Sustainability what?

Sustainability what? A cooperative learning task for 14 plus learners. All materials and instructions for teachers are  included

The subject of this rich cooperative task is to examine the concept of sustainability in its broadest sense. What does it really mean for our everyday life and why is it so hard to make positive changes?

The aim of this activity is to increase learners’ awareness of the necessity of sustainable development in society and in their personal lives.  It is not written in a frighteningly doomsday manner but in a thought-provoking way.

Key ideas: People living in western societies have probably heard the word sustainability and school students have most likely been taught that they should respect nature, recycle, reduce waste etc. Many people still only connect sustainability with recycling or ecological matters and don’t see the big picture, including:

·      how decisions are made towards more sustainability (politics)

·      how the world economics or business can influence sustainable development

·      controversial matters that occur when people must compromise their own lifestyle in to preserve nature and social opportunities for coming generations.

This Sustainability What activity is based in the methodology of Cooperative Learning in Multicultural Groups (CLIM) and fulfils aims of education for sustainable development. Simply by working on a CLIM task students learn and practice to work together, look at things from different perspectives, propose creative responses and solutions, communicate and inform, accept changes, compromise and use with value individual contributions.  These are typically skills developed through the use of CLIM.

A CLIM–unit consists of seven lessons. The first lesson is an introductory one. The last is a synthesis lesson and five activity lessons are organised between these introductory and synthesis lessons. The five activity lessons all look at the main topic of sustainability from five different perspectives and as the group activities rotate, all learners go through all tasks and so the understanding deepens.

To understand the CLIM methodology better, you can find further information about it in the book available on this site “Diverse Society – Diverse Classroom”, Guðrún Pétursdóttir, 2018.