EDUCATION FOR CHANGE:

A HANDBOOK FOR TEACHING

AND LEARNING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
 EDUCATION FOR CHANGE:
A HANDBOOK FOR TEACHING
AND LEARNING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
This handbook was developed by the group of authors and represents experience accumu-
lated during the “Education for Change” project in various countries around the Baltic
Sea.

The project was supported by the EU Comenius 2.1. Programme.

© Baltic University Programme Uppsala University

www.balticuniv.uu.se
For commercial use please contact Baltic University Programme

Editors: Gitte Jutvik and Inese Liepina

Design: © Ilze Ramane

Printed by: “Gandrs”
Printed with respect to the environment

ISBN 978-91-86189-01-3
The responsible partners are:

Gdansk University; Maria Mendel

Polish Ecological Club; Grazyna Wolnikowska
Klaipeda University; Alona Rauckiene
Kaliningrads Center for Environmental Education and Tourism; Olga Krylova
Lithuanian Geography Teachers Association; Stase Alenskiene
Children’s Environmental School, Latvia; Inese Liepina
Tallinn University, Haapsalu College; Mall Vainola, Sirje Piht
Baltic Fund for Nature, St. Petersburg: Julia Danilova
Helsinki University; Taina Kaivola
WWF Finland; Hanna Nordström
Uppsala University; Valdy Lindhe
Adult Education Association; Peter Wiborn
WWF Sweden; Gitte Jutvik
Authors

Maria Mendel, Małgorzata Puchowska, Sylwester Zielka, Iwona Sagan,

Gdansk University
Małgorzata Dymnicka and Katarzyna Rozmarynowska,
Politechnical University in Gdańsk
Grazyna Wolnikowska, Polish Ecological Club
Liudmila Glushkova, I. Kant Russian State University, Kaliningrad
Alexey Golubytskiy, The Guide Environmental Group, Kaliningrad
Alona Rauckiene, Klaipeda University, Lithuania
Kaliningrad Secondary School Nr.31
Ineta Mikelsone, Vija Ziverte, Jaunpils Secondary School, Latvia
Inese Liepina, Daiga Kalnina, Children’s Environmental School, Latvia
Rudite Grabovska, Daugavpils University, Latvia
Julia Danilova, Baltic Fund for Nature, St. Petersburg
Taina Kaivola, Heidi Krzywacki-Vainio, Liisa Suomela, Helsinki University
Hanna Nordström, WWF Finland
Valdy Lindhe, Uppsala University
Peter Wiborn, Adult Education Association
Gitte Jutvik, Germund Sellgren, WWF Sweden
CONTENTS

FOREWORD 6

INTRODUCTION: NO-ONE WANTS AN UN-SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT! 7

CHAPTER 1: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 8

CHAPTER 2: EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 19

CHAPTER 3: METHODS 35

CHAPTER 4: PRACTICAL EXAMPLES 46

5
FOREWORD

This is a handbook for educators by educators and is intended as a practical handbook for
teaching sustainable development. It’s intended for teachers and student teachers as well as
capacity building for experienced educators. The examples and methods described in the
handbook have been tested, evaluated and developed to make sustainable development both
visible and achievable.

As our overall aim is to encourage, support and contribute to an ongoing dialogue about how
skills, commitment and action competence on sustainable development among children and
youth can be developed, we see this handbook as providing practical support rather than as
a textbook.

The Education for Change team represents organisations and universities in the Baltic Sea
region. Many of us have been cooperating for more than ten years in the education project
Naturewatch Baltic – a project designed to help and encourage teachers and students to ac-
tively participate in sustainable development. Naturewatch Baltic also arranges workshops
for educators and people involved with nature conservation. The experiences gained and the
needs expressed in this context have inspired us to create this Education for Change hand-
book. It is our sincere hope that you will find it useful.

Gitte Jutvik
Editor
WWF Sweden

6
INTRODUCTION: NO-ONE WANTS AN UN-SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT!

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”
Mahatma Gandhi

At the time of writing more than 6 billion people live on planet Earth. If every single human
being in the world was to enjoy the same lifestyle and the same pattern of consumption that
we have in the Baltic Sea region we would need the equivalent of two extra planets. Continu-
ing to exploit the Earth at the present rate does not bode well for the future. But many of us
believe that we have a choice and can make a difference. One of the ways of getting the mes-
sage across is to help our children to understand that there are limits to this exploitation, and
that if we act now there is hope. Not only do we need to act for our common future, but also The long-term aim of
for our physical health. Social researchers have shown that when children acquire knowledge this journey is to have as
and guidance about the problems and possibilities they are much better equipped to see the good a life as possible
future much more optimistically than children with little idea about these things. Education without hurting or
for sustainable development is therefore closely connected to young people’s lives and futures harming other fellow
and must be given the highest priority. Teachers and school personnel need to be trained in humans or living
such matters and acquire the necessary skills and competence, while governments need to beings.
provide resources for research into suitable teaching methods and content. Above all, educa-
tion for sustainable development must be regarded as a serious pedagogical challenge.
Although environmental subjects and courses have been an integral part of formal education
since the 1960s, this has not been sufficient. A greater need for new perspectives has led to
the United Nations (UN) proclaiming a ten-year plan, from 2005 to 2015, for education for a
sustainable development. The aim of Education for Change is to help to make this UN decade
a practical reality.
But what is Education for Change and what are the aims?
Education for Change, also known as EduC, is a project designed to help teachers and educa-
tors to include and work with the concept of sustainable development in their education. The
aim of education for sustainable development is to provide learners with a holistic approach
so that they are equipped with the necessary tools and thinking and can thereby make a differ-
ence. Such an approach does not only call for the efforts of individual teachers but for the ef-
forts of all teachers. Teamwork is called for! For development and training among colleagues
our recommendation is to use the EduC Study Circle method. Details about this method – to-
gether with other resources, information about courses and activities and how to get involved
– can be found on the Education for Change website www.balticuniv.uu.se/educ/
The Education for Change Handbook for Teaching and Learning Sustainable Develop-
ment handbook is available in Estonian, Finnish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Swe-
dish and English and consists of four separate chapters, outlined in brief below. Throughout
the text you will find Reflection Boxes. These are intended for teacher discussions and to
stimulate a better understanding of the various topics. Exercises and activities are also pro-
vided in the handbook as resources and inspiration.
Chapter 1: Sustainable Development looks at why we need to consider sustainable
develop¬ment, what sustainable development is and entails and how we might best explore
and – if possible – measure it. In this chapter you will find descriptions and definitions, a brief
history and relevant viewpoints about issues related to sustainable development.
Chapter 2: Education for Sustainable Development ESD discusses the basis of knowledge and
attempts to explain and clarify our view of education for sustainable development. Here we
also look at the knowledge and skills that are needed and why, and possibilities for progress.
Chapter 3: Methods investigates the ESD methods that are available and the circumstances in
which they might be used. Here we present methods for pedagogical work with values, critical
thinking, problem-solving and action competences.
Chapter 4: Practical Examples provides a number of teaching and learning resources on
sustainability issues. These are intended as inspiration. You can also add your own ideas and
create your own “pedagogical tool box”!

7
 CHAPTER 1. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THE
CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Melting glaciers, toxins in blood and breast milk, 50 percent fewer species of butterflies, ri-
sing temperatures, a Baltic Sea with a reduced cod population, dying sea bottoms … the list
is endless. How is it that we in the rich western world over-consume while poverty prevails
in other parts of the world? How can we possibly solve all the problems relating to inequality
and a reduced biological diversity? The questions are many and, despite the fact that we are
well educated and informed, the answers are far from obvious.

Figure 1. Approximately 1/3 of the Earth’s population consumes 2/3 of the Earth’s resources

We all know that human beings have basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, health, edu-
cation, etc. But the life support systems have to operate without being over-burdened either
by our withdrawal of resources or our discharges of waste and pollution. Neither should we
forget the cultural and emotional aspects of human life. Sustainability requires that society
and nature are viewed holistically.

Different examples, events and reports convince us that the Earth is over-burdened. Almost
everyone agrees that something has to be done. But not everybody agrees on what changes
need to be made, how these changes ought to take place and which areas need to be immedi-
ately addressed.

It is increasingly clear that drastic changes are necessary; changes that also include economic
and social reform. But rather than single-mindedly concentrating on waste and pollution, we
also need to focus on adopting new principles for consumption, production and distribution.
A holistic approach that includes all these things reflects a real sustainable development.

Sustainability requires that all angles are considered. Typically, the overuse of a resource is
first experienced as a burden on the environment in terms of its waste products, such as an
The aim of the UN excess of CO2 or eutrophication due to an overuse of phosphates. Answers to the question
decade is to ensure about how we ought to deal with environmental problems seldom get to the root of the prob-
that “education for lem, that is, the way our societies work.
sustainable Sustainable development can be understood from different points of view. Some people see it
development is as a journey or an ongoing process within the limits of ecological frameworks. The long-term
practiced in schools aim of this journey is to have as good a life as possible without hurting or harming other fel-
and other low humans or living beings.
educational In the same spirit democracy is very much a part of sustainable development. Agenda 21
establishments in (UN, 1992) emphasises participatory democracy, which means that decisions are made and
order to highlight the implemented in cooperation with ordinary citizens like you and me. This is another aspect of
central role that the ethics of justice. So, to summarise, sustainable development can be considered as a sort of
journey or direction and needs to be thought about or reflected upon. In Chapter 2 we look
education and l at some of the ways in which the concept of sustainable development can be developed in an
earning play in the educational context.
common pursuit of
sustainable Reflection Box 1 – Sustainable Development
development and that 1. What are people’s basic needs? Do they also include the desire to travel, equip our
quality education is a homes with beautiful furniture and flat screen TV’s? Who decides and makes priori-
prerequisite for ties when resources are limited?
education for 2. How would you describe and explain the concepts of sustainable development
sustainable and sustainability? Write down your own understanding and discuss them with your
development at all colleagues.
levels and in all 3. Why is sustainable development so important right now?
aspects of
education”.
8
A brief historical background to sustainable development
At the beginning of the 1960s the time was ripe for a wide social debate relating to the envi-
ronment. Rachael Carson’s book “Silent Spring” (1962) was a wake-up call. The connection
between the death of the species of birds known as Yellowhammers and an increased use of
mercury-enriched seeds formed the basis of her book.
During the 1960s society felt the need to do something about the existing environmental
problems. Technology was introduced to clean chimneys and sewage pipes, for example.
The first international environmental conference was organised by the UN and held in Stock-
holm in 1972, during which the western world’s environmental problems were discussed. The
conclusion was that scientists, experts and technology would solve these problems. It was not
something that ordinary people needed to worry about. But people didn’t accept this and in
the 1970s they started to get more and more involved in environmental organisations and
pressure groups. People became very concerned and active and put pressure on the politi-
cians to do something. Germany also started to press for the wide use of the precautionary
principle1 and initiated a discussion about the connection between social, economic and en-
vironmental problems. The economical aspect is introduced nowadays.
The actual concept of sustainable development emerged in the 1980s in response to a growing
realisation about the need to balance economic and social progress with a concern for the en-
vironment and stewardship of the Earth’s natural resources. The concept became more wide-
spread with the publication of “Our Common Future” by the World Commission on Envi-
ronment and Development in 1987. In this publication the Commission defined sustainable
development as a “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. In other words, although develop-
ment may be necessary to satisfy human needs and improve the quality of life, it should occur
in such a way that the capacity of the natural environment to meet present and future needs is
not compromised. This understanding of sustainable development has, however, been trans-
lated and interpreted differently in different contexts.
Twenty years after the Stockholm conference the UN again raised the environmental ques-
tion, this time on a global stage and with a focus on the 21st century. The UN conference on
Environment and Development held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro resulted in Agenda 21, with
guidelines as to how the world’s governments, councils and important social groups should
introduce development in the 21st century without damaging the environment. The message
from the Rio Conference was that both rich and poor countries have their different environ-
mental problems and that in many cases unsustainable development is a result of people’s
ideas about lifestyles. Problems and conflicts are not always locally visible but are often based
on a combination of local and global agreements and requirements.
Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 (UN, 1992) directly addresses education. These initiatives need to
be developed. In many countries schools and universities now have to include education for
sustainable development in their educational curricula. Baltic 21’s Education Sector is actively
working to support the implementation of education for sustainable development in all the
Baltic Sea region countries.
The importance of education for sustainable development was already emphasised in 1977. In
this year the first international initiative was taken in Georgia, at that time part of the Soviet
Union, when The Tbilisi Declaration was unanimously adopted at the end of a conference on
EE in that city. The declaration noted the unanimous support for environmental education
that would help to preserve and improve the world’s environment and encourage a sound and
balanced development of the world’s communities.
The role of the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development to promote
ESD is important here in that it promoted Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as
a key concept in its plan of implementation. The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (2005-1014) was decided on later that same year by the UN General Assembly.
The decade is monitored by UNESCO, has a global vision and aims towards a world in which
everybody will have the opportunity to benefit from quality education and learn the values,
behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transfor-
mation. The aim of the decade is to ensure that “education for sustainable development is
practiced in schools and other educational establishments in order to highlight the central
1
The precautionary principle (Leal Filho, 2000) is a moral and political principle which states that if an action or policy might cause
severe or irreversible harm to the public, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls
on those who would advocate taking the action.
9
 role that education and learning play in the common pursuit of sustainable development and
that quality education is a prerequisite for education for sustainable development at all levels
and in all aspects of education”.

Reflection Box 2. Sustainable Development

1. 1. Does your country have a different historical background to the sustainable de-
velopment described here? What is similar and what is different according to your
experience?
2. . It is said that in most cases unsustainable development is the result of the way
people live their lives and that problems and conflicts are not always noticed or lo-
cally visible, but are usually based on a combination of local and global agreements.
Do you agree with this? Think of some practical examples as proof of this. How can
we get people to change their lifestyles and live more sustainably?
3. Changes need to be made visible. Who initiates change, takes the lead and imple-
ments change? Is it the consumers, organisations, companies, politicians or other stake-
holders? Compare events like the Rio Conference with national and local changes
The most common taking place today.
definition comes from
“Our Common Future”
(1987), also called the Different ways of explaining sustainable development
Bruntland Report after
the, the former Prime We have already indicated that sustainable development is interpreted in different ways. Let’s
Minister of Norway, take a look at some of these interpretations in more detail.
Gro Harlem The goal of sustainable development has proved to be relevant, comprehensive and meaning-
Bruntland, ful. It may continue to serve as a guideline or compass needle to indicate development options
open to the society in question. But in reality the concept has proved difficult to understand and
who was the
put into practice. How can we help ourselves, as well as students of all ages, to understand and
Commission’s practice sustainable development? A crucial step in this direction is to discuss what we mean by
Chairperson. our needs and also what is required in order to meet the needs of future generations.
Damaging environmental impact, the depletion of natural resources and a decreased biodi-
“Sustainable versity are all incompatible with sustainability. These trends have to be reversed in order to
development seeks to reach the goal of sustainability. But there are other aspects to sustainable development, too. It
meet the needs of the is obvious that protection of the environment will not happen until people have achieved the
necessary – and acceptable – social and economic standards and circumstances.
present without
compromising the There are different interpretations of what is most important in order for development to
ability to meet those be sustainable. Some emphasise the importance of a functioning nature and environment,
while others emphasise democracy and equality or the stable economic growth of society. The
of the future”. social aspects refer mainly to political institutions, where democracy is particularly crucial
to sustainability. The main thing here is that development does not cause social conflict. In
practice this means that development should increase people’s control over their lives and that
all social groups should have the opportunity to participate in decision-making. From a social
point of view one may stress the importance of cultural sustainability. Cultural sustainability
requires that development takes the values of the people affected by it into account. In addi-
tion, a wide range of cultural groups should be maintained and encouraged, and the value of
their heritage and traditions recognised.
“The Chair of Sustainable Development”
Sustainability has to be integrated, which means that it should be broad and all-inclusive.
“The Chair of Sustainable Development” (Macer, 2004), is a handy comparison that aids both
memory and understanding. This chair of sustainable development has four connected ‘legs’
of sustainability and all four legs have to be included in policy and management for sustain-
able development. If one leg is over-emphasised, such as the ‘economic leg’, the chair will be
unstable and uncomfortable. The figure below indicates what the cultural, social, ecological
and economic “legs” of the chair represent:

10
 Cultural Leg Social Leg
Religion & Culture, Institutions, Infrastructure,
Ethics & Behaviour, Education Legal System,
Desires/Motivation, Health & Medical
Entertainment, Politics/Democracy, The chair
Freedom/Rights, Military Industries, illustrates the need to
Responsibilities, Human Resources
Family Values,
create a proper
Information/Media balance between
economic, social,
cultural and ecological
Ecological Leg Economic Leg
Economic Growth,
development and
Biodiversity, Ecosystems,
Habitats, Endangered Species, Natural Capital, needs.
Key Species, Goods & Services,
Pollution & Waste, Corporate Practices,
Physical Processes Employment, Quality of Life,
Natural Resources Efficiency, Fair Trade/Equity

Figure 2. The Chair of Sustainable Development.

Economic sustainability – means that all the processes and projects undertaken must give the
greatest output possible and that the benefits of such a development are distributed between
the generations. Economic efficiency means the well-being of the present and possibilities
for the future. The understanding is that development determines the quality of economic
achievements, the conservation of resources and participation in economic development,
and the consumption of goods and services. One of the characteristic tendencies is resource
economy in production, or the choosing and usage of renewable resources and technologies.
The degradation of natural resources is thereby prevented, despite the fact that the national
income is increasing. This means a change in national development, an improvement in the
quality of human life and changes in behaviour. In other words, the well-being of human be-
ings determines changes in behaviour and values.
Sustainable economic management depends on present-day policies or actions that do not
compromise future development. Economic sustainability includes an economic benefit for
the generations to come. The cultural heritage and the environment should be included in
the economic development model. The use of ecologically and resource-saving technologies,
investments in and subsidy of ecologically clean products, and environmentally-friendly na-
tional and taxation policies, are all parts of economic sustainability.
Social sustainability – means that development should increase people’s control over their
lives and that all social groups should have the opportunity to participate in decision-making.
This implies development of society as a whole, the involvement of all social groups in deci-
sion-making and everybody’s participation in a development that is sustainable. The social
perspective includes ecological ethics, life quality, well-being and care for future generations
and other cultures. Social development, or a social perspective of sustainable development,
seeks answers to questions relating to the human role in the universe, and includes moral and
ethical aspects. The aim is not to destroy the balance but to contribute to the harmony of the
ecosystem and its relationships with our societies.
Cultural sustainability – means that the diversity of cultural groups should be maintained
and encouraged and the value of their heritage and traditions recognised. This requires that
any development takes the values of the people affected by it into account, that the range and
variety of cultural groups is maintained and encouraged, and that the value of their heritage
and traditions is fully recognised. Culture relates to ways of being, relating, behaving, belie-
ving and acting that differ according to context, history and tradition, and within which hu-
man beings live their lives. The recognition of practices, identity and values – the software of
human development – plays a considerable role in setting directions and building common
commitments.

11
Human life is also determined by cultural heritage and attitudes towards the environment. In
contrast to other living beings, human nature expresses itself in culture. Cultural sustainabi-
lity includes the exploration, preservation and development of heritage and traditions related
to the history of civilisation. Cultural identity is much more sustainable than the identity of
the market. You can ruin the market and change the government, but cultural identity re-
mains constant and guarantees the survival of people, the state and the economy.
Ecological sustainability – means that society needs to recognise that the survival and well-
being of other species and natural processes are fundamental. The ecological point of view wi-
dens concepts of moral action and emphasises a responsibility to care for living organisms.
The basis of ecological sustainability is the understanding of a common ecosystem model: all
systems on earth are interlinked and have to be preserved and maintained, and that the Earth
can be seen as a self-regulating system where all components are valuable.
Putting the principles of sustainable development into practice involves promoting, fostering
and developing our society’s environmental consciousness, public participation and environ-
mentally-friendly lifestyles.

