As part of producing globally minded and knowledgeable citizens, teachers share a responsibility in addressing sustainability topics with the next generation of scientists, politicians, inventors, and leaders – those who will be faced with solving sustainability challenges as these problems become increasingly complex and urgent. To confront this problem, education is an essential component that must be addressed (Nolet, st
2009). College level coursework related to teaching sustainability is urgently needed as part of 21 century
teacher preparation programs (Carney, 2011; Nolet, 2009). However, these topics have not been sufficiently incorporated into teacher preparation programs and are rarely addressed in existing coursework, despite calls for action. Arizona State University (ASU), one of the United States’ largest and youngest research institutions, is leading multiple efforts to infuse sustainability as a core element in both its practices as an institution and within its research and teaching agenda. This, in large part, has come as a result of the vision of Dr. Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University. As he sees it, “America’s colleges and universities are responsible for the majority of the scientific discovery and technological invention that has advanced sustainability science… For academic institutions, fostering teaching and research that advances sustainability thus requires new institutional arrangements. But, more broadly, universities should be at the vanguard of producing societal transformation and solutions to the challenges that confront humanity” (2003, p. i,iii). To meet the needs of a growing population, and to be able to reach a wide audience concerning the relevance of sustainability issues, ASU’s Sustainability Science Education Project led by Nobel Laureate Dr. Lee Hartwell, has leveraged the power of hybrid education as a way to provide access to digital content and active hands on learning to its many students located across the four campuses. Embracing sustainability principles, Sustainability Science for Teachers (SCN 400) was developed and launched in the fall of 2012. This hybrid course exemplifies the use of digital storytelling to teach sustainability topics in a compelling and engaging manner. Online videos encompass gripping case studies that are used to teach various topics including population, poverty, food, water, fossil fuels, new energy, ecosystem services, biome stories, production, disposal, governance, translation, and change. The weekly online video presentations explore materials that
consider the global and national issues of sustainability in 10-‐-‐-‐minute segments that span 60 minutes on each topic. After watching each week’s videos, preservice teachers engage with various tasks associated with the content including quizzes and written reflections. Throughout the semester, preservice teachers complete innovative assignments as part of the learning activities. These take a variety of forms such as starting a letter writing campaign, voting through purchase decisions (conscious consumerism), working on life cycle analyses of commonly used items in the classroom, and developing simple sustainability tools for use in the classroom. The goal of the activities is to encourage preservice teachers to implement the content they are learning, both as informed citizens and as future educators. During the face-‐to-‐face sessions of the course, preservice teachers participate in engaging hands-‐-‐on activities that aim at fostering pedagogical content knowledge related to the week’s topic and explore ways that the content can be implemented in their future classrooms (Shulman, 1986). For example, preservice teachers work in teams to deconstruct our human managed water system with Play-‐-‐-‐Doh, they analyze production and distribution processes to map out segments of networks on the white board, and they utilize scenarios as a tool to articulate a variety of visions for the future. We end every class with a robust and active discussion of how these big ideas and tools can be directly transferred to the Kindergarten – 8th grade classroom. For more in depth discussions on the course, Sustainability Science for Teachers, please refer to Archambault & Warren (2014). In order to bridge somewhat disparate sustainability topics of the course, it was necessary to build an overarching framework for teaching sustainability to future teachers. The Sustainability Education Framework for Teachers (SEFT) builds upon knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for problem solving with respect to complex sustainability challenges. The goal of the framework is for preservice teachers to be able to understand: (i) the broad, complex nature of sustainability, (ii) the problem-‐-‐-‐oriented, solution driven nature of sustainability, and (iii) how sustainability connects to science, math, language arts, and social studies curricula. There are four interconnected approaches that encompass what teachers should know and be able to address with their preservice teachers as a lens for addressing sustainability issues. SEFT embraces four ways of thinking––futures, values, systems, and strategic. For more in depth discussions on the SEFT framework, please refer to Warren, Archambault, & Foley, (2014).
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Encouragingly, preservice teachers indicate an eagerness to incorporate sustainability topics into their future teaching (Carney, 2011) and therefore, we believe that attaining a sustainable future can be achieved one classroom at a time by informed and dedicated teachers. Our mission is to empower Kindergarten – 8th grade teachers with an understanding of how science, technology, design, and effective governance can create a sustainable society, and provide Kindergarten – 8th grade teachers with the ability to translate these concepts to their classrooms. For more information, please contact: Annie Warren, Program Director, Sustainability Science Education Project (SSE), annie.warren@asu.edu| cell: (818) 636-‐5321 The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University SSE.asu.edu | biodesign.asu.edu Leanna Archambault, Associate Professor Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College leanna.archambault@asu.edu | office: (602) 543-‐6338 References: Archambault, L. & Warren, A. (in press). Leveraging e-‐-‐-‐learning to prepare future educators to teach sustainability topics. In U. Azeiteiro (Ed.), E-‐-‐-‐learning and sustainability: Peter Lang Publishing. Carney, J. (2011). Growing our own: A case study of teacher candidates learning to teach for sustainability in an elementary school with a garden. Journal for Sustainability Education. Retrieved from http://www.journalofsustainabilityeducation.org/ojs/index.php?journal=jse&page=article&op=view& path[]=46 Crow, M. (2013). Presidential Perspectives Forward. In M. Fennell & Miller, S. (Eds.). Elevating Sustainability Through Academic Leadership (pp. i-‐iii). Philadelphia: Aramark. Foley, R., Archambault, L., & Warren, A. (accepted). Intervening in preservice education: An initial evaluation of sustainability literacy among future K-‐8 educators. In S. Stratton, Hagevik, R. Feldman, A. & Bloom, M. (Eds.). Educating Science Teachers for Sustainability: Springer. Nolet, V. (2009). Preparing sustainability-‐literate teachers. Teachers College Record, 111, 409-‐-‐-‐422. Shulman, L. (1986). Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching. Educational Researcher, 15, 4-‐14. Warren, A., Archambault, L., & Foley, R. (2014, in preparation). Creating a sustainability framework for preparing the next generation.
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