What is ESD?

The issue of Education for Sustainable Development is more urgent than ever, particularly in these times of the energy transition triggered by the devastating disaster in Fukushima. But what does Education for Sustainable Development actually mean? And how can ESD be integrated into schools or lessons?

Education for Sustainable Development is a global educational concept supported by the United Nations. It focuses on the ecologically and economically responsible use of our planet’s resources, such as raw materials and energy; and it promotes socially just interactions between people, as well as respectful communication across generations, regions of the world, nations and cultures. This concept is intended to be embedded in all types of schools and school subjects, moving away from ‘disaster-based education’ and enabling the development of a positive future by building pupils’ ‘creative competence’. For further details, see www.bne-portal.de/

PILOT project: ESD meets the core curriculum

The pilot project ‘ESD meets core curriculum’ ran from April to September 2012. It was carried out by the Oldenburg Further Education Centre (OFZ) in co-operation with the natural sciences, technology and economics subjects, on behalf of the association BNEAgentur Niedersachsen e.V. During this trial run, criteria for sustainable teacher training were applied and assessed for their effectiveness. In particular, the link to the core curriculum, the structure as a multi-day event with practical phases in between, as well as the opportunity to apply the teaching examples presented in the training in one’s own practice and the accompanying exchange with colleagues proved to be a great support in everyday school life.

Professional Development for Sustainable Development in the School and Core Curriculum 2013

Contents

The‘Training for Sustainable Development 2013’series, part of the ESD Agency project at the University of Oldenburg, builds on the experiences gained from the 2012 pilot project and is designed to support teachers in implementing ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ (ESD) at their schools. We aim to highlight tried-and-tested approaches for integrating ESD concepts with the requirements of the core curriculum and school curriculum, so that this is no longer perceived as an additional obligation that is virtually impossible to fulfil ‘on top of’ everyday school life.

The professional development programme has been developed with co-operation from the natural sciences, technology and economics subjects, as well as the general studies subject, and is organised by the Oldenburg Centre for Continuing Education (OFZ) at the Didactic Centre (diz). The programme’s training sessions are organised as a series of two to four events, so that you can try out the methods and materials with your classes in the meantime and reflect on your experiences within the group. We and the participating lecturers have had positive experiences with this format so far.

From April to June 2013, experienced trainers from the subjects mentioned will explore a wide range of issues relating to sustainable energy supply and use, as well as critical thinking skills. In doing so, we will introduce the concept of ESD, but our main focus will be on further developing teaching skills, refining existing lesson plans and materials, and adapting them to the specific needs of each class. The training course demonstrates that ESD is not merely a ‘theoretical concept’, but becomes very practical in the classroom!

We encourage participation by pairs or small groups from individual schools so that you can later use the new concepts and materials together and with other colleagues at your school – although this is not a prerequisite for taking part. Participation in this programme is, exceptionally, free of charge, as special funding from the State of Lower Saxony can be used to support ESD. Further details and information on the training series can be found in the information letter.

Overview of all courses

Individual courses

KOL.1315.007: Economics and Physics

Energy supply and energy use will be of greater concern to us in the future than ever before. This involves not only scientific and technical issues, but also social, political and, in particular, economic ones. These issues are closely interlinked: one field of knowledge alone is not sufficient to assess the facts thoroughly. Whilst the curricula for physics and economics offer many points of connection, the challenge lies precisely in highlighting different perspectives within a single subject.

The aim of this professional development course is to use materials, experiments and methods in the subjects of physics and economics to demonstrate in concrete terms how curriculum requirements and the objectives of energy education can be implemented to support education for sustainable development. The course is aimed at lecturers at Hauptschulen, Realschulen, Gesamtschulen or Oberschulen who teach physics or economics – or both – in Years 9 and 10.

First session: Wednesday, 10 April 2013, 4.00 pm – 7.00 pm, Wechloy campus, University of Oldenburg, W02 1-120;

second session between 22 and 24 May 2013 and third session between 10 and 14 June 2013.

Lecturers: Simone Malz and Sebastian Peters

KOL.1317.006: Chemistry

The ‘Energieparcours-Nordwest’, which received an award from the UNESCO Commission in 2011, is an alliance of various regional energy sites. It offers pupils the opportunity to explore, discuss and evaluate different methods of energy conversion and use through learning trails at the excursion site. The learning trail on the topic of ‘Energy from Biomass’ is aimed at pupils in Years 10 and 11, who can explore key questions on the subject of biogas – including biochemical processes, technical implementation and the implications of energy policy – at various stations and through discussions with company experts.