Sustainable Development is to create a proper balance between economic, social,

cultural and ecological development and needs.

The three circles

For those who want to visualize the different aspects of sustainable development as an hierar-
chy of interdependency, the circle approach provides an alternative model. The green ecologi-
cal circle is concerned with protecting a well functioning ecosystem with a large biological
diversity – the life-support system that forms the basis of everything.
Figure 3. Three aspects of sustainable development

Preserving nature’s long-term processes is extremely important and serves as a life

insurance for nature with all forms of life including human life.
Preserved ecosystem processes supply us with a number of free services, such as natural water
purification, the filtering of UV radiation and insect pollination. The ecological aspect forms
the outer frame for all human activities. Many educators prefer to present the ecological di-
mension as a base while keeping in mind that sustainability is also about co-existence with
other humans. Sustainable development therefore needs to incorporate the human, social and
economic dimensions.
The red circle is about how to create well-being in a local and global society and a mutually
interdependent relationship with other people. The social circle reminds us of the necessity to
fairly and equally shares the Earth’s resources in a democratic manner. In short, this is a so-
ciety in which our basic needs are fulfilled and human rights are respected. The social aspect
is about maintaining the good parts of life. But which human needs should we emphasise?
How can we create a society of happy and satisfied people based on key concepts like security,
participation, integration and culture?
The yellow circle describes the economic or house-keeping aspect. This is about being eco-
nomical with human and material resources. A sustainable economy utilises the interest of
global productivity rather than the capital. It is an economic development that gives economic
benefits to society as a whole and does not threaten either the man-made or natural capital.
An economy that is socially unfair or that does not stay within ecological limits is not sustai-
nable. In other words, acting sustainably is good economy.
In this handbook we maintain that in spite of the many different interpretations and under-
standings of sustainable development, developing sustainability and sustainable development
as an integral part of the curriculum is essential.

12
 Sustainable Development is a development which, based on preserved and healthy
ecosystems, facilitates human well-being and safety and can therefore create a
sound economy.

Reflection Box 3. Sustainable development

1. Why do we need sustainable development? Why do we talk about it so much to-
day?
2. What makes development sustainable? Which keywords are the most important
for you? Will your keywords keep the chair stable and comfortable? Will all the cir-
cles be the same size?
The Living
3. What does sustainable development mean for you, your school, your town and
your community? Planet Index
relates to the
number of species
of birds,
mammals, reptiles
Measuring and comparing
and fish
on the planet and
can measure
changes in the
population size of
1,300 species of
wild animals.
Between
1970 and 2003 the
Living Planet
Index went
down
by 30 percent.

Figure 4. Living Planet Index, 1970-2000 (Global Footprint Network, 2006:2)

In the light of what we have talked about above it might seem difficult to imagine that sus-
tainable development can be measured. But it is possible to measure the state of the Earth by
means of the Living Planet Index, the Ecological Footprint and the Human Development
Index. The first two are the ecological indicators of the successes and failures of sustainable
development.

13
 Ecological Footprint

One way of measuring the status of the Earth is the Ecological Footprint. The Ecolo-
gical Footprint indicates the areas required to provide us with the amount of re-
sources we use and to absorb the waste we produce. In 2003 humanity’s Ecological
Footprint was three times that of 1961. Our consumption of natural resources now
occurs at a rate that is 25 percent faster than nature’s ability to create new ones. For
Estonians the Ecological Footprint is 6.5 global hectares per person, as compared
with the available area of 1.8 hectares per person. If everybody on Earth lived like an
average European we would need three globes!

There’s no doubt that we are facing enormous challenges: the number of animal spe-
cies is decreasing, the amount of chemical substances alien to nature are increasing,
the climate is changing, the equivalent of 37 football fields of tropical rain forest di-
sappear every minute, more than one billion people have no access to clean water, the
number of fish and whales is decreasing rapidly, etc. The list is depressingly long. On
top of that we in Europe live as though we had three globes at our disposal – certainly
an unsustainable development!

But, on the plus side, we also see a world united around the Kyoto Protocol and seas
and forests being protected. In addition,the number of children in the world with ac-
cess to primary education has increased by 80 percent in the last thirty years.

How is the Ecological Footprint calculated?

The Ecological Footprint measures the amount of biologically productive land and
water areas required to produce the resources that an individual, a population, or an
activity consumes and absorb the waste generated. This area is expressed in global
hectares (gha); hectares with a world-average biological productivity. The Footprint
and bio-capacity results for the various countries are calculated on an annual basis.

What is included in the Ecological Footprint and what is excluded?

The Ecological Footprint only includes those aspects of resource consumption and
waste production for which the Earth has regenerative capacity and where data exists
that allows this demand to be expressed in terms of productive area. For example,
freshwater withdrawals are not included in the Footprint, although the energy used
to pump or treat them is. The Ecological Footprint accounts for and visualises previ-
ous or present resource demand and availability, but does not predict the future.

How does the Ecological Footprint account for the use of fossil fuels?

Fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas – are extracted from the Earth’s crust rather
than being produced by ecosystems. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced when this
fuel is burned, and can be measured by the Footprint. Ecological Footprint calcula-
tions are based on an estimate of how much carbon the world’s forests remove from
the atmosphere and how much they retain. For example, one global hectare can ab-
sorb the amount of CO2 released from burning approximately 1,450 litres of petrol
per year. The CO2 Footprint does not suggest that carbon sequestration is the key to
resolving global warming, however. On the contrary, it shows that the biosphere does
not have sufficient capacity to cope with current levels of CO2 emissions.

What is not included in Ecological Footprint calculations?

The demand on bio-capacity associated with the use of nuclear power is difficult to
quantify, partly because much of its impact is not addressed by the research questions

14
 on which the Footprint is based. Toxins, erosion, desertification and other negative
impacts are not included either. On the other hand, ecological farming may result in
a larger Footprint in comparison with that of traditional agriculture.

How is international trade taken into account?

The National Footprint Accounts calculate each country’s net consumption by add-
ing its imports to its production and subtracting its exports. This means that the
resources used for producing a T-shirt that is manufactured in China, but sold and
used in Sweden, will contribute to the Swedish, rather than the Chinese consumption
Footprint.

Does the Ecological Footprint ignore the role of population growth as the driving
force of humanity’s increasing consumption?

The total Ecological Footprint of a nation or of humanity as a whole depends on the

number of people consuming, the average amount of goods and services an average
person consumes and the resource intensity of these goods and services. The equa-
tion is simple. The more people there are the less there is to share.

Living Planet Report 2006

The Footprint and the Human Development Index

The following table shows the Ecological Footprint and the Human Development Index of
countries included in the Baltic Sea region. You find updated figures on
www.gapminder.org

Country Ecological Footprint Human Development Index (HDI)

Global hectares/ World Ranking HDI/ person World Ranking
person
Denmark 5.8 11 0.949 14
Estonia 6.5 7 0.860 44
Finland 7.6 3 0.952 11
Germany 4.5 23 0.935 22
Latvia 2.6 45 0.855 45
Lithuania 4.4 24 0.862 43
Poland 3.3 37 0.870 37
Russia 4.4 25 0.802 67
Sweden 6.1 8 0.956 6

Table 1. Use of resources and human development.

15
 Threshold for 10
USA

Ecological Footprint
high human
development
Finland

World average biocapacity Poland

available per person

1.8
India Cuba
China

0 Human Development Index 0.5 0.8 1.0

Figure 5. The Footprint and Human Development.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is an indicator of people’s well-being, while the Foot-
print is a measure of the demand on the biosphere. The HDI is calculated on the basis of three
parameters: life expectancy, literacy and education, and per capita GDP (or rather purcha-
sing power). United Nations Development Programme UNDP considers a value of more than
0.8 to be “high human development”. On the other hand, a Footprint that is lower than 1.8
global hectares per person, the average bio-capacity available per person on the planet, could
indicate sustainability at the global level. Successful sustainable development requires that as
a minimum (and on average) the world meets these two criteria, with countries moving into
the blue quadrant shown in figure 5 (the full graph you could find at www.footprintnetwork.
Sustainable org, Living Planet report 2006, p.19). As the world population grows, less bio-capacity per
Development is person becomes available and the quadrant shrinks. In 2003, Asia-Pacific and Africa used
less than the world average of bio-capacity per person, while the EU and North America
to create welfare
crossed the threshold for high human development. At that time only Cuba met the criteria
(HDI) within for sustainable development – based on the data reported to the United Nations. Changes in
the available the Footprint and HDI from 1975 to 2003 as illustrated in the figure
Ecological for some nations. During this period, wealthy nations like the United States of America sig-
Footprint nificantly increased their resource use and at the same time increased their quality of life. This
area. was not the case for poorer nations, notably China and India, where significant increases in
HDI were achieved while per-person Footprints remained below the global average of per-
person bio-capacity. Comparing a country’s average per-person Footprint with the global
average bio-capacity does not pre-suppose an equal sharing of resources. On the contrary, it
indicates which nations’ consumption patterns, if extended worldwide, would continue to
exceeds the global threshold and which would not. Both the Footprint and the HDI need
supplementing with other ecological and socio-economic measurements, such as freshwater
scarcity and civic engagement, in order to fully define sustainable development.
Sustainable Development is to create welfare (HDI) within the available ecological footprint
area.

Reflection Box 4. Sustainable Development

1. In the Living Planet Index biodiversity is about the average use of resources. Do
you think the Human Development Index is a good indicator of the social sphere? Is
something missing, and if so, what?
2. What is needed to achieve the lower ranking of a country’s (or person’s) Ecological
Footprint?
3. In Bhutan, the small Buddhist country between China and India, the king intro-
duced a way of measuring happiness (Gross National Happiness). Reflect on the data
provided in Figure 5, above, in terms of happiness and sustainable development.
What are your conclusions?

16
Overshoot Day

Another way in which the Global Footprint Network can help us to understand the unsus-
tainable situation is through Overshoot Day. In 2007 this event took place on 6th October.

Today, humanity uses about 25 percent more resources in one year than nature can regenerate
in the same amount of time. This is called “overshoot”. An ecological overshoot of 25 percent
means that it takes more than one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what
people have used in one year. This overshoot then accumulates over a period of time and cre-
ates a global ecological debt.

We contribute to this overshoot by using more of the planet’s natural resources than is neces-
sary. For example, we cut down trees at a much faster rate than they re-grow and catch fish at
a faster rate than they reproduce. While this can be done on a short-term basis, in the long-
term overshoot leads to a reduction of those very resources on which our economy depends.
In other words, overshoot is like ecological over-spending. Just like a business that does not
keep its financial books in order it will eventually go bankrupt, which means that we have to
document whether we’re living within our ecological budget or running up an ecological debt
that will eventually deplete our renewable assets.

Human beings do not only commit the crime, they are also the victims. A sustainable de-
velopment pre-requires everybody’s participation and commitment. In our different roles as
consumers and producers, politicians and voters, we can all make a difference. Democracy is
something we have to learn early in life and build up step by step. In order to be part of the
social construction we have to be involved, committed and motivated. For young people this
may consist of being trained as social beings to take notice, express their own thoughts and Sustainable
ideas, listen to others, respect others as fellow human beings, respect other people’s opinions, Development is a
cooperate, take responsibility and reflect and participate. Schools have an important part to development, which
play here in that their mission is to develop knowledge, values and skills so that young people
stays within the
become responsible and active citizens. Further information about overshoot and Overshoot
Day can be accessed on www.footprintnetwork.org/overshoot/. limits of the
ecosystem, that is,
respect the “limits
to growth”.
Reflection Box 5. Sustainable Development
1. The social aspect of sustainability points to the involvement of people. Do you agree
with the following statements? “Development should increase people’s control over
their lives - and all social groups should have the opportunity to participate in deci-
sion-making.” “Fairly and equally share the earth’s resources in a democratic manner.”
According to the Ecological Footprint and Human Development Index, Cuba is the
world’s number one (see the graph on page 16 from the Living Planet Report of 2006).
2. How important is freedom and democracy for sustainable development? What
about countries without a democratic tradition? What will happen if we involve fu-
ture generations in the democratic process? Which country do you think is the most
sustainable today?
3. Imagine your usual lunch in terms of an Ecological Footprint. How does it score
on the Ecological Footprint scale? What would a big Footprint lunch look like? What
does a small Footprint lunch look like? How would you use the content of the lunch
plate for teaching and learning purposes?
4. China has a large population and is becoming a factory for producing goods for
the western world. This means that China needs access to more natural resources
and more energy. Metal and many other resources come from Africa, are manufac-
tured in China and consumed in Europe. What should we do to stop this imbalance?
Choose the best option from the following list:
• Do not buy Chinese products.
• Continue to buy but request a clean and ecological production.

17
 • Break off all contact with China until it has a democratic government.
What is your advice as a global citizen? In comparison with China, in what way are
our Baltic Sea region countries less sustainable and how are they more sustainable?
5. What are the driving forces behind population growth and increase in consump-
tion? How should we control, change and direct these driving forces so they become
more sustainable?

Reference

Bruntland, G.H. (Ed.) (1987) Our Common Future. World Commission on Environment and
Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carson, R. (1962) Silent Spring. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Leal Filho, W. (2000) Dealing with misconceptions on the concept of sustainability. Interna-
tional Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Vol. 1, pp.9-19.
Global Footprint Network, Living Planet Report (2006) www.footprintnetwork.org and
www.footprintnetwork.org/overshoot/ ISBN: 2-88085-272-2
Gapminder www.gapminder.org
Macer, D.R.J. (ed.) (2004) Bioethics for Informed Citizens across Cultures. Christchurch,
New Zealand: Eubios
Ethics Institute or http://www.biol.tsukuba.ac.jp/~macer/betext.htm.
UNESCO (2003) Education for Sustainable Development. Paris: UNESCO ED/ PEQ/ ESD or
www.unesco.org/education/desd.
Ojala Maria (2007) Hope and worry: Exploring young people´s values, emotions, and behaivior
regarding global environmental problems. Örebro Studies in Psychology
Rydén L., Migula P., Andersson M. (2003) Environmental Science. Understanding, protecting
and managing the environment in the Baltic Sea Region. BUP: Baltic University Press. See es-
pecially chapter 25 on Sustainable Development. It is also available for downloading on www.
balticuniv.uu.se/esd
United Nations (UN) (1992) Press Summary of Agenda 21 - Final Text, UN Conference on
Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3-14 June or UN Agenda 21 Chapter 36:
Promoting education, public awareness and training.
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21chapter36. htm.
WWF Sweden (2007) Learning sustainable ways, Sellgren.

18
CHAPTER 2. EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
In its broadest sense, educating for a sustainable future includes improving the quality of basic
education, re-orienting education to address sustainability, improving public awareness and
providing training to various sectors of society. Education is often described as the great hope
for creating a more sustainable future, and teacher-training institutions are regarded as key
change-agents in transforming education and society so that such a future will be possible.

It is important to note that there is no single definition of sustainable development and no

common agreement about the concept of education for sustainable development. It is there-
fore not the sustainable development content that is in focus here but the way in which
sustainable development is included and promoted in a culture and societies by means of
education.

In this chapter we will take a closer look at some of the differences between Ecology, Envi-
ronmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). We also con-
sider teaching for sustainable development, the construction of knowledge and values, ESD
progress to date, attitude filters, the ESD Roadmap and planning and assessment methods and
give hints on how to avoid some of the obstacles and pitfalls.

Ecology, Environmental Education and Education

for Sustainable Development

Education for sustainable development has different backgrounds in different countries. Some
people regard ESD as following on from EE and including additional issues of ethics, equity
and new ways of thinking and learning. Others say that ESD should be a part of a good EE
and that there is no need to do away with EE as an umbrella. Another view is that EE is part of
ESD, because ESD includes development, cultural diversity, social and environmental equity.
In this section we try to clarify the differences between Ecology, Environmental Education
(EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), particularly as they are often mixed
up and misunderstood. Many teachers have followed the various stages carefully and are able
to recognise the differences, whereas some have begun to work with ESD directly, without
having first worked with the more science-oriented EE.

Ecology is a natural science and includes knowledge about the interrelation between spe-
cies and ecosystems, such as trees, soil, freshwater, etc. Both EE and ESD, on the other hand,
involve values. EE encompasses raising awareness, acquiring new perspectives, values, know-
ledge and skills, and formal and informal processes believed to lead to changed behaviour in
support of an ecologically sustainable environment. In terms of teaching about environmental
problems in science subjects Environmental Education is not sufficient to meet the needs
envisaged for a sustainable development. In other words, ESD is not intended to replace EE
but to enrich it. ESD also involves topics outside the common EE subject matter and is often
problem-based. According to this understanding, Education for Sustainable Development
promotes the development of critical thinking, the creation of protective attitudes and an ac-
tive participation in decision-making. It is not only stimulated and inspired from the ecologi-
cal sphere, but also from the social and economic spheres. The following comparative table
outlines some of the main differences between EE and ESD.

19
 Environmental Education EE Education for Sustainable Development ESD
Deals with environmental prob- Deals in an integrated way with the protection of the
lems environment, an effective use of natural resources,
maintenance of the ecosystem, a well-functioning soci-
ety and a good economy
Environmental problems are The problem is based on a conflict between different
based on human activities and human goals: environmental, social, cultural and eco-
their effect on the environment nomical
Emphasises biodiversity Emphasises cultural, social, economic and biological
diversity
The goal for action: A good envi- A good quality of life for present and future genera-
ronment for future generations tions
Actions for the environment Motivation to change to a more sustainable lifestyle
Responsibility for the environ- Responsibility for the human condition and the condi-
ment tion of the ecosystem
Deals with individual behaviour Increases action competences, including competence to
(environmental ethics) develop moral criteria and stimulate public participa-
tion in decision-making
Environmental education has a ESD should be applied and based on the local economic,
local and global context social, cultural and ecological context and community
followed by regional, national and global contexts
Taught in some subjects Integrated in all teaching and learning and in all aspects
of school life

Table 2. ( From Baltic 21, Series No 02/2002, annex 6).

As has already been mentioned, different countries define EE and ESD differently. In Educa-
tion for Change we stress an education that strengthens people’s ability to think critically and
take responsibility. It is also worth noting here that in the final chapter of this handbook we
provide examples that deal specifically with ecological problems. However, in order to solve
these problems in the best possible way we also need to include and work with cultural, social
and economical aspects.

Reflection Box 1. Education for Sustainable Development

This handbook is ESD-oriented, although most of the examples we have included

originate from ecology. Select some of the activities from Chapter 4 and analyse in
what way they are EE and in what way ESD.

Teaching for sustainable development

Education increases human welfare and is a decisive factor in enabling people to become
productive and responsible members of society. A fundamental prerequisite for sustainable
development is an adequately financed and effective educational system at all levels, particu-
larly the primary and secondary levels, that is accessible to all and that augments both hu-
man capacity and well-being. The core themes of education for sustainability include lifelong
learning, interdisciplinary education, partnerships, multicultural education and empower-
ment. […] Even in countries with strong education systems, there is a need to re-orientate
education, awareness and training so as to promote widespread public understanding, critical
analysis and support for sustainable development. (Earth Summit + 5, 1997, p.74)1
1
Earth Summit + 5 is the UN conference held in New York in 1997 to assess the implementation of Agenda 21, the global plan for
sustainable development signed in Rio in 1992.

20
Exactly how the educational system should include sustainable development is a complex and
multifaceted question. The task is made a little easier if we split the topic into separate parts.
We will begin by looking at the overall objective and including knowledge and motivation
as driving forces. We will also examine knowledge in a little more detail in order to identify
action competences and skills, and conclude by identifying the best places for teaching and
learning.

