Integrating Sustainability Science Into the Classroom

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Exemplar Type: COURSE
Title: Integrating Sustainability Science Into the Classroom
Grades: K-12
Discipline: Science
Submitted By: Annie Hale


Integrating Sustainability Science Into the Classroom
This course is designed and curated by the Sustainability Science Education Project at Arizona State University. Led by 2001 Nobel Laureate Dr. Lee Hartwell, this professional development class aims to cultivate the skills and strategies necessary for incorporating sustainability science topics across common PreK-12th-grade curricula, such as English Language Arts, Literacy, History, Social Studies, Science, Art, Drama, and Mathematics. Educators will have the opportunity to connect state standards to big sustainability ideas while creating tangible materials that fit individual classroom needs. The ultimate goal is to prepare PreK-12th-grade educators to advance the next generation of scientifically literate and globally minded citizens.

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BENCHMARKS REPRESENTED IN THIS EXEMPLAR

Big Ideas

  • A healthy and sustainable future for human and other life is possible

  • We are all in this together: We are interdependent on each other and on the natural systems

  • A sustainable solution solves more than one problem at a time and minimizes the creation of new problems

  • The significant problems we face can’t be solved with the same thinking we used to create them. Our prior experiences with the world create cognitive frameworks (also known as mental models/maps) that inform what we can perceive. They shape our behavior and our behavior causes results. If we want to produce different results, it all begins with a change in thinking

  • Sustain-ability requires individual and social learning and community practice

  • We are all responsible for the difference we make. Everything we do and everything we don’t do makes a difference

Higher Order Thinking Skills

  • Anticipatory: Futures Thinking

  • Emergent: Creative Thinking

  • Emergent: Design Thinking

  • Complex: Critical Thinking

  • Complex: [Living] Systems Thinking

  • Mindful: Metacognition

  • Mindful: Questioning

  • Mindful: Reflective Thinking

Applied Knowledge and Actions

  • Inventing The Future

  • Cultures, Traditions and Change

  • The Many Ways of Knowing

  • System Dynamics and Change

  • Responsible Local and Global Citizenship

  • Multiple Perspectives

Dispositions

  • Curious

  • Efficacious

  • Imaginative

  • Mindful

  • Motivated

  • Open Minded

  • Collaborative

  • Ethical

  • Responsible

  • Trustworthy

Applications and Actions

  • Create Social Learning Communities

  • Engage in Dialogue

  • Engage in Role-Playing, Learning Journeys, Simulations & Games

  • Honor the specific knowledge and skills that each person and culture brings

  • Build from successes, Learn from mistakes, develop strategies to improve, and apply what is learned

  • Plan Scenarios

  • Teach and Learn

  • Design for multiple pathways, resilience and reinforcement

  • Design for whole systems integrity with ecological principles and physical laws in mind

  • Ask different questions and actively listen for the answer

  • Define and Re-Define Progress

  • Empower people and groups

  • Envision, strategize and plan

  • Evolve the rules when necessary

  • Facilitate a shared understanding of sustainability and regeneration

  • Lead by example

  • Relentlessly adjust to the here and now with the future in mind

  • Take responsibility for the difference you make

  • Trust local wisdom

  • Be inclusive

  • Embrace mutually beneficial rights of humanity and nature nature

  • Practice justice and equity for all

  • Take responsibility for the effect you have on future generations

  • Treat others with respect and dignity

  • Act wisely individually and collectively, with precaution and in context

  • Create and maintain highly functional and successful teams

  • Listen to one another

  • Serve your community