Over the course of three afternoons, you will familiarise yourselves with the biogas learning trail as an out-of-school learning venue and the accompanying teaching materials. The first session will be devoted to preparing for the field trip to the biogas plant. We would like to explore your previous experience with out-of-school learning environments and suggest ways to link the topic of ‘energy from biomass’ to your chemistry lessons. During the second face-to-face session, we will visit the biogas plant and the learning trail. At the third session, we will discuss the experiences gained in light of the potential support offered by the learning trail and the teaching materials.

First session: Friday, 26 April 2013, 2.30 pm – 5.00 pm; the venue will be announced in the invitation; the date of the field trip will be announced at the first session, and the third session will be agreed upon collectively.

Speakers: Kerstin Haucke and Verena Niesel

KOL.1315.008: Implementing ESD in general studies

A pool of practical teaching experiments in the areas of ‘soil, water, air and climate’ is available for testing. The necessary specialist knowledge from the fields of chemistry, physics and biology is conveyed in a realistic, clear and engaging manner. The training is primarily aimed at primary school teachers, but also offers a wide range of ideas for teachers at all lower secondary school levels who teach natural sciences outside their specialist subject. The programme will be tailored to the specific school type based on the participants. The programme comprises a two-day intensive block session and two afternoons during which the resulting lesson plans will be evaluated, presented and discussed.

First session: Sat 13 and Sun 14 April 2013, 10.00–19.00 on both days, conference centre (to be announced with the invitation; overnight accommodation available); Subsequent afternoon sessions (4 hours each) will be agreed upon during the intensive session; venue: University of Oldenburg. Speakers: Ines Oldenburg (experience as a primary school teacher, in school administration, and in university teacher training in the subject of general studies) and Herbert Brüdt (experience as a teacher at lower and upper secondary levels in the subjects of chemistry, physics and biology, and in university-level teacher training in general studies)

KOL.1316.008: ESD meets the core curriculum

Do you teach physics as a non-specialist subject in line with the core curriculum, whilst also wishing to incorporate aspects of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into your physics lessons? This is a challenging task, and one in which we would like to assist you. Physics lessons, in particular, have a direct and topical link to ESD through the topic of energy. But what exactly is meant by ‘energy’ in physics? What ideas do pupils have about it, and which approaches to teaching energy have proven effective? What role do renewable energies play, and how can they be used to teach physics?

These questions and the fundamentals of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) form the focus of this training course. Best-practice examples provide practical illustrations of how tried-and-tested materials and teaching approaches can be used. The subject-specific background will be presented, amongst other things, in the form of simple experiments for lower secondary education, tailored to your prior knowledge. You will be introduced to tried-and-tested teaching concepts and materials and will carry out experiments yourself as part of a group. Between the face-to-face sessions, you will try out the teaching concepts with your classes so that, at the next meeting, you can report on your practical experiences and we can discuss them together.

First session: Tuesday, 16 April 2013, 4.00 pm – 7.00 pm, Wechloy campus, University of Oldenburg, W2 1-120; the dates for the second and third sessions will be agreed upon collectively.

Speakers: Michael Komorek and students training to be physics teachers

Bringing energy to computer science lessons

A key aspect of sustainable development is ensuring the long-term viability of our electricity supply and consumption. Whether it is the integration of renewable energy sources into our electricity grid or the now mandatory ‘smart’ meters, almost every innovation in the energy sector is linked to developments in information technology relating to data collection, control or data exchange.

This training course conveys fundamental concepts relating to energy topics in computer science lessons and offers the opportunity to discuss tried-and-tested materials and to observe how pupils engage with the materials in practical work. A key focus is the processing of real-world data from photovoltaic systems: from analysing XML files generated by the systems, through evaluating data using spreadsheets, to querying data from a database. In subsequent sessions, the proposed lesson plan and its materials will be adapted to the specific circumstances of each school, and participants will reflect on the lessons delivered. The main target group is lower and upper secondary schools.

First session: Tuesday, 16 April 2013, 9.00 am – 3.00 pm; venue to be announced with the invitation; subsequent sessions by arrangement.