Overall objective
The main objective of education for sustainable development is that everybody should acquire
the relevant knowledge and be motivated to work for and practice sustainable development.
Education for sustainable development can be seen as an overall perspective and an ongoing
process in a changable world. The long-range goal is that we live as good a life as possible
without harming others or the surrounding nature and society in both time and space. For the
individual person this demands a developed capability to act for a sustainable society, that is
to say having the relevant knowledge, the right opportunities and sufficient motivation.

Knowledge and motivation as driving forces

At present we regard the planet’s development as being unsustainable. If this is correct, how
can we make positive sustainable progress visible? Part of this means trusting in our ability to
Teaching and
change for a better future. In order to meet the new world’s problems and possibilities we need learning
to be equipped to act for a more sustainable future. Many of our educational policy docu- encompass processes
ments include the concept of sustainable development. For example, in almost all the Baltic that promote
Sea region countries these documents emphasise the importance of environmental know- knowledge and also
ledge and education for sustainable development.
include skills,
Sustainable development demands constant learning, and in this change is a driving force. values and
Schools are also constantly directed and influenced by society. The question is, should schools attitudes that affect
copy the existing development or be open to the possibility of thinking again and thinking
the individual’s,
anew? Nobody can describe with any certainty what the future will be like, particularly as
change is ongoing and often very rapid. Future generations will have to be able to live and the school’s and the
work with change. community’s
ambitions to
Education for sustainable development is about learning to live in accordance with what we
need and value most. Once you are clear about what you are going to teach and how you are
create a fair
going to teach it, it is a good idea to share this with colleagues and check that the content and society, economic
perspectives match the values of staff and students. Each discipline has its own particular security, ecological
pedagogical techniques. The combined pedagogical methods and strategies of each discipline sustainability and
contribute to an expanded vision of how to teach creatively, encourage critical thinking and democracy.
how to support sustainable societies.

ESD addresses the learning skills, perspectives and values that guide and motivate people to
participate in society. In a formal curriculum that has been changed to address sustainability,
life practices demonstrate an understanding of and belief in a sustainable society.

We also need to develop personal sustainable development skills. These include our willing-
ness and ability to influence lifestyles and living conditions, assume a global responsibility
and have respect for and confidence in future generations. Three factors affect our ability to
act: increased knowledge, a choice of possibilities, and a personal driving force; or, to phrase
it differently, an outer and inner motivation.

21
 Knowledge Possibilities

Knowledge
to act

Motivation

Figure 6. Action ability.

Knowledge includes facts, practical skills, deep understanding, broad awareness and wisdom.

Possibilities include the existence of different alternatives and opportunities. Examples of this are:
• I can because practical and organisational possibilities exist.
• There are safe paths so it is possible for me to cycle to school.
• I can buy fish knowing that this does not harm the fish stock.
• I can vote for good leaders who work for international agreements that are
important for climate change.
• As a consumer I have access to information and can use this information and my
money to choose products that have been produced in a sustainable way.
• As teacher I have curricula, a head teacher and colleagues that support and
cooperate to improve education for sustainable development.

Motivation grows within us as a personal conviction and from surrounding influences such as
social norms and economic stimulation. By offering students practice in identifying problems
and finding solutions you empower them and support and strengthen their motivation.

Knowledge to act
How would you respond to the question “What is knowledge”? Your answers are likely to be
many and varied and include the following: something you get by going to school, reading,
writing, mathematics, knowing the capital of Kenya, how you hammer a nail into a piece of
wood, the ability to find your way through a forest, etc. To put it another way: we summarise
knowledge as facts, skills, understanding and familiarity.

A holistic view of knowledge is one in which knowledge is regarded as a process rather than
a product, as quality rather than quantity, as something that is value-dependent instead of
neutral, where theory and practice go hand in hand, something that has consequences for
the learning process, where the superficial becomes concentrated, the memorising of texts is
replaced by understanding and where motivation comes from within. Here the emphasis is
on previous knowledge and experiences, active studying in cooperation with others, as well
as knowledge of action through reflection. Such a view means that the role of the teacher
changes from someone who knows best and feeds this knowledge to students to a guide who
offers different and variable ways of working and encourages the learners to find things out
for themselves and develop a questioning attitude.

Knowledge is very much about the handling of problems in a changing situation and how to
get the best out of life and progress. Despite living in a so-called enlightened and educated
society we are witnessing the results of an increased environmental pressure on Earth. New
ways of thinking therefore need to be reflected in educational policy documents.

22
Where should teaching and learning take place?
The answer to the question about “where” learning and teaching should take place is simple:
where knowledge is best cultivated. The school tradition is strong and teaching is usually car-
ried out inside a classroom. When the education is being planned, however, it is important to
ask yourself where the teaching might best take place. It might be the case, for example, that the
planned teaching would be better suited to an outdoor environment. This can be enriching for
several reasons. One is that students are exposed to their own unique experiences – something
that is direct, personal and cannot be replaced by anything else. This is why we emphasise the
importance and value of close contact with the natural surroundings and local community in
environmental or sustainable education. Such outdoor education can mean, for example, high-
lighting the ecological aspects of the school grounds, the riverbank or nearby forest area. It
is also worthwhile developing close contacts with the local community, such as encouraging
dialogues and cooperation with parents, politicians, companies and other interested parties. A
school where education for sustainable development is well developed is also seen as an impor-
tant stakeholder in establishing a practical and local sustainable development. A well-planned
cooperation like that suggested above creates a win-win situation both for teaching and learning
and society’s democratic processes.

Reflection Box 2. Education for Sustainable Development

1. How do the different aspects of knowledge affect teaching and the role of the teacher?
2. Analyse the complexity of knowledge and name the different “phases” of knowl-
edge. How can knowledge best be used?
3. What possibilities do you have at your disposal? What is needed in order to teach
sustainable development? Who is responsible for developing these possibilities?
4. Analyse motivation and what affects it. What kinds of things limit or encourage
motivation?
5. What are the obstacles to change and action – in your own case, consumers in
general, teachers and politicians?
6. In what way do national policy documents promote ESD?
7. How might you make ESD a reality in your school?

The construction of knowledge and values

It is important to delve a little deeper and become more aware of the actual learning process.
Here questions like how teachers can help students learn, assimilate, adapt and use new infor-
mation and add to their existing knowledge, as well as help to explain misunderstandings and
develop values, become essential.

Some of the answers to these questions can be found in educational theories and approaches,
like constructivism for example, that focus on the competence of the individual. Construc-
tivism is based on an understanding about what is going on inside the brain of the student.
Many of these educational theories are based on the work of highly respected scholars like
John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner, who argue that children actively
construct knowledge and that this construction of knowledge occurs in a social context. Vy-
gotsky was convinced that all learning takes place in the ‘zone of proximal development’. This
‘zone’ is the difference between what a child can do alone and what he/she is able to do with
assistance. By building on the child’s experiences and providing moderately challenging tasks,
teachers can help to provide the necessary ‘intellectual scaffolding’ so that children can learn
and progress through the different stages of development. In simple terms the constructivist
theory means that the learner constructs and develops knowledge, bit by bit and by building
on their existing knowledge. Constructivism emphasises the students’ ability to solve real-life,

23
practical problems. Students typically work in cooperative groups rather than individually,
and tend to focus on projects that require solutions to problems rather than instructional
sequences that require particular skills. In constructivist models the role of the teacher is to
provide the required resources and help and guide the students to set their own goals and
‘teach themselves’ (Roblyer, Edwards, and Havriluk, 1997, p. 70).

In short, constructivism describes how learning should occur, irrespective of whether learn-
ers are trying to understand a lecture or attempting to design a model aeroplane. In both
cases the theory of constructivism suggests that learners construct, or build, knowledge. As a
description of human cognition constructivism is often associated with pedagogic approaches
that promote a practical learning by doing.

Teachers guiding learners

There is also a social constructivist approach, which implies that teachers are facilitators – a
role that can be likened to a midwife helping a mother to give birth – rather than instructors
(Bauersfeld, 1995). For example, whereas a teacher might stand at the front of the class and
give a formal lecture (which the students listen to) about a particular subject matter, a facili-
tator encourages free thinking and helps the learner to reach his or her own understanding
of the content. In the former lecture-based scenario the learner is passive, while in the latter
guide-based scenario the learner plays an active role in the learning process. This dramatic
change of role implies that a facilitator needs to develop a completely different set of skills, as
indicated below (Brownstein 2001, Rhodes and Bellamy, 1999):

Teacher Facilitator
tells asks
lectures from the front supports from the rear
gives answers according to a provides guidelines and creates an environment in which
set curriculum the learner arrives at his or her own conclusions
mostly gives a monologue is in continuous dialogue with the learners

Table 3. Change of role of teachers.

A facilitator should also be able to adapt the learning experience ‘in mid-air’ by taking the
initiative and helping to match the learning experience to the learners’ needs and values.

Being aware of your role as a teacher (or facilitator) goes hand in hand with how you view
knowledge and the learners in your care. While teachers can support the learning process, the
student is to all intents and purposes the main actor in the lifelong process of education. New
information is continually being processed and learners are constantly being challenged to
review their understanding and their views. The learner is therefore not just a passive receiver.
Ideally the teacher should guide learners and provide a positive and challenging environment
for learning.

ESD has an important societal dimension in that it attempts to turn the students into active
citizens and encourages them to contribute towards a more just and better world. Stephen
Sterling (2001) characterises education for sustainable development as grounded in the lo-
cal economic, social and ecological context. ESD more than traditional education aims to
involve the whole personality of the student. Sterling (2001) addresses this perspective when
he distinguishes between the socialization function of learning, the vocational function and
the transformative function. ESD asks for transformative education. A survey of experts from
nine countries (Cogan and Derricot, 2000), both East and West, agreed on eight characteris-
tics that citizens of the 21st century will need in order to cope with and constructively engage
in major global trends. They were ranked as follows: 1. Looking at problems in a global con-
text; 2. Working cooperatively and responsibly; 3. Accepting cultural differences; 4. Thinking
in a critical and systematic way; 5. Solving conflicts non-violently; 6. Changing lifestyles to
protect the environment; 7. Defending human rights; 8. Participating in politics.

24
Change is never easy, however, and can lead to emotional and psychological difficulties. While
knowledge and values are usually best developed in a group, it is important to treat people’s
firmly held values and opinions carefully. For example, people who state their opinions in a
public space are less likely to change their opinions later. It is difficult to go back on what you
have already stated in public. As a teacher you create situations that support learning by the
way you ask questions, organise activities, support discussions and so on. Every teacher thus
has to find his or her own way of helping the learners they are responsible for. In Chapters
3 and 4 you will find methods and activities that are suitable for a variety of pupils in that
the way of learning outlined is individually based. In short, there are lots of different ways of
learning and lots of different ways of teaching!

Education for Sustainable Development – perspectives and progress

In this section we focus on how to teach education for sustainable development and how to
assist learners achieve specific or set goals. We also expand education somewhat and identify
support systems within the school environment. What kinds of pedagogical and didactical
approaches are suitable for ESD? How can ESD be adapted by different educators working in
the different pedagogical settings?

The educational perspectives outlined below are included in almost all teaching and learning.
We have described these perspectives in more detail, below, with a view to making the con-
cept of education for sustainable development much clearer. The “ESD Roadmap”, detailed on
page 27, serves a similar function.

A variety of educational perspectives

Learner-oriented – where learners are responsible for their own learning and where learning
emanates from the learners’ own experiences and questions.

Acquiring knowledge can be demanding, although once knowledge has been acquired and
understood it is relatively easy to retain. It often “sits” in the brain or in the body, and is per-
sonal. It is also a lifelong process and occurs in conjunction with our surrounding and social
environment. We sometimes learn alone, and at other times we exchange thoughts, ideas
and knowledge with others. Learning therefore takes place continuously and in a social and
cultural context. This view of knowledge emphasises the importance of starting from the indi-
vidual’s previous knowledge base, in whose body that particular knowledge is formed and sits,
and building from there. Creating a democratic dialogue with learners does not only improve
motivation, it is the very core of ESD.

Process-oriented – paying attention to relations and systems.

What is the best way of reducing CO2 emissions? One answer is to reduce the use of fos-
sil fuels! While the answer to the question might be easy, implementation is a struggle. The
goals set for ESD involve processes carried out in realistic or simulated contexts. In a process-
oriented perspective learning is focused on how to solve a problem, whether alone or together
with others, rather than on the actual result. Here the learner has to deal with people’s dif-
ferent opinions in a democratic way. The aim is to provide competence and pave the way for
action and participation. Motivation and learning come automatically when one is involved
in a process, although a teacher naturally has to find suitable methods and set clear goals for
a meaningful and challenging learning.

In this perspective setting aside time for critical thinking and position-taking is important.
We are continuously bombarded with different impressions; only a fraction of which we are
able to digest and experience. Taking time to pause and reflect means that experience has
time to be transformed into knowledge and something meaningful. Reflection can take many
forms, however. It can be a continuous and subconscious dialogue, or a structured discussion
with others. The forms can vary too. Listening, talking, writing and artistic creation are all
important tools in the reflection process. Documenting what you do or have done, having a
critical mind and asking questions are all valuable reflective tools and a necessary part of the
learning process. In process-oriented teaching, and especially where we do not have all the
answers at our fingertips when it comes to sustainable development in a changing society,

25
 we need to continually re-think and question present trends and ways of thinking. This also
includes teachers!

Society and nature-oriented – means involving the learners in real life happenings and or-
dinary societal processes.

School is not a training camp for a future life but an integral part of life in the here and now.
Involvement is itself a motivating force for learning. Learning outside in nature, in an urban
environment, or being involved in well-planned study tours in which learners can make di-
rect observations, offer both challenge and stimulation. Very young children can also benefit
from real-life practical activities, such as learning how to make bread, feed the chickens or
take care of their own laundry. In secondary school, teaching and learning tends to be much
more oriented towards and integrated with society, such as through structured projects where
Most people spend the activity leads to the acquisition of knowledge and skills and where students are motivated.
about 20 percent of But learning in real contexts does not only empower and motivate, it also develops social
competency and the skills needed for an active participation in sustainable development. As
their entire
a teacher it is important to choose and design learning environments that are best suited to
lifetime in schools the intended purpose.
or educational
establishments. Integrated – a holistic approach that includes different subjects and perspectives. An educa-
tion for sustainable development that feels relevant, meaningful and is anchored in reality
Finding for the students is simplified by a holistic approach. Having a basic knowledge of the green
activities where circle (see the diagram on page 12) and the outer ecological framework of society is essential
learners can be in this context. A holistic approach includes acquiring knowledge about ecological frames,
involved in the systemisation, energy flows, different re-cycling systems, interactions in nature and biological
processes of diversity as well as knowledge about human requirements, language, culture and creation.
Questions relating to ethics and the meaning of life, as well as how we, with all our technical
planning and possibilities and solutions, can meet the future’s challenges with energy and resource saving
realisation in a real constructions, are also part of a holistic approach. Different subjects contribute too, such as
context is therefore science for discovering, identifying and analysing relations, social subjects for looking at the
essential if learning background to situations and events and identifying the know-how necessary for change and
is to have any real development, and language and art for creative expression and communication.
meaning. The school as a learning environment – consumption and decision-making. A school is a
consumer of resources.

You only need to look at what comes in and what goes out – such as the enormous flow of
water, waste and energy – to realise that. As the school is a major consumer of paper, it is im-
portant that people in school know, for example, where paper comes from and what happens
to all the used papers and textbooks. Not to mention what happens when you flush the toilet
or turn on the tap for water! Here you can involve the school caretaker, the cleaning staff and
the cooks. Remember too that a school garden is not only attractive but is also a useful leaning
resource as well as a source of fresh flowers and vegetables. The main thing here is to be real-
istic and make realistic plans to create and maintain a sustainable school. Involve the students
in both the planning and the implementation. Ask others in the community for assistance
and resources, and invite parents and companies to cooperate. Learning about and acting in
sustainable ways helps to reduce your school’s Ecological Footprint!

A systematic way of working with this is to introduce a simple environmental management

system suited to the school situation. Such a system could address e.g. energy, water, trans-
port, goods and food, as well as the education itself. Further information is available on the
Baltic University homepage, http://www.balticuniv.uu.se/educ.

26
 Reflection Box 3. Education for Sustainable Development

1. Democracy is essential for sustainable development! What are the advantages and
disadvantages of democracy when it comes to achieving sustainability? Do we have
time for democracy? Are there “short cuts” to sustainability, and if so, what might
these be?
2. In what ways can education and the school environment help children to actively
participate in sustainable development?

The ESD Roadmap

This Roadmap below takes the form of a process matrix and allows educators to follow ESD
progress. The matrix incorporates the learner perspectives discussed above and outlines the
different stages of participation and involvement in ESD. Take the cornerstones one by one
and follow the process from a stage where few educators in the school are aware of a whole
school approach. Discuss which text you would like to see written in the blank squares, for-
mulate it and write it down.

Table 4. Education for Sustainable Development process matrix, or “Roadmap” for a whole
school approach.

ESD Pre-engaged stage What steps have to be taken to involve the Whole school approach
perspectives whole school? Fill in the gaps!
Learner oriented The learners do not affect Teaching is built on learners’ experi-
content or methods. ence as a group or as individuals.
Teachers are the senders and Planning, implementation and evalu-
learners the receivers of facts. ation of all education are based on
democratic decision-making
Process oriented Education is mainly focused Education is mainly focused on how
on results and which facts or and why fact or skills can be learned.
skills should be taught . Teachers use methods that develop
the learners’ understanding in struc-
tured ways.
Oriented towards Education teaches what can be Getting involved in well planned activi-
actions in society and done – later. ties in school and in society is part of
nature Learners make direct contact teaching and learning.
with people and places outside The school is a natural partner in su-
the school. Information is stainable development in society and
mainly transformed via tea- requested by different stakeholders.
chers and books. Society and nature close to the school
are natural “learning environments”.

Integrated Teachers of specific subjects Teaching and learning is integrated

such as chemistry, history, etc., and based on the aims stated in the
meet separately to develop curriculum (even if the curriculum
their subjects. The is structured according to subject).
subjects are taught separately Teachers work in teams and have time
and learners have to piece the for structured planning.
facts together.
The school as a Teaching is the sole responsi- The school is “an institution that
learning environment bility of the teacher. teaches”. The school requests that
The maintenance and planning students and staff use paper, food and
of school buildings is carried other products in a sustainable way.
out and decided by others. Materials are used in a sustainable
Only economic aspects are way. The management of buildings
taken into account in the pur- and surroundings is an integral part of
chase of material and food. the education.

27
 Reflection Box 4. Education for Sustainable Development

Subject 1. How can you respond to student initiatives and at the same time achieve the goals
set in the curricula?
2. When thinking about education as being oriented towards action in society and
nature…. what are the difficulties of leaving the classroom? How might such dif-
ficulties be overcome? What is to be gained from teaching and learning beyond the
ESD confines of the classroom?
3. Most educators see integration and a holistic approach as something quite natural
and desirable. But do we all have the same picture of integration? Use the questions
ESD is a part of most subjects. outlined in Figure 7 to describe integration. Discuss and explain ESD integration in
your own words.

Subject A Subject B
Figure 7. Relations between ESD and different subjects.

ESD
Values and the teaching profession
In education for sustainable development the aim is to support young people in developing
the relevant knowledge, values and skills. As a starting point, the following questions may
Subject C Subject D
help you to focus on your own and your team’s values and identify the kind of values, knowl-
edge and skills you want to encourage and develop in your students.
ESD is a part of cooperation
between subjects. Questions for you as an educator
• Can education change the world?
ESD •
•
What does living a good life mean?
What is sustainable development for you?
• What are your views on the three aspects of sustainable development: ecological,
Subject social and economic?
AB • Which view of knowledge do you have and which knowledge do you regard as being
CD especially important in a sustainable society?
• Reflect on the word “curiosity” and sustainable development.
• Education for sustainable development makes demands on the teacher. What kinds
of roles do you think a teacher can play in this context? What are the possibilities
and difficulties for the teacher in this/these roles?
ESD as a perspective for integra- • Our competency to act is described as a combination of knowledge, possibilities and
tion between subjects. motivation. Do you agree with this (see the picture on page 22)?

