Swinburne
TAESUS502A Identify and apply
current sustainability education
principles and practice to learning
programs
Swinburne
Welcome and Introduction
TAESUS502A Identify and apply current
sustainability education principles and
practice to learning programs
Element 1 – Identify effective learning and teaching
principles and practice.
Element 2 – Research development of current
sustainability education principles and practice.
Element 3 – Apply current sustainability education
principles and practices to learning program.
3
Objectives of two-day workshop
At the end of this workshop, you should know how to:
> identify and apply principles of effective learning and teaching
> describe various definitions of sustainability, cite key historical
developments in sustainability education and know where to
research significant international and Australian initiatives and
policies on EfS
> articulate the difference between education about sustainability
and education for sustainability and it applies to VET
> customise a learning program by applying current sustainability
education principles and practice.
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Introductions
> Your name.
> Your industry area.
> What is your secret to a good life?
Swinburne
Sustainable Education Principles
and Practice
The future isn’t what it used to be – how do we
prepare our students?
ecosystem
degradation
climate
change
complexity
inequity
population
pressure
overconsumption
carbon
dioxide
species
extinction
peak oil
uncertainty
water
scarcity
resource
depletion
World Café activity
What is sustainability?
> There are many definitions of sustainability .
> In a group, develop your own definition of sustainability
regarding key words, concepts, principles. Appoint a
scribe.
> The scribe stays with the ideas, other group members
move to another scribe.
> Rework, fill in gaps from previous group.
> Report back to the whole group
> Form a definition that the whole group is happy with
The important distinction between EaS and EfS
Education about sustainability: Education for sustainability:
> is an awareness lesson, or
theoretical knowledge about
sustainability
> is the use of education as a
tool to achieve a sustainable
future
> is not necessarily oriented to
achieving change.
> EfS is focused on empowering
people to take action
> EfS includes elements of EaS.
Historical development of Sustainability
Education
> Nature Study (19th century)
> Environmental Education (EE)
> Education for Sustainability (or Education for Sustainable
Development – ESD).
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Swinburne
From EE to EfS
EfS was originally one of three strands of EE:
> education ABOUT the environment – an awareness of
environmental concepts (from Science)
> education IN the environment – (from Outdoor Education ,
Geography)
> education FOR the environment (EfS) – all the above plus
social/economic systems and explicit values and action towards a
sustainable future.
> The world's first intergovernmental conference (UNESCO/UNEP)
on Environmental Education, Tbilisi, Georgia (USSR) October
14-26, 1977
> Agenda 21, called for all countries to develop and implement an
ESD strategy by 2002.
> UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development
(DESD) 2005–2014.
> The Talloires Declaration
ten-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and
environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations and
outreach at colleges and universities. Signed by over 350
institutions in in over 40 countries.
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‘There are over 60 million
teachers in the world – and
each one is a key agent for
bringing about the changes in
lifestyles and systems that we
need [to achieve a sustainable
future]’ , UNESCO, 2002.
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Sustainability skills – Why now?
Key initiatives and policies EfS:
> Green Skills Agreement (2009)
> Living Sustainably: the Australian Government’s National
Action Plan for Education for Sustainability (2009)
> National VET Sector Sustainability Policy and Action Plan
(2009–2012)
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What Makes Learning and
Teaching Effective?
Activity – What constitutes effective learning?
In pairs/a group – brainstorm the following questions and
record:
> Drawing from your own VET practice or other teaching
experience, what do you do well as a teacher/facilitator?
> How do you know good learning is taking place?
> What are some characteristics of engaged learning?
> What are some characteristics of student
disengagement with learning?
Activity – The importance of prior
knowledge …
> By yourself, draw a spider.
(apologies to arachnophobes ...)
> When you have finished, describe your drawing to a
partner – number of body parts, number of legs, other
appendages.
> Compare with a partner.
> What do you need to know now?
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Importance of Prior Knowledge
> By asking learners to draw a spider then providing a picture of
a real spider, they have actively engaged with learning about
the structure of a spider far more deeply than if they were
simply shown the same picture at the beginning of the
session.
> These processes draw from a constructivist approach to
teaching and learning.
Uncovering prior knowledge
Using teaching approaches that uncover and building on prior
knowledge provide:
> an investment in finding out the answer by setting up ‘the
need to know’
> recognition of the range of prior knowledge and the variety of
prior knowledge within any group of humans
> a state of receptivity and openness where new knowledge can
be built on or replace prior knowledge (the ‘teachable
moment’).
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How Do Adults Learn?
Ways of Learning – VAK
> Visual-auditory-kinaesthetic (VAK) is a shorthand version of
Multiple Intelligences.
> VAK is useful to open up a discussion with a learner about
how they learn best.
> Conducting a short survey of VAK is useful with any group of
learners.
Ways of learning – Multiple Intelligences
There are many ways of learning and knowing,
everyone is capable of using all these each way but
each person has their own unique preference
pattern and each person has the ability to develop
increased capacity in the other areas.
– Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind, 1993
The 8 Multiple Intelligences
1. Verbal-linguistic (oral, auditory and written text).
2. Mathematical-logical (numbers, logic, games).
3. Visual-spatial (diagrams, pictures, maps).
4. Body-kinaesthetic (movement).
5. Musical/rhythmic .
6. Social/interpersonal (groups).
7. Intrapersonal (solitary, self-contained).
8. Naturalistic.
1. Verbal-linguistic
The student in your class who likes:
> reading
> writing – often good at spelling
> listening
> telling stories
> speaking to groups.
2. Mathematical-logical
A preference for :
> mathematical/science subjects
> good at patterns and order
> numbers
> logical, likes to reason
> organisation of facts
> likes to play games like chess.