Presenter: Stefan Moll

Biology

One aim of biology lessons is to encourage pupils to adopt a responsible attitude towards themselves and the environment. In this way, biology lessons follow the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). In three workshops, we aim to explore the ESD concept and its challenges and opportunities in a concrete and practical manner. To this end, three thematic areas – each directly linked to the core curriculum – will be examined in a way that enables them to be implemented immediately in schools. We would like to reflect with you on tried-and-tested, competence- and action-oriented teaching materials on the topic of the Wadden Sea ecosystem and carry out experiments in the Wadden Sea student laboratory.

In a second session, we will focus on the topic of ecology at the Green School at Oldenburg Botanical Garden. There, we will present learning activities and experiments on the topics of insects, flowering plants and soil, and try them out ourselves to some extent. The third session will focus on the topic of children’s and young people’s lifestyles. Together, we aim to gather teaching ideas, plan lessons and test them out, so that after each session you will be able to independently implement small-scale learning activities in your own lessons. Following this, we can share and reflect on the experiences we have gained.

First session: Wednesday, 11 June 2013, 3.00 pm – 4.00 pm for a preliminary meeting, Wechloy campus of the University of Oldenburg, W3 2-231; further meetings will be agreed upon within the group.

Speakers: Corinna Hößle, Holger Winkler and Birgit Weusmann

Technology

In light of global environmental and economic developments, every society today must address the challenges of sustainable development. The challenges of sustainable development are linked to technological developments. This training course will present teaching units for technology lessons in Years 8–10 that address technological developments from a sustainability perspective, and will discuss how these can be implemented in the classroom.

The topics of the three sessions are: an introduction to the concepts of sustainability and technology assessment in the classroom; lessons for Year 8: sustainability explained through the example of paper production; lessons for Year 9: mobility and communication from a sustainability perspective; lessons for Year 10: energy from a sustainability perspective.

The course is already underway. If you are interested in a follow-up course, please contact Ms Selle (simona.selle@uni-oldenburg.de).

Speakers: Katharina Dutz, Gert Sudbrack and Reinhard Meiners

Food – “Between Resource Security and the Food Crisis”

The training course “Between Food Security and the Resource Crisis” is organised by the Association for Development Policy in Lower Saxony (VEN) in co-operation with the Oldenburg Training Centre (OFZ), the Oldenburg Ecumenical Centre and the Oldenburg Regional Environmental Education Centre (RUZ).

Over the course of three afternoons, “Between Food Security and the Resource Crisis” offers action- and skills-oriented approaches from the field of “Global Learning”. The aim is to present, develop and test didactic approaches for work in schools and in out-of-school learning environments, addressing issues at the intersection of food production and food sovereignty, as well as resource consumption, climate protection and ‘peak oil’. The aim is to link the pupils’ own local context with global perspectives in order to highlight possible courses of action. By linking the programme to the core curricula, direct integration into your lessons is possible. Suitable materials on the individual topic areas and lesson units round off the training course. Between the face-to-face sessions, teaching concepts and materials can be tested in your own classes.

ESD training courses in the regular OFZ programme

To support teachers more generally with issues relating to Education for Sustainable Development, the Oldenburg Teacher Training Centre has compiled and developed various training courses that illustrate the breadth of ESD and offer points of reference in different school contexts. In some cases, these draw on the experiences of the Energy Education project. For example, the Staakenweg Primary School’s ‘Electricity Workshop’ and the ‘Energy Trail North-West’ are each offering two training courses.

Further information on this can be found at:

contact

If you are interested in training courses in the field of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), please contact

Simona Selle
Coordinator for In-service Training and Further Education

Oldenburg Training Centre (OFZ) at the Didactic Centre (diz) of the University of Oldenburg

D - 26111 Oldenburg

Email: simona.selle@uni-oldenburg.de

Tel: 04 41 / 798 - 58 04

Fax: 04 41 / 798 - 49 00

Further information

Further information on the ‘BNE-Agentur’ project can be found at www.diz.uni-oldenburg.de/bne-agentur.

You can also find resources on energy education for your lessons at www.energiebildung.uni-oldenburg.de/.

Information about the ‘Energieparcours-nordwest’ excursion portal can be found at www.energieparcours-nordwest.de.