Questions for staff, students and parents

?
• How can we encourage the whole school to participate – all teachers, students,
school administration and parents?
• How can we develop the methods and resources further?
• How might the students become more involved in decisions that affect their learning
and their school?
• How can we develop the school’s cooperation with the local community in order to
identify and deal with the different questions and issues that arise in that context?
• How might the teaching and non-teaching staff and the students in our school be
encouraged to work more actively and in a more structured way to improve school
maintenance and the use of resources?
What is integration and ESD
for you?

28
Attitudes filter
Many of our attitudes to life and the future reflect fundamental values that are often based on
our particular culture and experiences from childhood, adolescence and growing up. We are
not always aware of the attitudes and values we have, how they control our actions or where
they originate from.

Let us look at our attitudes towards cars as an example. Today we know a lot about how our
environment is negatively affected by driving a car. This knowledge in itself should be suf-
ficient for us to change our patterns of behaviour and use more public transport. But other
things also play an important role. Some people enjoy the freedom of being able to use their
own cars and go where they want, while others enjoy the speed and efficiency of driving, and
so on. Even though people say that they care about the environment, such freedom and pleas-
ure often results in people using their cars much more – rather than less. In other words, our
behaviour, attitudes and values with regard to cars has little to do with facts and more to do
with feelings. Even though the facts exist they are “filtered” through our “attitudes filter”. It is
not until we stop to take stock of these facts and allow them to influence and change our at-
titudes that action results. The whole point of working with values methodology is that every
individual is encouraged to achieve an active ethical norm. The first step in this may often lead
to becoming aware of your own opinions and actions and how they are determined. Here val-
ues exercises can be of help in that they clarify how you think and feel about certain issues.

In pedagogical terms values exercises increase people’s awareness of their own values. Exam-
ining your own values can either lead to a willingness to change or a resistance to change. A
fundamental rule for those working with values methodology is therefore to regard all the
answers or responses as being valid, i.e. neither right nor wrong. Everybody must be given
the right to express their attitudes or values without being afraid that they will be regarded as
“wrong”. It should also be made clear that participation in such an exercise is voluntary.

The second step is to communicate or express one’s thoughts to other people and share them.
It may be preferable to do this on a one-to-one basis to start with, rather than with the whole
group. Different types of values exercises can be used in the two different stages.

29
Planning and assessing
When offering a learner-oriented education it is important to find out what the students al-
ready know and what values they have before you introduce new concepts or topics.

Pre-knowledge
Here it is advisable to use a short and simple questionnaire at the beginning of a new unit in
order to find out what the students already know about the topic. Develop a questionnaire
with two or three open-ended questions, short-answer questions or about ten multiple-choice
questions on the concepts or topic in question. Be careful to phrase the questions so that the
students will easily understand what you are asking for. Avoid using terms or vocabulary they
are unfamiliar with. You can either write the questions on the blackboard or prepare paper or
computer-based questionnaires.

Be sure to tell the students the results of the questionnaires the next time you meet them. You
can also use the results as a basis for small group discussions, where the students discuss the
questions and responses together.

Vee Heuristic
Vee heuristic is a graphic representation that helps teachers and students clarify research and de-
velopment processes. It helps you to examine the processes and organisational structures that as-
sist change. Originally Novak and Gowin (1984) presented Gowin’s Vee diagram or Vee heuristic
to promote meaningful learning. Later Mauri Åhlberg presented an improved Vee Heuristic.

The main parts of the improved Vee heuristic design are planning (the left side of the V), imple-
menting (the foot of the V) and evaluation (the right side of the V). Inside the Vee heuristic is a
place for the focus question or research problem that definines what you actually want to know.
Good focus questions usually begin with why, how, or what. For example, what methods can
NGOs use to work for a change of agriculture policy in the EU to support more sustainable food
production? This is the starting point of the research and development process.

The phases on the planning side of the Vee should be completed before the research, develop-
ment or learning project has begun. This part is important for many reasons, most of all be-
cause it deals with value basis. The solutions defined in this part of the project form a scientific
and practical footing for the project. The right hand side lists the results and conclusions for
assessment, evaluation and further development. This method facilitates the identification of
the relevant knowledge and values. It is a powerful tool for group discussion and team work
in general.
PLANNING 1. Focus question(s) EVALUATING
2.Value basis. Why do you 10. Value claims. What has
want to spend time and re- changed?
sources on answering the focus 9. Knowledge claims. Which
question(s)? new ideas emerged?
3. Theoretical basis. What do 8. Transformations. How were
you already know? the conclusions arrived at?
4. Conceptual basis. Which 7. Records. What kind of data
main concepts are included in was collected?
your theoretical basis?
5. Methodological basis.
Which methods do you plan
to use to answer the focus
question(s)?
IMPLEMENTING
6. Description of what has been done in order to answer the focus question(s)

Figure 8. Improved Vee heuristic is a useful graphical representation for designing projects eg. for
implementing sustainable development in curricula.

30
Formative and summative assessment

The objective of assessment is to find out what the students have learned and how successful
or otherwise this learning has been. In this context we are talking about formative or continu-
ous assessment, which is assessment carried out during the learning process with the objective
of improving the quality of learning. When assessment is undertaken at the end of a learning
process, or at the end of a school term or year, it is known as summative assessment.

As no specific assessment techniques are designated for education for sustainable develop-
ment a variety of tests or exams can be used depending on the topic or unit being worked on.
Examples of such techniques include common multiple-choice tests, true-false tests, matching
tests, essay tests, short-answer tests, problem sets, oral exams, performance tests, take-home
tests, open-book tests, group exams, paired tests and portfolios. In this context it is important
to be aware of what kind of knowledge is actually being assessed. Using Bloom’s taxonomy to
develop a test can be enormously helpful. When framing the kinds of questions to be used in
assessment the following paragraphs serve as a useful guideline:

When measuring or assessing knowledge (i.e. terms, facts, principles, procedures, etc) use the
following verbs in the formulation of questions: define, describe, identify, label, list, match,
name, outline, reproduce, select, state.

When measuring or assessing comprehension (i.e. the understanding of facts and principles,
the interpretation of material, etc) the following verbs can be used to formulate the questions:
convert, defend, distinguish, estimate, explain, extend, generalise, give examples of, infer, pre-
dict, summarise.

When measuring or assessing application (i.e. the solving of problems and applying concepts
and principle to new situations, etc) use these verbs: demonstrate, modify, operate, prepare,
produce, relate, show, solve, use.

When measuring or assessing analysis (i.e. the recognition of unstated assumptions or logical
fallacies, the ability to distinguish between facts and non-facts, etc) use these verbs: analyse,
indicate, differentiate, distinguish, illustrate, infer, point out, relate, select, separate, sub-di-
vide.

When measuring or assessing synthesis (i.e. the integration of learning from different areas
or solving problems by creative thinking) use these verbs: categorise, combine, devise, design,
explain, generate, organise, plan, rearrange, reconstruct, revise, tell.

When measuring or assessing evaluation (i.e. judging or assessing) use these verbs: appraise,
compare, conclude, contrast, criticise, describe, discriminate, explain, justify, interpret, sup-
port.

Self-assessment

In an educational setting self-assessment involves students making judgments about their

own work. This means that students are asked to critically assess their own essays, reports,
projects, presentations, performances, dissertations or exam scripts. You can best support
your students in their self-assessment efforts by providing regular, uninterrupted time for
students to think about their progress. At first it may be necessary to guide their reflection
with questions such as the following:
• What did I learn today?
• What did I do well in and what didn’t I do so well in?
• What am I confused about?
• What do I need help with?

31
 • What do I want to know more about?
• What am I going to work on next?
As students take part in the self-assessment process they will have opportunities to collect
their own items of work and react to things they have read.

Reflection Box 5. Education for Sustainable Development

ESD deals with learning processes. Which assessment and evaluation methods do
you find useful in your own teaching?

How to avoid some of the obstacles

The following text comes from action research carried out by Małgorzata Puchowska and Syl-
wester Zielka at Gdańsk University. The researchers observed a group of teachers being trained
in the Study Circle method. We have reproduced part of the article here because we think it will
be useful for teacher trainers and teachers in a similar position. The entire article can be accessed
on http://www.balticuniv.uu.se/educ/

Is it possible to modernise the school quickly and painlessly without a thorough reorien-
tation of the theory of education?

The pilot study undertaken in the context of the Education for Change project, carried out
among 29 teachers at three schools in northern Poland, revealed the presence of obstacles in
implementing education for sustain¬able development. The project assumed that the work
undertaken in the self-educating study circles would convince the teaching staff, the students
and their peers, that participation in local community life was essential.

It was unfortunate that the teaching programmes created within the project only expanded
the content of the already existing ecological and pro-health educational paths and the sug-
gested solutions only focused on those elements of sustainable development generally iden-
tified with its ideas. The teachers also failed to cooperate with their students’ parents, local
authorities and other inhabitants in the region.
– People failed to think about themselves as members of a local community. The
school was supposed to initiate actions,
– Students were not presented as members of the local communities but only as
those who carried out the teachers’ orders.
– Sustainable development should not only include educational content and
methods of teaching but also mutual relations between teachers, students, parents
and the local community.
Consequently, we have to look for teaching methods that support learning processes and
school development. It is expected that the individual, as well as the team of teachers:
– will focus all actions on the comprehensive development of students;
– will recognise students as active participants in the learning process and
themselves as consultants in the said process;
– will have a positive attitude towards implementing innovations and will not
simply concentrate on adjusting to the existing situation;
– will plan their development and the development of the school as a system;
– will be open to the needs of the local community and to far-reaching cooperation
with the community;
– will participate in partnership relations with educational institutions;
– will promote teamwork involving students, teachers and parents, appointed every
time for particular projects;

32
 – will constantly develop themselves.
Routine work must give way to creativity and in the case of human relations, dominance must
yield to partnership.

It is difficult to talk about education for sustainable development as a certain product to

be implemented. Such reasoning would mean the approval of the pre-existing discipline of
knowledge and presenting the reality in parts. Understanding education for sustainable de-
velopment as a separate subject is also a mistake. The scheduled implementation of education
for sustainable development requires a departure from recognising the school as a teaching
organization towards recognition as a learning organisation. It entails changing the percep-
tion of the place and role of students, parents and teachers, allowing them to optimise the
creative possibilities of a single person.

Apart from the immediate implementation of separate, properly equipped university courses
focused on sustainable development and designated for students in all pedagogical faculties,
it is important to promote and facilitate all methods of informal education, and particularly
the study circle method, as long-term development.

Reflection Box 6. Education for Sustainable Development

1. Why can it be problematic to change pedagogical perspective without a thorough

reorientation of education?

2. What kind of steps should be taken if motivated teachers want to reorient teaching
and learning to include sustainable development? What would your advice be?

Reference sources

Ahlberg, M. Concept maps, Vee Heuristic diagrams and Rhetorical Argumentation Analysis
(RAA): Three educational theory based tools to facilitate meaningful learning, in Novak, J. &
Abrams, R. (eds.) Proceedings of the Third International Seminar on Misconceptions and Edu-
cational Strategies in Science and Mathematics. Cornell University; 1993.
Published electronically.
Ahlberg, M. Improvement of environmental education as a tool for high quality lifelong learn-
ing, pp. 135-148 in Leal Filho (ed.). Lifelong Learning and Environmental Education. Frankfurt
am Main: Peter Lang; 1997.
Baltic 21 (2002) Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea Region Sector Report – Education (Baltic 21E).
Baltic 21. Series No 02/2002 Stockholm: Baltic 21 Secretariat, Ministry of Environment.
Bauersfeld, H. The Structuring of the Structures: Development and Function of Mathematizing
as a Social Practice. In L. P. Steffe & J. Gale (Eds.), Constructivism in Education. Hillsdale,
New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers; 1995.
Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain.
New York: David McKay Co Inc.
Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the
Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay
Co. www.nwlink.com/~Donclark/hrd/bloom.html
Brownstein, B. Collaboration: The Foundation of Learning in the Future. Education, 122 (2),
240; 2001.
Bruner, J. The Process of Education, Cambridge. Mass.: Harvard University Press. 97 + xxvi
pages; 1960.

33
Cogan, J. & Derricott, (eds) (2000) Citizenship for the 21st century: An international perspec-
tive on education, Kogan Page: London.
Dahms, M., Geonnotti, K., Passalacqua, D., Schilk, J. N., Wetzel, A., and Zulkowsky, M. The
Changing theoretical perspectives. In Handbook of the Sociology of Education, edited by Hal-
linan, M.T., 37-64. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers; 2007.
Di Vesta, F. J. The Cognitive Movement un Education. In J. A. Glover & R. R. Ronning (Eds.), His-
torical Foundation of Educational Psychology (pp. 203 – 233) New York: Plenum Press; 1987.
Earth Summit + 5 (1997) http://www.un.org/esa/earthsummit/ or http://www.un.org/
ecosocdev/geninfo/sustdev/indexsd.htm
Educational Theory of Lev Vygotsky: New Foundations (available at http://www.newfounda-
tions.com/GALLERY/Vygotsky.html on 29.01.2008.)
Field R. (2008) John Dewey. In Fieser J.&Dowden B. (Eds.) The Internet Encyclopedia of Phi-
losophy. (available at http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/dewey.htm on 29.01.2008)
Gamoran, A., Secada, W. G., Marrett, C. B. The organizational context of teaching and learning.
2000.
Gapminder www.gapminder.org
Global Footprint Network, Living Planet Report (2006) www.footprintnetwork.org and
www.footprintnetwork.org/overshoot/ ISBN: 2-88085-272-2
Novak, J. & Gowin, B. Learning how to learn. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press;1984.
Piaget, J. Commentary on Vygotsky. New Ideas in Psychology. 18, 241-59. 2000.
Rhodes, L. K. And Bellamy, G. T. Choices un Consequences in the Renewal of Teacher Educa-
tion. Journal of Teacher Education, 50 (1), 17. 1999.
Roblyer, Edwards, and Havriluk, M. D., Edwards, Jack, & Havriluk, Mary Anne. Integrating
Educational Technology into Teaching. Merrill, Upper Saddle River, NJ; 1997.
Sterling, S. Sustainable education – re-visioning learning and change. Schumacher Briefings 6.
Green Books Foxhole: Devon; 2001.
WWF. Learning sustainable ways. Sellberg; 2007.
www.naturewatchbaltic.org

34
CHAPTER 3. METHODS
As has already been mentioned, no special “ESD methods” have been designed or created for
the teaching and learning of sustainable development. Having said that, it has been found that
some methods are much better suited to ESD than others. Typical for most ESD methods is
the focus on the learning process. It goes without saying that the method chosen needs to fit
the particular pedagogical or learning situation or environment. This learning environment
also needs to be created by each professional educator.

We have compiled a checklist of things that are worth taking into account when choosing
methods and activities for a shorter or longer period:
Teaching is built on
• ESD Roadmap: Develop your education according to the ESD matrix for a whole learners
school approach, illustrated on page 27 of this handbook. experience´ as
• Pre-knowledge: What do your students already know and what attitudes do they a group
have? or as
• What are the aims of the education in question? individuals.
• Which skills and knowledge are you intending to create and improve and what
attitudes are you intending to develop?
• Which methods and activities will best support the aims?
• How will you asses and evaluate what has been learned?
• How will the students be involved in the planning and progress?
• How will you make your work visible for others?

In the following section we present a number of practical methods and activities that have
been found to be useful and relevant in ESD. These methods include “values clarification”,
with exercises like; “incomplete sentences”, “ranking”, “change circles”, “standing on a line”,
“four corners” and “the hot seat”, “forum play”, “role play”, “case studies”, “problem based
learning”, “debates, discussions and problem-solving” and “storyline”.

Values clarification

In complex subjects that are interdisciplinary in character facts alone cannot guide or influ-
ence our behaviour. Instead, values clarification or active value methods are used to explore
people’s attitudes, opinions and values. Although a values clarification will not provide any
“correct” answers it will help you to identify what your opinions are, how you can change or
develop them and how to acquire new perspectives and communicate them. When working
with values the emphasis is on the process and the individual learner. Many different activities
can be used for values clarification – the important thing is to use them with care and respect
for the participants so that nobody will feel inferior or imagine that they have the “wrong”
answers or attitudes. John M. Steinberg first used values clarification in health education to
help young people identify their values, talk about them, behave in ways that were consistent
with them and to respect other people’s values.

In the following section we have provided a number of examples of values clarification exer-
cises. Our advice would be to try out the exercises in advance and see which suits you, your
group and the topic best. Many people find it difficult to express their opinion and change
their standpoint openly in front of a group. Although many of these values clarification exer-
cises might seem like a game, it should be remembered that they are primarily educational.
People can also react differently to them, particularly as our viewpoints are private and per-
sonal and we can easily be hurt if these opinions come under attack.

Some of the exercises are described in brief in this chapter, and further activities can be found
in Chapter 4.

35
Incomplete sentences

This exercise uses incomplete sentences as a baseline in order to find out a little more about
what your students think about certain issues or things before starting a new piece of work or
topic. Understanding and opinions can also be developed by using incomplete sentences with
pairs of students or in small groups.

Incomplete sentences, like the examples given below, are written on a piece of paper or on
the whiteboard. The participants are asked to complete the sentences according to their own
beliefs and opinions. In a group where people don’t know each other very well it is probably
best to do this exercise in writing and individually, although if you wish you could ask the
participants to voluntarily read some of their sentences aloud or discuss them in pairs.

Examples of sentences are:

1. An animal that I would like to have is . . . . . . . . . . .

2. The type of nature where I feel most happy is ... ….
3. Individual: “The most important things for me to learn in school are……..”
Small group: “The most important things to learn in school are……..”
4. Individual: “I want a car because ................”
Small group: “Cars are very useful because ………………….”
5. Individual: “Something that I think WWF should work hard for is………………..”
Small group: “A problem we would like WWF to work hard for is …………….”

Ranking

Values clarification exercises can also be used as an introduction to a particular topic or for
getting to know one another in a group. This exercise involves ranking and prioritising from
a given list. The questions and ranking examples can be adapted to suit the particular topic
you are working with. The idea is to rank the alternatives from 1 to 3, where 1 has the highest
priority. The exercise can be individually or group based. Ask the participants to indicate their
answers on paper first and then discuss their rankings with classmates. By way of conclusion
you can ask some of the participants to explain their opinions to the whole group. Prioritising
from a number of different alternatives is also a model that can be used for individual reflec-
tion and group discussion. It is possible to vary the degree of difficulty by having alternatives
that are not quite so clear cut and that depend on a variety of circumstances.

Examples of ranking questions are:

What would scare you most of all to meet in nature?
– a moose
– a dog
– an unknown person

What needs to be prioritised in your home community?

– waste water treatment
– cycle routes
– a football arena

Which organisation would you prefer to be a member of?

– WWF
– The Red Cross
– I would prefer to start a new organisation

36
Another good example of ranking is to individually reflect and write down lists that can later
be used as a starting point for making priorities. An example of this is to ask the students to
“Write down at least ten of your favourite meals”.

The students should make their lists without speaking to one another. It is important to allow
everyone to think for themselves without being influenced by other people’s opinions. When
the students have written their lists they can prioritise them according to taste, transportation,
cost, Ecological Footprint, etc. It is important to remind them that there are no right or wrong
answers. When the participants are ready they can compare their lists in pairs and discuss
their priorities and reasons.

Change circles

This is a quick exercise that is also silent. The nature of the exercise is such that participants
can indicate their standpoints in relative anonymity in that there isn’t time to observe how
others are responding. Begin the exercise with basic and neutral questions so that the partici-
pants get some idea about how it works. You can also use change circles as a warm-up exercise
to get people’s ideas flowing and to get an overview of what your students already know about
a subject and how they position themselves with regard to certain issues.

This is how it works. The group or class forms two circles, an outer circle and an inner circle.
The circles then move slowly in opposite directions. The teacher or facilitator reads out ques-
tions and if you agree you change circle, and therefore direction. If you don’t agree with the
question you stay in your existing circle and continue moving in the same direction.

Examples of questions that can be used:

– Autumn is a pleasant time of the year
– My feet never get cold
– In school I learn important things
– We are all responsible for the future
– Politicians are responsible for sustainable development
– I like meat
– I am interested in agriculture
– I do not pollute soil or water
– We are all fighters!

Standing on a line

This is a values clarification exercise that can be used in order to make perspectives clearer in
the whole group. The exercise also enables positions to be challenged and encourages people
to communicate their opinions.

The teacher introduces the specific issues one at a time and asks the participants to think very
carefully about their responses. The first issue is introduced and the participants are asked to
draw a line on a piece of paper and mark 6 positions on it, numbered from 1 to 6. Each person
has to mark their own position on the line with a cross depending on their viewpoints.

The students are then asked to stand in or on a line (which can be imaginary or marked in
some way on the floor of the room) and take up their positions according to the issues being
presented – all this being done in silence. Each person then moves to the position of their
choice and thereby indicates their individual standpoint. When everybody has taken up their
position the participants are then asked to tell the person standing next to them why they
are standing where they are. As it is likely that a few people will be standing in each posi-
tion – thus forming a group – the students in each group can be asked if someone would like
to be spokesperson for that particular group and tell the class why they are standing in that

37
 position. As a result of the arguments indicated people might want to change groups – and
people can be invited to do this if they wish. Before starting the exercise explain to the entire
class that in this activity they can show their feelings and express their opinions freely about
the different topics.

The teacher reads a statement that has been prepared in advance. Two different versions of
the exercise are indicated below:

Version 1.

– Who has precedence, nature or man?

Nature 1 2 3 4 5 6 Man

Version 2.

Make a line on the floor with the words AGREE and DISAGREE at each extreme end. If you
stand in the middle of the line it can either mean that you are unsure or you don’t care. Every-
body should cut down on their use of energy!

Agree Disagree

Note that in both the above values clarification versions the participants are asked to com-
municate their views. It is important to explain at the beginning that everyone has the right to
express an opinion and that no-one will be judged or corrected for having a belief or opinion
that is different to that of others. Tell everyone that they can change their standpoint on any
particular value at any time, if they so wish. When the exercise is over ask everyone to return
to their original seats. As follow-up at a later date you can, if do desired, use the same ques-
tions and assess whether changes of views have occurred and what kinds of changes have
taken place.

Four Corners

This exercise is suitable for more complex questions. Three alternatives and one OPEN ques-
tion are always included in the exercise. There must always be an open question for those
having answers or responses that are not covered by the other alternatives. Each corner of the
room is assigned a specific alternative answer – see the example given below – with one corner
A B always being reserved as “open” for alternative responses.
– What is most important for you when buying a new sweater?

Corner A. The price

Corner B. The style – whether it’s in fashion
Corner C. Where it comes from and how it has been produced
Corner D. Open for alternative responses

The teacher reads out the question and indicates which corner of the room has been allo-
cated to each alternative. Each person is encouraged to silently reflect on which alternative to
C D choose before moving to the relevant corner. If somebody goes immediately to a corner there
is a risk that others will simply follow and choose the same alternative without first reflecting
on why they are making that particular choice. When people have assembled in their various
corners ask them to discuss – as a group – why they have chosen that particular alternative.
Each group can then choose a spokesperson and that person can tell the whole group about
why they have chosen that particular corner. The participants are allowed to change corners
if they change their minds. Encourage the participants to think independently and make their
own decisions.

38
The Hot Seat

One of the most important aspects of values clarification exercises is not the actual position
taken by the students but the fact that they begin to reflect about the questions for themselves.
The actual process – thinking, motivation and oral communication – is more important than
the end product, i.e. their response.

Arrange chairs in a circle and ask the students to sit on these chairs. The teacher then reads
out a statement that has been prepared in advance and that is relevant to the topic or theme
being studied. Those students who agree with the statement move to a different chair and
those who do not agree remain in their places. The students are then encouraged to explain
their thinking to a classmate sitting next to them or to the whole group. The teacher then
reads out the next statement and the same procedure is followed.

Examples of statements are:

Eating fish from the Baltic Sea is dangerous.
Everybody in our countries should consume less.
The opinions of Lithuanian boys and girls are similar to those of Swedish boys and girls.
Nuclear power stations should be closed.
People in the past had a better life than people of today.
We have democracy!
There is a big difference between schools.
Every polluting factory should be shut down as soon as possible.
China is a leading country.

You can also allow the students to formulate statements themselves. Like with the other val-
ues clarification exercises there are no “correct” answer to these questions. As a teacher you
should avoid giving your own answers as there is a risk that the students may construe your
answer as the “correct” one.
More values clarification activities can be found on page 47-52.

Reflection Box 1. Methods

Answer the following questions after you have tried some of the above exercises and
become familiar with values clarification.
1. What is important to consider when “designing” values clarification exercises?
2. What is important for you as the leader of a values clarification exercise?

Forum Play

Forum Play challenges and makes attitudes and values visible in a safe environment. The dif-
ferent roles adopted and the interactions between the audience and the actors are not only
useful for learning how to solve make-believe conflicts, but have also proved useful for solving
real conflicts. In this exercise the participants practice working with different crisis situations
in a constructive way that also involves having to take a variety of aspects into consideration.

Forum Play is a valuable method for personal development in that it works with the emo-
tions and values and offers a safe space for expression. The process is just as important as the
outcome.

Forum Play originates from the Brazilian director Augusto Boal and his work with dropouts
in Sao Paulo. The purpose of Forum Play is to make values and attitudes more visible and thus
easier to approach. Forum Play opens with a role-play situation that develops into a crisis.

39
After the entire situation has been played out a short break is taken, and after the break the
entire sequence is repeated. After this the audience takes over and, with help of a joker or a
spokesperson, decides which actors they want to replace. When this has been decided and the
actors replaced the role-play begins again, although the play can be interrupted at any time
by someone from the audience shouting “Freeze!” or “Stop!” A new person then takes over
one of the actor’s roles and a new twist to the story becomes possible. The play continues in
this way right up to the end of the “story”. A discussion between the actors and audience then
follows.

On page 54 you will find details of a Forum Play entitled Stand Up for SD! This is followed by
two dilemma exercises suitable for Forum Play.

Role-play

Role-play allows people to separate the relevant information from the less important, to ex-
press and to defend opinions, to listen to others and to be tolerant of different opinions. Role-
play helps you to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, imagine what their situation might
be like and understand something of your opponent’s views or opinions. Role-play is also
designed to foster and develop personal values. Playing out real life situations in this way
helps us to build up enough confidence to take responsibility for what is happening in differ-
ent areas or activities and affect the outcomes.

Role-play therefore enables us to take part in a number of very different real-life situations
and discuss possibilities and opportunities for a variety of outcomes. The method is particu-
larly suited to ESD issues.

Before the actual role-play begins the participants should be provided with a description of
the situation in question, details about the characters involved and what they are expected to do.
The participants then decide which roles they would like to try out and how they are going to
portray the characters in the particular scenario they are working with. For this they will need to
work out their arguments and how they are going to get their message across. Those who aren’t
assigned roles or who prefer to observe can make up the audience and take note of what is hap-
pening in the role-play. At the end of the role-play both the characters involved and the audience
are encouraged to discuss what has taken place and evaluate the processes and outcomes. Apart
from helping to build up confidence, role-play is also a good way of helping students to develop
problem-solving strategies and learn how to act in different situations.

As a teacher it is important to ensure that other students do not judge the role-players too
harshly. The whole point of role-play is that it allows you to step outside your ordinary every-
day character frame and play the bad or the good guy without feeling inhibited. You don’t
have to like the character you are playing either! It’s simply a chance to experiment with some-
thing that is quite different in a safe environment.

Three useful steps for getting the students involved:

• Brainstorm (a problem-solving technique involving the spontaneous contribution
of ideas from all the members of a group) six or eight roles that the students can act out
in the planned scenario. In identifying the characters the consequences of a particular
action will also need to be considered. For example, a role-play about forcing the lo-
cal chemical plant to spend a lot of money on cleaning up its land will probably mean
that people will lose their jobs. Local business people who rely on the plant’s workers for
income will be also affected, and people living close to the chemical plant will also be
adversely affected by the clean-up operation.
• Each role should be described clearly and in brief.
• Decide which line of action each role player should take. This might be holding a
town council meeting to decide whether or not the chemical plant should clean up its site
immediately. Simplicity is the key to the success of role-play, so avoid making things too
complicated.

40
Preparing the students for the role-play

If background information research is necessary for the role-play the teacher should allow
time for this before the actual role-play is performed. Giving the students time to read and
discuss both the topic and the roles is also important. When it’s time for the performance
you or the group can select the actors, while the remainder of the group can act as advisors or
supporters to the individual actors and observe what is being played out.

The action

The teacher can introduce the role-play scenario to the audience or a student can be chosen
to do this. In any case, introducing the role-play scenario is important so that everyone – the
actors and the audience – knows what to do and what to expect. This introduction doesn’t
need to be very detailed and it should certainly not reveal too much about what will or will not
happen in the actual role-play! The person doing the introducing should introduce the role-
play, outline the problem being portrayed, indicate how long the play is likely to be, whether
some of the actors will take “time out” of the play for advice and what will happen after the
role-play (i.e. that a discussion on the issues raised will take place). After this introduction the
actors take over and play out the planned scenario.

Whole class involvement

If the entire class is to be involved in the final discussion they will need to know this in ad-
vance (see above) so that they can make notes during the role-play if they wish.
One way of starting off the discussion is to first of all allow the players to say how they felt
in the roles and whether alternative actions might have been possible. Such a discussion can
then be widened to include the audience’s views. The entire class can also discuss whether the
actors could have played their roles differently, and if so how and why.
Two specific role-plays about oil drilling and fishing can be found on pages 52 and 54.

Case studies

Working with case studies encourages students to analyse and discuss specific dilemmas and
enables them to develop their ability to formulate and express a variety of arguments.
A number of features are common to so-called cases or case studies:
• a case study describes a real situation
• a case study relates to a problem that has to be solved and where decisions have to
be made
• a case study is normally described from the decision-maker’s viewpoint and allows
the student to assume this particular role.
Case studies differ from other learner-oriented activities in the following ways:
• Both the source and background material are authentic and describe a situation that
has actually taken place
• A case builds on field data and real-life observations or research in “the field”, such
as through documents, interviews, articles, reports and so on
• The content of each case varies and often involves a decision-making situation
• The reason for making use of the case must be educationally sound – did the
students learn, practice and gain the expected experience?
Case studies can either be taken from textbooks or, if preferred, a real-life situation can be
used. This method also lends itself to guided discussions where the teacher prepares the ma-
terial and the students work in groups with a final class discussion to round off the procee-
dings. Cases can be chosen for different reasons, e.g. looking at different values, ways of doing
things, to learn communications skills, learning management skills, and so on.
Case studies specific to education for sustainable development (in English) can be accessed on
www.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/cases.html

41
Problem-based Learning

Problem-based learning, or PBL for short, is a student-centred instructional problem-solving

method. At its most fundamental level it is characterised by the use of “real world” problems
as a context in which students can learn critical thinking and problem-solving skills and ac-
quire knowledge about the essential concepts of the course of study in question. In using PBL
students also acquire lifelong learning skills, such as the ability to find and use appropriate
learning resources.

The PBL process can be described as follows:

1. Students are presented with a problem in the form of a case, research paper or video.
In groups they organise and assemble their ideas and previous knowledge related to
the problem and attempt to define the problem they are dealing with.
2. By means of discussion the students pose questions, in this context referred to as
“learning issues,” on those aspects of the problem they do not understand. These lear-
ning issues are then recorded by the group as a whole. Students are continually encou-
raged to define what they know - and more importantly - what they don’t know.
3. Students rank the learning issues generated in the session in the order of impor-
tance. They then decide which questions need to be followed up by the whole group
and which issues can be assigned to individuals, who later teach the rest of the group.
The students and their teacher or instructor also discuss which resources they will
need in order to research the learning issues and where these might be found.
4. When the students meet up again they explore the previous learning issues and
integrate their new knowledge of the problem being studied. Students are also encou-
raged to summarise their knowledge and connect new concepts to old ones. They also
continue to define new learning issues as they work their way through the problem. In
this way students realise that learning is an ongoing and never-ending process.

Debates, discussions and problem-solving

Discussion involves group collaboration in the clarification and discussion of important is-
sues and identifying suitable solutions.

In the discussion forum students are able to develop their skills of formulating and expres-
sing their ideas, listening to others, understanding and accepting different opinions. In the
discussion students take account of a diversity of views as well as try to find solutions to the
problems being discussed or answers to relevant questions. An evaluation of facts, opinions,
experience and possibilities is also a feature of discussions.

There are different kinds of discussions, for example:

Debate – students present two different and opposing opinions or standpoints and get in-
volved in a debate about the issue in focus. For example, this might be to do with solving the
energy problem through building atomic power plants. Students are divided into two groups
– those for and those against the proposal. Each group is given an opportunity to present its
particular standpoint and justify it. Counter-arguments are then raised and presented and the
debate continues until a satisfactory conclusion is reached – or until the time allocated for the
debate runs out.

Panel discussion – a panel of 3 to 5 students is chosen and the students invited to express their
opinions and arguments. After 15 – 20 minutes the leader of the panel discussion invites other
students – who have up to now been listening to the panel’s contributions – to participate in the
discussion. At the end of the discussion the leader presents a short summary of the main points
raised.

42
Pyramidal discussion – the teacher asks the students to choose three out of a number of pos-
sible solutions as to how to improve the school’s energy efficiency. The students then discuss
their choice in pairs and agree on one common solution. They then continue to discuss their
choice in a group of 4 students and do the same thing, i.e. choose one common solution from
the 2 solutions presented. The group of 4 then joins up with another group of 4 and agrees
on one common solution. This continues until the entire class accepts one common decision.
When this has been achieved the students evaluate the common decision and the process in
which this has been arrived at in their original pairs.

Plenary discussion – occurs in a large group of 10 to 30 or more students. The topic to be

discussed in made known in advance. The leader or teacher starts the discussion off by asking
a question and inviting someone to respond. The leader facilitates an interchange of views
among those present, sets a time limit for the discussion and summarises the main points
raised at the end.

As sustainable development is based on democracy and stakeholders’ involvement, discus-

sions of problems and the identification of solutions that benefit everyone concerned are es-
sential. Providing the students with opportunitieis in which they can discuss a variety of to-
pics and find solutions to problems is therefore of the utmost importance.

Tips for successful discussions

Pre-knowledge: Even if your students have little formal knowledge about a topic a discussion
can be a good way of starting a unit. Starting with a general discussion about the topic in
question enables you – the teacher – to assess the range of views and opinions held. Having
some idea of your students’ previous knowledge and standpoints is useful in that it helps you
to target your teaching more effectively.

Motivation: Encouraging students’ interest in a topic is vital if they are to become enthusiastic
and motivated about learning. Presenting the material in a lively and interesting way is there-
fore important. If students feel engaged and motivated they will be more inclined to search for
information to substantiate their views or to facilitate a deeper understanding. Encouraging
them to present their findings in a creative way is also very motivating.

Learner-oriented: Another reason for involving students in a discussion is that it aids under-
standing, enables them to listen to other people’s opinions and to express their own views.

Assessment and evaluation: Discussion is also a way of openly assessing students’ understan-
ding of a topic in that it allows the teacher to identify who has actively participated, what stu-
dents said, whether their comments demonstrated an understanding of the topic and which
concepts need to be repeated or addressed in a different way so that student understand and
can use the concepts easily and correctly.

If discussions are held at the beginning of the unit you could ask the students to list those to-
pics they feel they need more information about in order to make a reasoned decision. You
can then plan the lessons or assignments in a way that incorporates their suggestions.

Two or three students could be asked to summarise the discussion results; each person sum-
marising a different point of view. The ideal would be to assign a student who had expressed a
different point of view during the discussion to summarise a view that he or she is opposed to!

You will find the outline of a debates on page 54. On pages 56 and 57 you will find details of
problems that can be addressed and solved with the help of discussions and debates. Try to find
examples from reality too, as this is much more challenging!

43
Storyline

The Storyline method originates from Scotland and is designed to support learning through
reflection, creativity and problem-solving, both individually and in groups. Based on the prin-
ciple that if learning is to be meaningful it has to be memorable, Storyline can be regarded as
a kind of structured role-play.

The main features of a Storyline can be summarised like this:

• A story in which the excitement is gradually built up, where something specific
happens and where this “crisis” or “conflict” is finally resolved
• Characters are created that the students can easily identify with
• The framework for the story is created by means of time and place
• Key questions are included, i.e. when the teacher poses questions that enable the
students to develop the story
• A problem or challenge is addressed in its specific context.

You can read more about the Scottish Storyline method on the following website:
http://www.storyline.org/about/index.html

The teacher (or teaching team) is responsible for creating the framework or structure of the
Storyline and for deciding which curriculum objectives are to be included and addressed. It
is very important that sufficient time is allowed for planning work and that all teachers in
the team participate. In short, the teachers construct the framework and the students fill it
with content. When the students have created the characters and the environment the teacher
presents them with a dilemma, which they then have to solve.

The characters

When working with a Storyline the students create their own characters - imaginary people
with made-up looks, qualities, clothes and an environment that is appropriate. They can be
members of the same family, farmers, or anyone that would fit into the chosen period and
environment outlined in the framework.

An exciting start

Ensuring that the students feel that they are part of the Storyline process right from the very
beginning is very important. Tricks that can be used to encourage such participation include
writing an imaginary letter in which the students are asked to help a group of ornithologists
due to visit their area, or an advertisement looking for people to help in a research project in the
Baltic Sea region. Once the students are engaged in the topic a Storyline can be developed.

Another technique to encourage engagement and involvement is to use open questions – ones
that invite full answers rather than a yes/no response. These are also useful for assessing the
students’ understanding of the topic being worked with. Examples of open questions are:

What do we know about the Baltic Sea?

What do you think is sustainable development?
In what way do you think we should reduce the use of energy?

Invite the students to discuss the answers to these questions in small groups and write their
answers on pieces of paper. Neither the teacher nor other students should comment on or
criticise the responses.

44
A third way of encouraging engagement in a topic and generating ideas for a Storyline is to
use key questions. Examples of such questions are:

– What qualities or education is necessary to participate on a research vessel?

– What kind of people do you think lived along the coastline previously?

Everyone is encouraged to answer these questions and no answer will be judged as right or
wrong. Key questions are a way of stimulating learning rather than controlling it. The teacher
should be clear from the very beginning as to which curriculum objectives are to be achieved
with Storyline work. The teacher should also decide in advance how best to formulate the
key questions in order to steer the students towards the objectives covered by the Storyline
exercise.

A short version of Storyline example about reducing our use of energy can be found in Chapter
4, on page 65.

45
 CHAPTER 4. PRACTICAL EXAMPLES
This section of the Education for Change handbook is devoted to a variety of examples that
have been successfully tried and tested by experienced teachers and are particularly suitable
for ESD purposes. Beneath each example you will find the name of a person or school. Al-
though some of the activities are a result of the educator’s own creativity, it is quite likely that
many of the exercises will have a variety of sources, especially as activities and lesson plans are
often spread, used and reused by lots of teachers, which means that identifying the original
designer is almost an impossible task. Having said that, however, accrediting the activities to
particular people or schools is really to indicate that they have been tried and tested and have
been specifically used for ESD purposes.

We invite you to make use of the activities yourselves and adapt them to fit your particular situ-
ations, courses, curricula and students. We have not indicated any specific age group or subject
for the activities. Skilled educators will know at a glance whether the examples will be useful or
Teaching and not for their students. Student teachers may need to ask more experienced colleagues for advice,
learning is however, or perhaps simplify the exercise to fit the situation and circumstances. Note that the
integrated and examples we have provided are intended to inspire and encourage teachers to experiment in the
based on the ESD teaching and learning context. You might even want to add your own activities and ideas!
aims stated In short, in this handbook we encourage you to incorporate ESD in your school and make use
in of the learning perspectives, the Roadmap and other aspects outlined in the previous chap-
the curricula ters. We also encourage you to develop and collect your own practical exercises and “share“
(even if the them with others.
curricula
are Baseline
structured The baseline reproduced below comes from a school in Sweden with 84 students and was
according to created because the teachers wanted to find out what kind of knowledge and attitudes the 15-
subject). year-old students had about the topic Nature, environment and sustainable development. The
baseline can perhaps be described as a questionnaire in which students respond to specific
questions set by the teacher. In this baseline the teachers used both values clarification and
more traditional questioning. Note that a baseline is not anything that is scientifically proven
but is something that gives the teachers a basic idea of previous knowledge and is a useful
planning aid. The same questions can be used at a later stage to see whether group members
have changed their views or opinions.

1. I know what sustainable development is about – 69% response

I am not sure what sustainable development is about – 24% response
No answer – 7% response

2. I know the meaning of following expressions

Ecosystem – 64% response
Eutrophication – 45% response
Agenda 21 – 12% response
Biodiversity – 19% response
Ecological footprint – 17% response

3. In my opinion questions about nature and environment are important.

Fully agree Don´t agree at all

32% 36% 15% 13%

4. I want to act positively for nature, the environment and good societal development.

Fully agree Don´t agree at all

21% 35% 25% 17%

46
5. I like to be out in nature.
Fully agree Don´t agree at all
44% 35% 7% 11%

6. Together we can change a lot

Fully agree Don´t agree at all
36% 40% 12% 8%

7. School gives me knowledge and motivation to act for SD
Fully agree Don´t agree at all
18% 38% 23% 15%

8. It is important for the school to provide knowledge and motivation to act for SD

Fully agree Don´t agree at all

35% 44% 6% 5%

Four visions for the future

This is an example of values clarification where you work with expectations for the future. The
outcome is developed skills in critical thinking, clearer expectations for the future and an ability
to take a stand, form opinions and discuss things in a democratic way. It may also serve as an
opening for a better understanding of sustainable development.

The only thing we can say about the future is that it will probably not turn out to be exactly
how we imagine it… We might, however, discover a certain direction that is positive or fa-
vourable. In this exercise we experiment with thoughts and ideas about the future.

Imagine that you are one generation forward in time. Four different visions of the future are
outlined below. Read them as though they were descriptions of reality and written by some-
one living in the years 2060 - 2070. Read the four future visions carefully (on your own) and
think about them for a little while. Then decide if they are unlikely to happen or likely to hap-
pen. Draw a circle around the number on the scale that best corresponds to your own ideas
about whether such a thing is unlikely or likely to happen. After you have read and decided
on all four visions, underline the vision that you think is the most likely of all four to happen
in the year 2060. After you have done that, think about which of the four alternatives you
would select as being most favourable. Mark the alternative that you believe to be the most
favourable with an ”X”.

1. Threats were exaggerated…

The climatic changes predicted for the beginning of the century did not occur. With the use
of modern technology, emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants using coal as fuel can
be dissolved in sea water. But the emissions did not increase to the same extent as at the end
of the 19th century. Today, large amounts of hydrogen gas are produced with the help of solar
energy and can be stored in fuel cells, which means that our cars now run on hydrogen. Fu-
sion energy is the latest milestone in energy technology. Hydrogen atoms from sea water are
fused together to form helium atoms. Large amounts of energy can now be “produced” and
there is enough energy for everyone in the world.

47
 Unlikely Most like
l 2 3 4 5 6
Not favourable
Most favourable
1 2 3 4 5 6
2. What happened would have happened anyway…

At the end of the last century scientists warned about serious climatic change if we did not
reduce our emissions of fossil produced carbon dioxide. But since then the use of oil and coal
has increased rather than decreased. All the countries in the world acted in their own interests
instead of for the benefit of everyone. Industry was driven by short-term economic values.
Climate change was much more dramatic than anyone had predicted. Many regions suffered
severe droughts, while other areas were subject to extreme flooding. In addition, hurricanes
and storms struck areas that were not at all prepared for such events. Food production was
affected to the extent that large-scale starvation is now a fact in areas that were formerly quite
rich and productive. The global economy is in a state of severe crisis. Many of the companies
on the stock market are facing bankruptcy.

Unlikely Most likely

1 2 3 4 5 6
Not favourable Most favourable
1 2 3 4 5 6

3. The EU and western countries will probably benefit …

Droughts, flooding and severe storms have led to catastrophic damage in many countries.
Large-scale drought conditions mean that people have been forced to leave their home areas
and become climate refugees. Situations like this put international solidarity to the test. The
world economy is in crisis. Western societies seem to have coped quite well with the changes
and in many instances have benefited from climatic change. For example, a couple of extra
degrees and a higher temperature mean that the west can produce more food and different
varieties of crops.

Unlikely Most likely

1 2 3 4 5 6
Not favourable Most favourable
1 2 3 4 5 6

4. Easy – a piece of cake…

The prognosis of disaster turned out to be wrong. The emissions of carbon dioxide were much
lower than stated in international agreements and by governments at the turn of the century.
This was because industry and “the market” recognised that sustainable development could
be an important competitive issue. With “energy smart technology” the use of energy de-
creased rapidly. Solar energy had a technical and economic breakthrough and, together with
wind power, is now the main source of energy. Fossil fuel is now only used for the production
of plastics that have not yet been replaced by the new organic polymer material. New priori-
ties meant that our consumption of non-renewable natural resources was reduced to just a
fraction of what had been regarded as normal at the beginning of the 21st century.

Unlikely Most likely

1 2 3 4 5 6
Not favourable Most favourable
1 2 3 4 5 6

48
Four Corners .... in practice

After having completed the above exercise we can now progress to what is known as the four
corners exercise. As this has already been outlined on page 38 we will not repeat the instruc-
tions here. Decide which subject is to be assigned to which corner, and ask the students to
choose the corner that best represents their opinion of what is most likely. The students then
discuss in small groups why they have chosen this particular corner and listen to each other’s
reasons. Working as a group, they should then try to make their vision clearer and discuss
which perspectives they think are missing.

The students then try to decide on two or three actions that need to be taken in order to make
their “most likely vision” happen.

The discussion can also be extended to include the whole class and to answer questions like:
Did this exercise give me any new insights, and if so, what? Do we need more facts in order to
make a decision? Where can we get this information from? What needs to be done?

Peter Wiborn, SV

Green or red, show your opinion

This exercise is a more provocative version of values clarification and involves problem-solving
in groups with only two possible alternatives. The discussions that are held both before and after
“voting” are the most important educational aspects, so be sure to allow time for discussions
either in pairs or in groups. Voting is also a useful way of interrupting or drawing never-ending
discussions and debates to a close.

This particular exercise involves deciding what is possible for the fishery industry and fish
processing in the future. Prepare green and red “voting” papers for each person in the group
in advance. As this voting system is open and visible, all people need to do is to hold up
whichever colour they choose to register their vote. If they agree with the statement they hold
up a green paper and if they do not agree they hold up a red paper.

Agree = GREEN Do not agree = RED

1. Is it possible to catch and process cod more rationally?

2. It is possible to get a healthy population of cod back?
3. Is it possible to change methods for catching cod?
4. Is it possible to change the culture of consumption?

Note that in this exercise the voting results give a very clear picture of whether people agree
or disagree but do not say anything about how or why or what needs to be done to improve
the situation.

Liudmila Glushkova, I. Kant Kaliningrad State University, Russia

49
Teacher training, ESD and values clarification

A number of educators gathered in Sigulda in Latvia to plan the Education for Change project.
At this meeting Dr. Iann Lundegård from Stockholm University’s Department of Education or-
ganised a workshop with the aim of improving the understanding of how seemingly simple and
basic yet at the same time complex education for sustainable development can be incorporated
into the curriculum.

Using active values and reflection as a base, Iann introduced the following questions and ac-
tivities during the workshop:
• What does ESD stand for? What is learning and what is knowledge in this context? How
does the group view the relationship between process and content in these questions?
In order to start a discussion I will formulate several statements. Everyone should take a posi-
tion and account for their understanding. (Here Iann made use of active values, and you can
read more about this method on page 35).

The first assertion is…..

Changing lifestyle is more important than technical solutions when creating a sustainable
development.

I fully agree I do not agree

Do you agree? Not at all or perhaps just a little? Iann asked the participants to take up a posi-
tion on a ranking line drawn on the floor (see page 36 for more details about this).

Today there is an ongoing discussion about environmental education and lifestyle changes. In
my view this can be divided into two separate questions:
1) Can we influence people’s lifestyle patterns through education?
2) Should we influence people’s lifestyle through education?

The question is do people make rational choices based on consistent attitudes? If that is the
case, does knowledge influence our choices? I naturally believe that education is important,
although it is perhaps not so important in terms of people taking ordinary decisions relevant
to everyday life. I do believe, however, that education is important in terms of students feeling
that they can be part of a decision-making process. It has been said that democracy is some-
thing that every generation must re-acquire. ESD is largely about education that awakens the
students’ consciousness and sense of having the power to participate in democratic processes.
So, in this context I believe that ESD is absolutely essential.

The second question relates to the occasionally heated debate on how standardised we should
be in our teaching of sustainable development:
• In Baltic 21, the so-called Haga Declaration (Baltic 21 Series No 02/2002) outlines
what knowledge about ESD implies: ”Sustainable development is … a fundamental
part of a strong democracy and an active citizenship. Real democracy is based on
people respecting each other, speaking to each other, exchanging information, talking
about their experiences, listening to each other and comparing their respective opin-
ions before making their choices and decisions.”

Here it is emphasised that people with different perspectives address these questions. Tea-
ching of sustainable development is in the main about teaching people to cope with them. In
my view it is important for us teachers to think about how we want our students to acquire
knowledge and what sort of knowledge we want to prioritise. It is possibly more important to
discuss the questions and critically evaluate the answers than to be taught about how things
are or should be.

50
The next statement is: the science teacher should have overall responsibility for ESD.

Here the aim is to indicate the angle from which the question of sustainable development
should be tackled. If I remember correctly a fairly large proportion of the group thought that
some knowledge of the natural sciences was a pre-requirement. Many people today think that
allowing ecologists to dominate the interpretation of what is important for the future is much
too one-sided. In fact, this is a question that we usually put to the students on our courses in
sustainable development. The majority of students usually take the opposite view, i.e. that it is
not obvious that natural scientists should dominate the subject. I know that you are beginning
to involve all categories of teachers in your work, which in my view is good.

My next statement is: outdoor education is a necessary and important component of ESD.

In this project it is apparent that many agree that outdoor education is a good way of increasing
environmental consciousness. I have myself actively worked with outdoor education in many
situations for a long time. When teachers want students to develop a feeling for nature, which
can later form the basis of wanting to protect or work with nature in some way, I believe that
outdoor education is unsurpassable. However, after working with environmental education for
a short period in Pakistan, I believe that if we want to involve everybody in the world in a discus-
sion on sustainable development we have to keep an open mind about the possibility of starting
from values other than nature. In many parts of the world such values can be found in religion.
What you possibly should be thinking about is how you can use nature education as a platform,
and in the long-term for including more democracy and the capacity to take action.

The next assertion suggests that human dignity could be an area that creates values: AIDS
could be the subject of a school project in ESD.

As I have already mentioned, it is not evident that ESD should start with an ecological content
and that economic, social, and cultural perspectives should be included and thereby contribute
to a more complex picture. Instead, it might sometimes be more important and relevant to start
with a social question. ESD is primarily a tool that enables students to be competent citizens in
a democracy. When this process in itself becomes the content it is important to start with some-
thing that affects them. The best way of finding this out is to ask them. I’ve taken the question of
AIDS as an example, as this is a real problem in many parts of the world. I would even go so far as
to say that if these countries are to become sustainable a solution to the problem must be found.

Finally we conducted a “four corner” exercise, which went as follows …

Imagine you are the teacher of a class of fifteen-year-old students. You have arranged a case
study about the Baltic Sea and expect the students to work in small groups. The assignment is
to find the best strategy for action relating to the Baltic Sea in the future. All the groups have
worked hard on this assignment for a couple of lessons. Most of the groups came up with dif-
ferent suggestions as to how to clean up the environment and preserve it as it is. But one of the
groups came up with a rather unusual idea. Their suggestion was to eradicate cod and start
breeding other types of fish, for example, salmon.

What would you do?

• Give them more knowledge
• Thank them for their good work
• Suggest an open discussion that involves the other groups
• Open corner, other solutions

As in previous descriptions of this exercise, one corner is allocated to each opinion. The par-
ticipants choose which view they support most and go and stand in that particular corner.

(Iann again) The reason I’ve given you this example is to listen to the seminar group’s thoughts
about this way of teaching and relate them to the intentions of ESD as I understand them. The
thinking behind ESD is, among other things, based on a discussion of what knowledge and
teaching/learning really are. In actual fact ESD is based on two particular viewpoints.

51
The first viewpoint, as I see it, is that there is no right or wrong in a discussion on sustainable
development. Knowledge is always connected to values, although knowledge on its own can
never tell you which way is best. Knowledge is important in that it can indicate what kind
of consequences can be expected from particular choices of action, but in the end it is up to
people to decide for themselves.
The second is that the teaching/learning is a process that implies that you have to make a com-
mitment to human values. Learning something is not just about piling facts in a heap or dra-
wing a more or less exact map or diagram of the situation. That people learn things means that
they define a problem and weigh up the advantages and disadvantages connected with it. Those
people who continually create a more eco-centric perspective of the world will take the side of
nature and preserve it more or less as it is for the coming generations. That is meaningful for
them. Others maintain that other values are more important for the future of their own genera-
tion and that of future generations. As a teacher I think it is vitally important here to be humble
and above all think about how far one can go in allowing the democratic process to have priority.
I also believe that one should think about what is primary and secondary for people in other
parts of the world. This information can only be acquired by directly asking those involved.
My final question, and one I leave you to think about, is: in what way can Environmental Edu-
cation be developed towards ESD?
With this I would like to wish you good luck in your work and say that this work is also some-
thing very close to my heart!

Reflection 1. Practical Examples

Imagine that your colleagues have been invited to take part in the workshop in Sigul-
da. Imagine too that you are Iann and will lead the group! What will you say and how
will you get your message across? Use the “values clarification” guidelines outlined
on page 35 to help you in this task.

Drama, role-play and debates

“Is extracting petroleum from the Baltic necessary?”
This role-play is based on a real problem in the Kaliningrad region.
A public meeting about petroleum extraction on the Baltic shelf, close to the Kaliningrad
coast, was held in the city of Kaliningrad. The economic situation and power producing
capacity of the Kaliningrad area is very difficult. Cheap and accessible petroleum could be
extracted from the sea bed on the border with Lithuania to help to solve these problems. As
Kaliningrad is situated a long way away from other petroleum production sites, this naturally
results in expensive petrol and oil; both of which are necessary for human activity.
The planned petroleum extraction site is located at a distance of 22 km from the Curonian
Spit – one of Russia’s National Parks and a specially protected Baltic Sea zone. The Curonian
Spit has also been named as a World Heritage site by UNESCO and is one of the region’s most
popular tourist areas. The Spit attracts thousands of migrating and permanent bird species
and is one of the few surviving habitats for a number of rare species. In the event of accidents
or overflows in connection with petroleum extraction beaches and other significant parts
of this area would become severely polluted. The coastlines of many other Baltic countries
would also be polluted.
Activity
Many different groups and individuals are interested in or concerned about this problem, as
outlined below:

Group A (“for” petroleum extraction): the manager of the petroleum company, an unem-
ployed person, a driver
Group B (“against” petroleum extraction): a tourist, an ecologist, a fisherman

52
Divide the class into six groups, three “for” and three “against” groups. Read the problem
description. Discuss in groups how the energy problem could be solved in Kaliningrad and
write down arguments for and against the proposed petroleum extraction. Construct argu-
ments for each of the characters named above and decide who will represent them and what
kind of personality or approach they will have. An outline of each character is provided, be-
low, to help with this task.
The ‘manager’ group writes a speech “We should extract this petroleum!” All the other groups
prepare one or two important questions for the manager. The manager then makes a speech.
Chosen representatives of each group ask questions in response to the speech and the man-
ager answers. Did the manager convince you? If not, describe your ideas about how to solve
the area’s economic problems with the least damage to the environment.

Characters

Manager of the petroleum company

You were appointed to this post 2 months ago and want to keep it. But your business is not
doing very well, because local sources of petroleum are running out. You are now in the
posi¬tion where you have to think seriously about how to expand oil extraction. One option
is to extract petroleum from the sea. But, unfortunately, the best place for this oil extraction
is very close to the National Park. You are sure that the engineering technology available will
reduce the risk of petroleum overflow to zero. And, even if an accident does happen, your
workers will quickly and reliably remove the petroleum spills and slicks. You have now defi-
nitely decided that this is a viable project and you are getting ready to go ahead with it.
The unemployed person
You lost your job one year ago and are still trying to find new employment. You have got two
children and you are the main supporter of your family. You are therefore extremely anxious
to get a job, and especially one that is regular and where the salary is good.
The driver
Your business is to transport people - both local people and tourists. Your main problem is
the quickly rising price of petrol. You hope that local petroleum production will allow you
to reduce your charges and increase your earnings. You are also aware that price rises and
pollu¬tion problems can result in an eventual loss of business.
The tourist
As a tourist you are naturally keen to visit a clean and beautiful area. Your first visit to the Na-
tional Park was about 6 years ago, and you love this narrow strip of land with its wide beaches,
sandy dunes, beautiful flowers, and wonderful bird life. This area has made many deep and
unforgettable impressions on you. You have also told other family members about the charms
of this coastal area and they too now have their own favourite spots. You feel that you want to
come back to this perfect place over and over again.
The ecologist
Yor main area of investigation is the sea birds in the National Park. This is a unique place for
both the nesting and migration of a large number of bird species. This narrow strip of land
is on the main migration route for birds from Northern Russia, the Baltic countries and parts
of Scandinavia. You are very active and committed to nature protection. You have written an
article for the local newspaper and are now participating in the public meeting.
The fisherman
You are a young fisherman. Your father and grandfather were also fishermen … but your
business is on the decline and the sea is much more polluted now than it was in your father’s
and grandfather’s time. You are deeply concerned about any pollution of the sea environment,
which will naturally lead to a reduction in fish supplies.

Alexey Golubytskiy, The Guide Environmental Group, Kaliningrad

53
 Panel debate

The following panel debates are a mixture of role-play and discussion. Participants can try out
different roles and identify themselves with different groups. Preparation in terms of both facts
and performance, or in groups or individually is important. The roles can be created by either the
teachers or the students, or both. The more realistic they are the better!

1. Menu for the school canteen.

Debate with representatives of the following: students, parents, nutritionists, econo-
mists, environmentalists, farmers and other food producers and dealers. Students are
asked to prepare information about health, economy, sustainability and food produc-
tion in advance of the actual debate.

2. Building a dam for the production of hydro-electric power in China.

Debate with representatives of the following: the regional administration boards, the
WWF or other nature conservation organisations, local industry, local farmers, local
politicians, Coca Cola, limnologists (scientists studying the conditions of lakes and
fresh water areas), ethnographers (researchers specialising in race, peoples and cul-
ture) and nomads living upstream of the catchment area. Students are asked to pre-
pare for the debate in advance by finding out about water resource management, fresh
water ecology, something about the geographical conditions of the region and a little
about regional rules and regulations.
Teachers work
in teams and The chairperson opens the meeting with a few remarks and indicates that he or she hopes for
have time for an open and constructive discussion. Each representative is given two minutes to speak and
structured present their case – the order in which they speak can be decided beforehand by drawing lots.
planning. When each speaker has had their turn time is allowed for responses, questions and answers.
The responses must not be more than one minute in length, however. The chairperson can in-
terrupt and ask his or her own questions at any time. After 30 minutes a final and concluding
round, in which each panel participant is allowed one minute to sum up his or her view of the
discussion and propose one suggestion for action, signals the end of the discussion.

After the panel debate a discussion is held about how the debate was actually carried out, how
people felt in their different roles and people’s thoughts about the value and possibilities of ar-
ranging something similar in real life. If the group consists of more than 7 people the number
of characters can be increased, the audience can be enlarged, representatives from the media
can be included, and so on. It would also be possible to have two separate panel debates which
could later report on their outcomes. Distribute the tasks and characters in advance so that
participants can prepare themselves with the necessary information, materials or even suit-
able costumes. Write the names of the characters on name-tags on the tables as well, so that
everyone knows which character is which, etc.
The EduC team

Stand Up for SD!

This interactive drama is related to Forum Play with an interactive audience.

1. Character creation
The pupils are asked to:
1) walk around the classroom at their own speed
2) find a place in which they’d like to sit down
3) sit down (or lay down) and relax
4) close their eyes and imagine:
a) a place on the Earth
b) a country
c) a city
d) a person - and come up with his/her:

54
 – gender
– age
– job and place of work
– religion
– economic status
– marital status
– biography
– language spoken
– dreams
– future (in 10 years she/he will be….)

The students could also be asked to fill in the “Sustainable Development Enterprises” applica-
tion form, see below.

2. Characters in their roles

The pupils are asked to:
– imagine a usual (or unusual) situation in their character’s life
– walk around the classroom and talk (or stay silent), move (or stay still) behave as if 2 they
were their characters.

The teacher then tells the students to freeze, or stop moving, and stay still. One pupil is asked to
continue moving around. This person also continues with his/her improvisation. The others are
asked to behave spontaneously and immediately become possible partners of the main char-
acter. This is the moment when the whole group can take part in the character’s world.
The above procedure should be repeated for each pupil and each character.

3. Characters in action!
In this exercise the students stay in the roles they have been playing in the previous exercise.
This time they are asked to lie on the floor and imagine that they are tied together with the
invisible idea of sustainable development. They are then asked to STAND UP!
Of course they may protest, reject the idea or try to convince or force each other to stand up.
(They could be bound together with a real rope – just to experience how uncomfortable and
difficult standing up together really is). At the end the students’ feelings and how people were
persuaded to stand up should be discussed. This exercise can be repeated with students try-
ing out different roles and characters, adopting another perspective and trying to “do as if ” in
another and quite different role.

2
Do as if… – is said to be the best definition of drama made by Gavin Bolton

55
Application Form

Sustainable Development Enterprises

1. Place on the Earth

2. Continent
3. Country
4. City
5. Sex
6. Age
7. Religion
8. Profession
9. Job or place of work
10. Marital Status
11. Children
12. Education
13. Salary (EUR per year)
14. Language
15. What I truly like in people is
16. Before going to sleep I think about
17. In 10 years time I will

Alicja Sadownik, Gdansk University

Dilemmas

The following examples of dilemmas can also be used for values clarification (see page 35),
forum play (see page 39), role-play (see page 40) or debates (see page 42).

Your kind neighbour

This dilemma exercise prepares students for real situations and strengthens their motivation to act.

The exercise is of greatest value if the group members really trust each other. If they trust each
other they will both dare to and want to share their own attitudes and values.

You are having problems starting your car. The old, black oil might be the problem and your nice
neighbour volunteers to help you change it. You invite him to dinner as a thank you. From the
kitchen window you can see the landscape, the meadows and the small river where you caught
the salmon you now are preparing for dinner. You can also see him working on your car. He’s col-
lecting the old oil in a metal bowl and it looks as though he has almost finished. He bends down,
picks up the bowl of old oil and walks down to the river with it….
– What do you do?

Discuss the possible alternatives. Make a list of all the alternatives you can think of and ask
the students to choose the best alternative. Continue the discussion in small groups and then
open it up to the whole class.

Gitte Jutvik, WWF

56
Different ways of travelling
Problem-solving in groups can either be structured by the teacher or be more flexible and loosely
structured. Try to involve all group members in a democratic way.
A group of 10 popular musicians and dancers have received a special invitation from WWF
to the Baltic Festival, to be held in Stockholm. They have to decide how they will travel from
place X on the east side of the Baltic Sea to the Baltic Festival in Stockholm and back. The task
is to find the best way of travelling. Cost, time and the environment are all important aspects
to take into consideration in finding the optimal solution. Right from the start it is clear that
the musicians and dancers have very different opinions, although they are all aware of the
economic and ecological aspects. Work in pairs and come to an agreement about the best
way of travelling and be ready to motivate your decision. Each pair can decide for themselves
where place X is.

Gitte Jutvik, WWF

The wolf and the farmers

A dilemma is made visible for students with help of forum play. The content of the play and the
ending can be changed by substituting different “actors”.
It is late April and two farmers are out and about looking after their sheep and the new born
lambs. They find the animals in good condition grazing in the meadow. They check the water
trough and find dog-like tracks in the mud beside the trough. They follow the tracks and see a
wolf near the fence. A sheep with a young lamb is not very far away and the farmers understand
immediately what could happen. Later the younger farmer contacts the county administration
and asks for help, but is told that there is nothing they can do. The wolf is protected by the law
and, as the wolf has not harmed the sheep or lamb, there is nothing the farmer can do. The
following day the farmers find a dead sheep and a dead lamb and a second lamb seems to be
missing its mother. The farmers involve people from the village. The older farmer starts to track
the wolf and meets an ornithologist and a WWF supporter. They know that wolves are on the
country’s list of threatened species and protected by law, but become suspicious when they hear
the story and see the farmer carrying a gun. FREEZE the action here!
At this critical point a short break is taken, after which the sketch is performed once more.
During this repeat performance the observing audience can intervene at any time and replace
some of the “actors”, and instead play another possible course of action. Can you identify
where alternative courses of action would be possible? Where? Is it possible to resolve the
crisis positively for any (or all) of the different parties?

Teacher’s Guide Living with Large Carnivores, WWF

Visions and backcasting

Cast your eyes to the future and then back again to the present! Make sustainable life and the
way to get there visible. Visions and backcasting help to train holistic thinking, improve know-
ledge and writing skills and involve the learner in the various processes.
What exactly is backcasting? In a nutshell, backcasting is a concept that is often used in con-
nection with sustainable development and is a way of planning successful outcomes for the
future. Such planning is often accompanied by the question “What do we actually need to do
now to reach the successful outcome we envisage?” This approach has been proved to be more
effective than forecasting, which often results in a more limited range of options. Backcasting is
regarded as being very creative and, perhaps more importantly, is useful for projecting today’s
problems and sustainable solutions into the future.
The future is difficult to predict and visions are usually unrealistic, but by combining visions
with backcasting you not only make the future visible but also the steps and stages needed to
realise the vision. Learn from success stories in your own areas and examine the steps taken
in achieving both the goal and the vision.

577
An example of visioning and backcasting is to imagine what your town, country or the world
will look like in 2045?
Make a sustainable future visible! Describe the ways of getting there, how such a future has
been decided and how it could be implemented. Which problems have been resolved and
which problems still need to be resolved? What obstacles did you meet along the way? How
will the media report the events you describe in 2045?
Provide details about life, work, culture, nature, education, etc., in 2045.
– What decisions have been made to reduce the greenhouse effect?
– What decisions have been made to reduce the number of toxic substances in
nature?
– What has been done to reduce AIDS and poverty?
– What has been done to stop the degradation of fish stocks, ecosystems, etc?
What kind of knowledge will be important in 2045 and how can we prepare ourselves for an un-
known future with today’s knowledge? These are all vital questions to ask if we are to succeed.

WWF, Learning sustainable ways, Sellgren

Letter to the Editor

Writing letters to newspaper editors is a good exercise in learning how to formulate a well-struc-
tured and well-founded argument. It also develops skills in taking a stand and expressing this in
writing. Ask the students to write well formulated letters with strong arguments with a view to
sending them to their local newspaper and influence local developments!
Below you will find suitable topics taken from Coalition Clean Baltic, or CCB for short. It is
often better to use local examples and identify suitable people to send the memo(s) or letters
to. The examples given below are also suitable for panel debates.
1. The local coastal authorities in Latvia disregard the law relating to protected areas designed
to defend the dune zone situated some 300 metres from the sea. Neither the state not the local
authorities react to the illegal constructions in the protected 300-metre dune zone. Many of
these illegal buildings are expected to be legalised in the process of territorial and special plan-
ning. New areas of the dune zone are planned as construction and camping areas. This means
that the unique coastal ecosystem will suffer considerable damage or be completely destroyed.
Situated in the western part of Latvia, Lake Engure and its floating base for ornithologists is an
example of such an endangered area. The whole area is a natural reserve and protected by the
Ramsar Convention. The above-mentioned problems were the result of actions taken by the
Mersrags community in the Talsi region, which is one of the most environmentally unfriendly
coastal communities in Latvia.
2. Tourism development in the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea is expected to bring economic
gains to the region. In order to cope with the anticipated number of tourists numerous recrea-
tion centres and marinas are being planned or have already been constructed in shallow water
areas. It is likely that these will have considerable impact on coastal ecosystems (e.g. on the
breeding and nursery areas for fish species) and pose a serious threat to landscapes and the
biodiversity of the respective areas.
3. A number of fun parks and marinas are planned along the coast to attract tourists. On Bug
Peninsula, on the Isle of Rugen, a recreation centre with up to 2,000 beds and 400 leisure boats
places is planned. The peninsula forms part of a NATURA 2000 area. Two hotels, three large
holiday home complexes, a marina and and golf course with accompanying infrastructures
are to be constructed on an old military site next to the Vorpommernsche Boddenlandschaft
National Park. Intensive tourism activities will lead to considerable disturbance in these sen-
sitive surroundings and endanger the area’s flora and fauna.
4. The dunes (up to 30 m) on the south shore of the Gulf of Finland (Russian Baltic) are to be
destroyed due to the construction of the Batarynaja Oil Product Terminal and nuclear units
belonging to the Nuclear Technology Institute.
The EduC Team

58
My fantastic journey around the Baltic Sea
The best way of learning is to build on your own experiences rather than rely on books. We know
that this is not always possible, however. In this exercise students work with traditional books,
maps and the internet, although in an active rather than a passive way.
The idea is that you will travel around the Baltic Sea area. You start from your home town and
travel in pairs. During the journey you will pass, visit or do the following:
• All the Baltic Sea countries
• Dive with an experienced diver
• Write a short poem about the city’s statue
• Go fishing in a stream
• Find out how houses are heated
• Visit two islands
• Go out to sea in a fishing boat
• Tell an inquisitive journalist about the teaching in your school
• Write your name in Russian
• Study life on a beach or in a meadow
• Visit an industry
• Solve a problem
• Explore three capital cities
• Draw the city’s church tower
• Travel by bus and talk to the person sitting beside you
• Eat the country’s typical dishes
• Draw an impressive building
• Study a breeding bird at close quarters
• Travel through an old forest
• Meet three animals; one of which should be a furry animal.
• Find out which names are common boys’ and girls’ names in the country you visit
• Interview a Prime Minister
• Be able to say “Hello!” or “My name is….” in three languages

You can decide whether you are going to travel westwards or eastwards around the Baltic
Sea area. Draw your journey on a map. Tell others about your journey. Make your Baltic Sea
journey as interesting and enjoyable to read about as possible!

Östersjögrannar, WWF

Positive developments –examining different suggestions

The aim of this exercise is for the students to form an opinion about different perspectives relating
to community development and to prioritise and discuss these different alternatives.
The EU allocates funds for different development projects in the Baltic Sea region. A discus-
sion exercise is outlined below in which different organisations and government authorities
within the EU area try to attract support for their projects. The projects are outlined below.

Method

• Working individually the students pick out the three most important projects they
think should be supported. At this stage there shouldn’t be any discussion between the
students – this will come later.
• Form small groups and allocate imaginary EU funds to a maximum of six projects.
Support the motivation for support in writing.
• Now that the allocations are complete you are presented with a problem. Due to
changes in the EU budget it has been decided that only half of the funds can be allo-
cated this year. The task now is to re-allocate the funds to only three of the projects.

59
Imagine that you are in a group that will allocate 25 million Euro to development projects in
one of the countries in the Baltic Sea region.

How does your group allocate the funds to the following projects?
1. A sewage-treatment plant that cleans waste water from large towns and cities so it
does not pollute waterways, lakes and our common sea.
2. A modern fishing fleet with enough effective equipment to catch fish in other seas
in order to reduce fishing in the Baltic Sea.
3. An education project to provide new teachers with more knowledge about
sustainable development and how to use this knowledge in their teaching.
4. A technical high school to train engineers to develop and strengthen the
country’s industrial base so that consumers will be able to buy high quality
products and sufficient income will be generated from exports.
5. A gas pipeline from Eastern Russia to replace oil and coal, thus reducing carbon
dioxide emissions.
6. A programme for sustainable development based on renewable natural resources.
7. A crime fighting programme to free the country from crime, drug abuse and
AIDS.
8. Better roads, railways, harbours and airlines that enable our country to develop
into a modern and prosperous society.
9. A development programme for small-scale employment so that people living in
small villages and towns can support themselves without having to move to large
cities with all their environmental and crime-based problems.
10. A dairy that produces butter, cheese and other dairy products from milk supplied
by local farmers rather than having to rely on imported foodstuffs.

Östersjögrannar, WWF

Life Cycle thinking

The Life Cycle concept is an approach to thinking about processes, products and services. It recog-
nises that all life cycle stages have environmental, social and economic impacts.

This activity gives participants the opportunity to engage in dialogue with each other and
contribute actively.
– Make an assessment of products from two different producers, e.g. cheese, oil, juice,
shrimps, T-shirts, paper. Compare two products in terms of their environmental im-
pact and make an analysis and life cycle of this product in terms of the extraction
and processing of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, use/
reuse and recycling and waste management and the environmental and economic im-
pacts.

– Make a recommendation which includes an assessment of just how sustainable each

product is and how it could be made more sustainable.

– Discuss other effects, such as ethics, social, economic aspects and also personal, local
and global perspectives. What does Life Cycle thinking mean for me personally, for
me as teacher, or as a citizen of our planet? How do these activities impact consumers,
producers and authorities?

Rudite Grabovska, Daugavpils University, Latvia

60
Critical thinking about food
This exercise is designed to develop critical thinking skills and practice expressing an opinion
based on values and facts.

The students answer the questions for each product individually. Although they do not have
to write anything down they do have to be able to formulate and express their arguments to
others.

Why will I buy this product (banana, cutlet, bread…) ?

Why won’t I buy this product (banana, cutlet, bread…)?

When the students have worked out their answers to these questions they should discuss their
responses in small groups. The teacher can also ask spontaneous questions, for example:

What is the most important feature of your decision? The price, how the product has been
produced, how long it takes to cook, others? You can also use values clarification in conjunc-
tion with the four corners exercise (see page 38).

It won’t be long before genetically modified (GMO) food arrives on our plates and tables.
Some people think that this will solve our planet’s food problems, while others think that
genetically modified food is a threat to the world.

Students are divided into groups and gather information about GMO food. After preparing
themselves by collecting information from articles, the internet, etc., each group describes:

Why we will buy this banana, cutlet, bread…!

Why we will not buy this banana, cutlet, bread…!!

If the group members have different opinions they should also say what they are and give
reasons.
You can exchange GMO food with Spanish tomatoes, take away salad, mango fruit, cod etc.

Ineta Mikelsone, Jaunpils Secondary School, Latvia

Different kinds of agriculture

Use this structure for organising discussions to develop critical thinking skills and promote the
students’ understanding.

As consumers we often buy food or other goods. But do we know how food is produced and
how it gets to the shops and our plates? Where have the crops been grown? Where has the
cutlet been born and reared? How far has it travelled? What does it give in terms of nutrients
and energy and what does this cost the environment?

As consumers we are able to affect the way in which food is produced by buying or not buying
the product. When we buy products that have been produced in an environmentally-friendly
way we encourage farmers to use more environmentally-friendly technologies.

Try this exercise:

1. The teacher divides the students into five groups. Each group makes a shopping
list for one week. Students then present their shopping lists and decide on one com-
mon list.
2. The same groups then work with all the texts listed below and discuss the various
possibilities.
3. The class then forms new groupings and each group works with the common

61
 shopping list decided on in step 1. They are asked to prioritise the items on the list
with regard to ecological, economic and social sustainability.
4. Display the prioritised shopping lists and discuss them in class.
5. Continuation work: Study menus from the school canteen and local restaurants
and write an article to the local newspaper about the importance of buying, cooking
and eating organically and sustainably.
6. For homework. Students are asked to identify and assess agricultural develop-
ment tendencies in the local community.

A. Intensive agriculture means producing more in a shorter time. This process is highly
mechanised and uses considerable amounts of chemicals. Global corporations often carry
out such intensive agriculture in underdeveloped countries in order to make bigger profits.
More often than not the environmental and social standards or regulations in these poorer
countries are not as strict as those in developed western countries. As a result of this produc-
tion often leads to pollution and damage to the environment. In addition, the workers are
paid very low salaries and are not provided with protective clothing when spraying dangerous
chemicals or pesticides on the crops. The use of too many artificial fertilizers also leads to
the land becoming more and more impoverished – and to nitrogen, phosphorous and other
nutrients being washed out of the soil and accumulating in lakes and seas. This latter effect,
also known as eutrophication, is a real environmental problem in the Baltic Sea.

B. Guidance for fruit buyers

Imported fruit: In order to ensure that fruit will stay fresh and remain in good condition in
the shops:
• pesticides are used 8-15 times during the growing season
• after harvesting the fruit is treated with fungicide
• the fruit is then processed with antioxidants during storage so that it keeps its
colour
• before being sold the fruit is processed with wax so that it will stay as fresh as
possible for as long as possible.

Fruit that has been processed in this way will stay fresh for about 20-30 days.

Local fruit: Pesticides are used about 3-5 times or even less during the growing season. After
harvesting the fruit needs to be stored in cool conditions. As the fruit has not been treated
with pesticides it stays fresh in the supermarket for about 5-7 days.

Organically grown fruit: In organic agriculture pesticides are not used at all. Instead natural
antagonists (like insects or birds) are used. Good light and air circulation is very important
for fruit grown in this way.

C. About animal ethics

Everyone needs food – this is part of life. But getting food and meat to our tables is not always
straightforward and can include a range of different problems. Here are a few examples:

Antibiotics against your wishes

Intensive meat production is only possible with the use of antibiotics. On large farms the
animals are often prone to disease and the only way these diseases can be kept in check is by
using antibiotics. When we eat the meat we also (often unknowingly) eat a lot of antibiotics
as well!

The life of a bullock

A bullock is taken away from its mother a few days after birth and kept in conditions that help
to make its flesh soft and tender.
On organic farms the animals live together all the time, graze in the meadows and live as
natural a life as possible.
Chicken factories

62
Did you know that chickens are usually fattened in about 33 - 47 days? They are fed with food
containing antibiotics and are kept in small cages. The overpowering smell of ammonia on
these farms often leads to the chickens going blind and developing respiratory diseases.
On organic farms hens and chickens are free to roam in the meadows and eat properly ba-
lanced and natural food.

D. Happy flowers to the happy man/woman

Sixty percent of flowers exported from the Netherlands are actually grown in under-developed
countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Ecuador and Columbia. Flight costs from these
countries are very cheap and flowers grown here need less energy in comparison with those
grown in the Netherlands. For example, growing 65 roses in Kenya uses the same amount of
energy as growing 7 roses in the Netherlands. Kenya has enough solar energy to grow roses
efficiently. Savings are also made on salaries – a worker’s salary in the Netherlands is equal to
38 percent of the cost of the flowers, whereas in Kenya this is only 1 percent!

Cost of 1 rose

salary of a Kenyan 1 cent

chemicals 1.5 cents
plants 2 cents
profit 3.5 cents
losses 3 cents
packaging 1.5 cents
transport to the airport 7 cents
agent’s commission 3.5 cents
money, which stays in Kenya 23 cents
import costs 7 cents
flight costs 3 cents
wholesale costs 17 cents
retail price (100 %) 50 cents
selling price 1.00 EUR

E. Organic agriculture Organic agriculture is sustainable because it is based on an under-

standing and use of natural processes. Organically grown products are produced using natu-
ral methods – not by using chemicals but by relying on the warmth and light of the sun, a rich
soil, water and micro-organisms. In an organic system having a rich and fertile soil – created
by adding organic compost or green or animal manure – that also feeds the plants is very im-
portant. Local varieties of plants and animals should be grown or reared in order to maintain
biological diversity.

Vija Ziverte, Jaunpils Secondary School, Latvia

Together we can change!

Small changes mean a lot and make a difference. Combine your efforts and use maths to show
that small changes by only one person can make a lot of difference.

Try this experiment. Brush your teeth with the tap running. At the same time, ask another
person to fill empty milk or other containers with the running water until you’ve finished
brushing your teeth. Make a note of how many milk or other containers have been filled.
Then use this information to work out how much water your family uses when brushing their
teeth. Multiply this by the number of family members in the class, inhabitants in your com-

63
 munity, inhabitants in the country, inhabitants in the Baltic Sea region, etc., and work how
much water is wasted just by people brushing their teeth! What about when people brush
their teeth with warm water that has to be heated with fuel or electricity? How much energy
is wasted then?

There is also a problem with waste water. Lots of toxins and nutrients are washed or flushed
into our water systems without being properly or efficiently cleansed or processed. Some
detergents used for washing clothes and dishes contain phosphates. Find out what kind of
cleaning materials and detergents your family uses. Ask your family to consider changing to
cleaning materials and detergents that do not contain phosphates!

No climate change, sustainable use of energy

The school is Find out how much electricity/fuel is used in your school and for what purpose. Make a note of the
“an institution daily electricity readings during the course of one week, if possible taking the readings at the same
that teaches” time each day. Decide to have an energy saving week. Select 3 days of the week on which you will
try to use electricity/fuel economically, i.e. turn off the lights when they are not necessary, keep the
Materials are used windows closed to avoid heat loss, etc.
in a sustainable
way. The – Where do you get your electricity/fuel from?
management of – When did you use the least electricity/fuel?
buildings and – What was the reason for that?
surroundings is – When did you use electricity/fuel most? Why?
an integral part of Calculate the average amount of electricity/fuel you use in a year. How much money does it
education. cost the taxpayer? Calculate the total cost of electricity used during the chosen energy saving
week. The topic is How to reduce the Ecological Footprint in our school. Include the indica-
tors for success in your report as well.

The EduC team

Sustainable and aesthetic

A deeper awareness of school practices and challenges relating to sustainable development gave
rise to a broad cooperation, first of all with parents and later with the entire community.

This example describes an action for improving environmental awareness and improving the
aesthetics of our surroundings. Pupils prepared coloured medals and hung them on the fences
of the most sustainable and aesthetic houses. The activity was undertaken in cooperation with
the local commune.

Nebrowo Wielkie, Zespół School, Poland

Students initiated a new organisation.

This activity requires the cooperation of teachers, students and parents and contact with local
governing councils. This brief example is based on some of the ESD cornerstones outlined on
page 27.

In June the students marked out a 40 kilometre long pathway. Additionally, and due to our
students’ creativity and involvement, a museum was established. One of the key issues in the
programme was the initiation of cooperation with organisations, institutions and legal enti-
ties, all of which provided financial support for the renovation of the museum’s rooms. The
students contacted all the region’s schools in order to set up a Cycling Lovers Association. The
idea behind the association is to take care of existing cycle tracks as well as undertake repair
work before the onset of the tourist season.

Jolanta Abramowska, Tadeusz Kościuszko School, Poland

64
Reducing our use of energy
This process-oriented exercise teaches students to communicate and prioritise the economic, so-
cial and ecological aspects of a reduction of energy at an individual level. The use of fictitious
characters and an unexpected change indicates that this activity has been inspired by Storyline
(see page 44 for further details of this process).

The teacher should provide the story’s framework.

1. Each student creates a character and gives him/her a name, age, address and occupation.
They also decide on the number of family members and write a short story about the charac-
ter with a focus on energy: transport, heating, leisure and holidays…

2. Each student introduces the character they have created to the whole class or in small
groups.
Without telling your students you (the teacher) pick out one of the characters to be the sender
of a formal request from a fictitious or real organisation. Do not tell anyone about this in ad-
vance! Pretend that you’ve just found the letter of your desk or a colleague has just given it to
you. This character (Stina Jung) then invites other characters to join the organisation and sign
a contract where they promise to reduce the amount of energy they use by 50 percent.

Contract

In order to reduce climate change and pollution/Ecological Footprint on Earth we, the
representatives of the international organisation Students for Sustainability SfS have
decided, in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, to:

Reduce our use of energy by 50 percent within five years

Resolution passed at the annual general meeting of SFS 17/5/2008

Stina Jung, Chairperson SFS

The Kyoto Protocol relates to the international Framework Convention on Climate Change with
the objective of reducing greenhouse gases that cause climate change. It was agreed on 11 December
1997 at the 3rd Conference of the Parties to the treaty when they met in Kyoto, and came into force
on 16 February 2005. As of November 2007, 174 parties have ratified the protocol.

65
– Would you like to become a member of the association and sign the contract?
– Those of you who have signed the contract have five years in which to reduce your con-
sumption of energy. How do you plan to do this?

If you (i.e. your character) sign the contract to reduce your consumption of energy by 50 per-
cent, how will your life need to change? What will you have to do? Will this result in changes
in social welfare and the economy, and if so what kind of changes will these be? Make a plan
of action for your fictitious character.

If you (i.e. your character) choose not to sign the contract state why you don’t want to sign.
Write an article in which your character explains why he or she doesn’t want or need to re-
duce the use of energy. What might be done instead to avoid climate change? Motivate your
reasoning!

Gitte Jutvik,Vitalisskolan, Trosa, Sweden

Walking with your food glasses on!

In this exercise the learner pays attention to objects in the neighbourhood associated with the
consumption and production of food.

Put your “food glasses on”! Walk with your friends or classmates around the school environ-
ment and collect impressions. What kinds of things remind you of food? Perhaps you will
see:

Fields of wheat or rye that can be used for making bread.

An empty tin can lying in the ditch that someone has carelessly thrown away.
A lorry transporting milk from a farm to the dairy.
Someone carrying shopping bags on his or her way home from the supermarket.
A cow that makes us think about a breakfast of bread with cheese and butter.
A lake, the sea or fish
The sea, a ship loaded with bananas from South America
A cat hunting mice.
Animal droppings.
An apple tree.
A leaf eaten by a caterpillar

Food on Sustainable way I, WWF

Pedagogical Greenhouse
An activity organised in cooperation with a botanical garden. Organising a suitable environ-
ment for learning is very important. Although the classroom is useful for certain activities,
learning in direct contact with nature and society is much better in the context of education
for sustainable development.

The following activity is about climate change and the possibilities of reducing this by making
wise, everyday choices.

Botanical gardens are very energy-consuming constructions and their educational potential
is not always used effectively. Gardenia Botanical Garden organised a theme week entitled
“Are we able to save the snowy winters?” The tropical, enjoyable atmosphere of the botanical
garden was used as a motivating learning environment for teaching and learning about cli-
mate change. Every school class that took part spent a two-hour learning period in the garden
consisting of an introduction to the theme, pupils’ own explorations in the garden, a summing
up and a brainstorm about possible ideas and solutions.

66
The introduction was given in drama style: “An expert” wearing a white laboratory coat ex-
plained the causes of climate change while her assistant interrupted the session with all sorts
of everyday tasks related to climate change (the excess use of electronic equipment, heating,
travelling and eating habits).

After the introduction the students walked an exploratory trail that had been set up in the
botanical garden. This trail consisted of eight treasure chests or boxes hidden amongst the
vegetation and the students had to walk around the garden in order to find the boxes. In every
box the students found a question and three alternative answers. The questions were about
everyday life choices, such as how travel, sport, consumer products and eating habits affect
climate change. The answers were printed on pieces of jigsaw puzzle. The students had to
decide, for example, what they would give their friend as a birthday present. The alternatives
were a DVD film, a T-shirt or a ticket to a rock concert. Before choosing they had to consider
which one of the alternatives was the most climate-friendly. When they had decided they took
their preferred answer – written on a jigsaw puzzle piece – out of the box. After finding all the
eight boxes they ended up with eight puzzle pieces.

The trail was put together in such a way that if the pupils made the best choices they ended
up with a puzzle illustrating a beautiful snowy winter in Finland. If their choices were of the
“mediocre” variety their puzzle instead showed the picture of a flood. If all their choices were
the worst ones imaginable their puzzle was a picture of severe drought and famine. Of course,
most of the groups had answers from all three categories, which meant that their puzzle pic-
ture was a mixture of these three photos.
The school is a
After the activity the results were discussed by the whole group and students then had an
opportunity to reconsider their choices and question the outcomes. If groups had conflicting natural partner in
views on, for example, whether a DVD or a T-shirt was better for the climate, different aspects sustainable
of the products’ life cycle (buying from a flea market, downloading from the internet, etc) development in
were examined further. Every class was provided with the calculations and explanations used society and
to determine the respective prioritising of choices in each case. Students were also encouraged requested by
to search the internet for more in-depth answers.
different
At the end of the session a brainstorm was organised in order to generate new ideas about stakeholders.
how students can reduce climate change through their everyday activities. These ideas were
collected and compiled at the end of the theme week and sent to all the participating schools.
Students then arranged displays or school radio broadcasts on these themes.

Hanna Nordström, WWF and Gardenia-Helsinki Botanical Garden, Finland

Reflection Box 2. Practical Examples

How would you make the example above more learner and process oriented?
Refer to the ESD perspectives and Roadmap on pages 27 to help you with this
exercise.

Sustainable thinking and bridge construction

In this activity problem-solving, techniques, a choice of material based on social, environmental,
economic and aesthetic aspects and the learning process are all in focus.

Your assignment is to build a bridge across a waterway somewhere in the world. For this you
need to think about durability, environment, safety, economy and aesthetics.

67
 1. Imagine the place and history behind the building of the bridge:
What do the water and surroundings look like in the place chosen for the bridge? Why
is the bridge being built? Who is going to use it? Who has decided to build it and who is
going to pay for it?
2. Build your imaginary bridge between two milk or other containers. Use building ma-
terials from the “store” of materials listed below. Each building material and how much
it costs is listed separately to help you in your calculations. Note that you have to limit
your spending to a budget of 30 RON.
3. The “actual bridge” is ready! Make a drawing of the bridge on its opening day and write
a newspaper article about it in which you stress the environmental effects, and describe
interference with the eco-system, the material chosen, transport, people’s opinions, etc.
4. Make a financial account of the materials used to build your bridge, as chosen from
the list below.

The currency is called Ronork, or RON. The budget is 30 RON

Planks (cut from milk cartons, 1 x 8 cm) 1 RON per plank
Pipes (straws) 3 RON
Beams (spaghetti) 2 RON
Cement (clay) 4 RON
Support poles 2 RON/pole
Frames (matchsticks) ½ RON
Wire (string) 1 RON/dm

Gitte Jutvik, Vitalisskolan, Sweden

Reflect – Design – Act!

This is a structure used to help students design a realistic work plan from the investigation to the
action stage.

The mapping of problem areas

1. Brainstorm the problems of a particular topic*. Encourage everyone in the class

to participate in order to generate the maximum number of ideas possible.
2. Analyse and prioritise the brainstormed ideas.
3. Identify four specific problem areas.

Stakeholders and an action plan

1. Set realistic goals, define how to achieve them and disseminate the results.
2. Identify the stakeholders.
3. Design a coordinated system: identify what is desirable or not desirable and what
is probable or not probable.
4. Decision-making by consensus.
5. Outline the action plans using concrete ideas and specific scenarios.

Rudite Grabovska, Daugavpils University, Latvia

* How to reduce the Ecological Footprint in our school test the structure in the above activity of Reflect –
Design – Act! In this exercise include ideas about what you and the students can do.
68
Our seashore
Adopt about 3-500 metres of a river bank or seashore and take care of it. It will surely “thank”
you by its surprising and unique beauty. “The adopted area of coastline or river bank” will be
very glad to see you and taking care of it will reward you with good health and happiness.

Take photos of your site and make drawings of it. Write poems about it and pay attention to
its positive and negative aspects.

Use the Naturewatch Baltic survey to learn more about your shoreline and stretch of water.
See the references on page 34 for more information about this.

Discuss the results with your group.

How would you describe the present situation of the coastal zone?
Who is responsible for looking after the coastal zone and keeping it in good condition? What
exactly do they have formal or informal responsibility for?

– Local municipalities
– Tourists; foreigners, locals, nature lovers
– National government
– EU or other countries
– Companies, shop owner, farmers, fishermen
– Others. Who?

Sit on your beach and watch the waves and listen. What ideas are the waves whispering to
you?

Try to guess what this area of beach or water might have looked like when your parents were
your age. Ask your parents and teachers if they can remember and write down their answers.

Now think about the future. What might happen to you and your site in 25 years time? What
will you and your site look like then? How might your life have changed and how might the
coastal conditions have changed?

Work in teams and prepare short reports using the results of your research and discussions.
Each team then appoints a spokesperson and tells the class what your group discovered. Each
group has a maximum of 5 minutes in which to make their oral reports. The reports can be
creative and original!

Olga Glushkova, I. Kant Kaliningrad State University, Russia

Action Tadpole
As a teacher you often come into contact with some kind of conflict. This topic is taken from real
life and was initiated by the students themselves. When students are motivated to act in this way
the potentials for teaching and learning are considerable.

It was a hot summer, and the lake had gradually been drying out. Schoolchildren from the
summer camp “Vodokanal” discovered that tadpoles were unable to get from the shallow
ditch to the stream and were dying as a result. The students and their teacher decided to pre-
pare a management plan for rational water use among local water organisations and thereby
help to save the lives of amphibians like tadpoles. This “Lovely Tadpole” action included lec-
tures on amphibian life and outdoor investigations. The media and people responsible for
nature conservation were also involved.

Julia Danilova, Baltic Fund for Nature, St. Petersburg, Russia

69
Parents as partners
As education for sustainable development deals with values and attitudes it is therefore rea-
sonable to involve parents as a way of continuing the work at home. Meeting and developing
positive links with parents and between parents is important and can help to strengthen school
activities.

The following activity is an excellent way for parents, teachers and pupils to spend time to-
gether and learn. In this particular course the ecological, social and economic aspects of sus-
tainability were taken into account and it was such a hit that another course is already being
planned.

The school has its own vegetable garden, which is a very important part of its ideology and
identity. The participants were able to improve their organic gardening and farming practices
both in their school activities and with their parents.

Käpylä School, Helsinki Finland

Challenge your friends

In his publication, Pedagogy of Work, the famous French educationalist, Célestin Freinet, put a
high value on work as meaningful learning. His pedagogy is also appropriate for the realisation
of ESD.

During the “Sustainability Week by Week” project teachers and pupils challenged each other
to take action towards sustainability. In the school’s radio broadcast every Monday morning
one class would challenge another class. They might, for example, ask students to avoid using
private cars and walk, cycle or take the bus to school. The challenges could also be about sav-
ing electricity, not wasting food, having good manners, being nice to fellow students, helping
older people, etc. In this project all the dimensions of sustainability were taken into account
through different kinds of challenges.

One class rose to the challenges by trying to do their best in the different areas every day.
They made notes about their changed behaviour and summed this up at the end of the week.
They then challenged another class in another area of sustainability on the following Mon-
day. Other members of the school community were also invited to take part in each week’s
sus¬tainability actions and to make changes in their behaviour or lifestyles.

Puistola School, Helsinki Finland

Reflection 3. Practical Examples

Compare three well-known pedagogues and find out in which ways they could be used
as spokespeople for ESD.

Car owners learn from students

Challenge your students to assume the role of teachers. They will have to prepare for this so that
in their positions as educators they will be able to develop their students’ values and interest. A simi-
lar effect is gained by asking older students to involving younger students in common activities.
Sixteen year old students were involved in a campaign that aimed to improve car-owners’

70
knowledge about how their driving techniques and the condition of their car affected the en-
vironment. The idea was to help car-owners to regularly check and adjust the air-pressure in
their car tyres in order to reduce their fuel consumption and thereby reduce their CO2 emis-
sions. We also wanted some of the car-owners to participate in eco-driving courses. Research
has shown that if you increase the air pressure in your car’s tyres by 10-15% of the amount
stated in the car´s instruction manual you will reduce your fuel consumption by approxi-
mately 5%.

The students took part in a climate change course dealing with cars and emissions, tyres and
tyre pressures and how to work with information in a campaign. The students then worked at
petrol stations in teams of 3-6 for several weekends. They recorded statistics about their work
and talked to a lot of car-owners.

The success factors in this activity included:

• The inspiration and joy of the students

• The strong connection between theory and practice
• The cooperation between organisations, local authorities and companies
• The support of educators and marketing experts,
and, most important of all, the feeling of doing something real for the
environment.

Peter Wiborn, SV, Sweden

Press conference – one way of reporting

Let’s assume that the class has been working for some time with energy, the Baltic region’s
history or another similar theme and are expected to give an account of their knowledge and
comment on its content. The students may also have produced pictures or drawings. The class
has also had a short course in journalism in which they have had to write a variety of articles,
discuss the reasons for holding a press conference and how this is arranged. They might also
have produced a press release.

As a result of this training each student feels prepared and secure in their role both as an ex-
Teachers use
pert and as a journalist. The class is now divided into an expert group and a journalist group. methods that
Experts in the same field prepare a presentation by agreeing on key words. The journalists develop
require time to prepare and allocate the questions. students
understanding
One representative from each group of experts gives a short presentation, possibly with pic-
tures, for the journalists. The journalists take notes and ask additional questions. After the
in structured
first press conference the groups change roles. ways.

At the end of the second and final press conference each student works with the acquired ma-
terial and develops it into an editorial column in which they argue their respective viewpoints.
This method of reporting means that everybody both repeats and develops new material
based on their opinions, their previous knowledge and experience of the press conferences,
and presents this orally to the whole group and in writing in the form of an editorial.

From Östersjögrannar, WWF, Svanberg and Jutvik

71
As a final “afterword” we hope that you and your colleagues have found this education for sus-
tainable development handbook useful. We have tried to include information and exercises
that teachers and student teachers will find both inspiring and of use in their ESD teaching.
We also hope that teachers and students will be inspired to create their own information and
activities and above all to “practice what they preach”.

Good luck!