, decision-making and social participation.
Additionally, attitudes and values should be considered that encourage respect of life,
diversity, understanding and respect for others, relations between local and global,
principles of democracy and preserving what is natural. It is clear that a sustainable
pedagogy would be incredibly rich and complex, yet presents a significant challenge to
faculty in implementing.
EXPECTATIONS (specific to this community’s participants):
 Explore and develop teaching strategies to create a sustainability based pedagogy that
could be implemented within a broad array of lower division courses at FAU.
 Implement sustainability based teaching strategies in at least one course and evaluate
its outcomes.
 Produce an academic paper on sustainable pedagogy to submit for peer review
journal publication.
POTENTIAL MEETING TIMES: Fall and Spring Semester
Mondays, Thursdays or after 2pm on Fridays at the Boca Raton campus.
STIPEND:
You will receive a $1,000 stipend for your active participation in the FLC and upon
fulfilling all FLC expectations.