3. Visual-spatial
A preference for images:
> drawing, pictures, movies, puzzles
> art, charts, diagrams, maps, concept maps
> often the daydreamer. can see things from different
perspectives, helicopter and 3D.
4. Body-kinaesthetic
A preference for :
> things that are ‘hands-on’
> movement
> sport, drama, role-plays
> good at tool use
> touching and feeling
> often the student who can’t sit still.
5. Musical/rhythmic
A preference for:
> music, singing, instrument playing
> rhythms, beats
> the DJ
> often the student who taps on the desk.
6. Social/interpersonal
A preference for:
> being and working with others
> group discussion, debates, team work, cooperative learning,
collaboration, problem solving in a group
> likes harmony
> can be manipulative
> empathetic (cries while watching movies!)
> often popular, with many friends.
7. Intrapersonal
A preference for :
> working independently
> prefers to be left alone and to do things in
their own way
> self-directed, self -confident
> writing personal journals,
> problem solving alone
> reflective and has self-knowledge; is
metacognitive.
8. Naturalistic
A preference for:
> nature and being outdoors
> working with plants and animals
> gardening, growing things
> walking in nature, collecting shells
> often knows all about insects, snakes, birds, etc.
• What are your key Multiple intelligences?
Activity: Your MI Profile
Birmingham Test
Group profile – Your Top 3
Birmingham Test
The Implications of the MIs
Reflect on your preferred Multiple Intelligences and the way
you like to teach:
> Which MIs are focused on in most education
situations?
> What are the risks to your students of delivering
learning and assessment using only one or two
approaches?
> What is the importance of designing a range of
learning and assessment approaches for your
students?
Swinburne
What we call ‘best practice’ in teaching
and learning comes a number of key
educational theorists who have researched
different aspects of learning.
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What Do the Learning Theorists
Say?
The art and science of teaching and learning
> Pedagogy – children (school age)
> Andragogy – adults (tertiary).
Some (of many) Educational Theorists
Name
Theory
Jean Piaget
Constructivism
Lev Vygotsky
Social constructivism
David Kolb
Experiential learning
Howard Gardner
Multiple Intelligences
Benjamin Bloom
Cognitive thinking taxonomy
John Brookfield,
Malcolm Knowles
Adult learning principles
Jack Mezirow
Transformative learning
What do we know about effective
learning and teaching?
> Learners are not a ‘blank slate on which the teacher writes’.
They bring knowledge, skills and experiences that influence
how new ideas are received and interpreted, and how skills
are learned (called ‘prior knowledge’).
> New learning builds on prior knowledge.
> Prior knowledge depends on learners’ backgrounds - gender,
culture, age, biases, motivations, experiences, educational
background, socio-economic status and interests.
> Prior knowledge is of particular importance for EfS, and also
strongly depends on values, attitudes, worldviews and
beliefs.
Education in the 21st century …
Life-long, requiring:
> high level of creativity
> critical thinking
> decision-making skills
> adaptability and flexibility
> effective information retrieval and evaluation
> holistic/systemic learning, i.e. seeing the connections
> education for a sustainable future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U 11mins
Worldviews, values, and beliefs in
education
> Values are intrinsically important or valuable to us in our lives.
> Values do not operate alone, but in combination with our
attitudes and beliefs that collectively predispose how we think
and behave in different situations.
> We are not born with our values, attitudes and beliefs but
acquire them during our lives. They can change throughout life.
Activity
- What
are your values?
Values
activity
> What do you value most highly in your life?
> Think briefly about what is most important to you
in your life. Use the values prompt list to write
down single words to represent what you believe
to be your key values.
> You will, of course, be given the choice about
whether to keep this list private or share with
others.
Discussion – Values and worldviews in VET
> What values does your industry or organisation
hold?
> How do the industry or organisation values relate
to your personal values?
> How do the industry or organisation values relate
to sustainability?
> What are some values in education:
– In VET programs?
– In VET policy and guidelines?
Discussion – Values and worldviews in VET
> Let’s explore the links between ‘enabling’
effective learning and teaching and VET
institutional policies and programs.
> Working in small groups, consider your own
RTOs and document and discuss institutional
policies and programs that support effective
learning and teaching.
Swinburne
Teaching Effectively to Create the
Change we Need
Sustainability
for VET?
Reflectionimplications
and discussion
> How do we create an enabling environment for
transformational learning?
> How might we teach differently to create change?
Let’s revisit some effective
learning tools (Topic 1)
> exploring prior knowledge
> use of MIs
> experiential / participatory learning
> exploring values
> bloom’s levels
> transformational learning.
Can you think of any others?
Let’s revisit principles of EfS (Topic 2)
> Transformation and change
> Envisioning a better future
> Critical thinking and reflection
> Participation
> Partnerships for change
> Systems thinking
> Education for all and lifelong learning
Source: Living Sustainably: The Australian Government’s National Action
Plan for Education for Sustainability
Applying EfS principles and tools:
Of the seven EfS principles, three in particular provide a range of
useful tools for EfS ‘classrooms’’:
> Envisioning a better future
> Critical thinking and reflection
> Systems Thinking.
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Applying Education for
Sustainability in VET
Sustainability implications for VET?
Discussion: EfS and VET –
exploring potential synergies and
challenges
> What potential synergies and challenges exist
for embedding sustainability education
principles and practice to existing training,
programs and policies in your own
organisations?
Swinburne
Embedding Sustainability
Education Principles and Practice
into Learning Programs
Applying effective learning and teaching and sustainability
education principles to redesigning a unit of competency
Teaching topic:
Exploring prior knowledge
Use of MIs
Experiential learning
Exploring values
Bloom’s levels
Transformational learning
Opportunities to include EaS
EfS principles
Changes to be made: