Abstract
Educating student to respond to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for teaching and learning where students are at the centre of their own learning. Sustainability questions are ‘wicked problems’, where no single, correct answer exists, but the answers depend on the values of those who answer, and require innovative pedagogy and active, action-oriented learning allowing the learners to think critically and engage in exploring sustainable futures. Sustainable Development Goals 14, Life Below water, aims at “conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”. Along with the 16 other SDGs, it provides an excellent focus area for teaching and learning. The course SDG214 at the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Bergen is a 10 ECTS open interdisciplinary course where the students work in teams, and the portfolio assessment includes essays, presentations, a debate, a poster and a paper, but no exam. The assessment is formative and the students get feedback on their individual and group assignments and are allowed to resubmit. The course culminates in a poster session organised together with three other courses. The student feedback suggests that course functions well for education for sustainable development.
Highlights
Educating students to respond to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for teaching and learning where students are at the centre of their own learning, including learning methods such as problembased learning, role plays and simulations, group discussions, debates, and case studies (Byrne 2000; Cotton & Winter 2010; Tilbury 2011; UNESCO 2018; Wiek et al 2011)
Education centred around such questions require innovative pedagogy and active, action-oriented learning allowing the learners to think critically and engage in exploring sustainable futures (UNESCO 2018, SDSN 2020)
It was clear from the outset that SDG214 would be based on highly student-active learning methods, because the learning benefits are clear (e.g., Freeman et al 2014), and because making students active players in their learning is well suited for education for sustainable development (UNESCO 2018, SDSN 2020)
Summary
Educating students to respond to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for teaching and learning where students are at the centre of their own learning, including learning methods such as problembased learning, role plays and simulations, group discussions, debates, and case studies (Byrne 2000; Cotton & Winter 2010; Tilbury 2011; UNESCO 2018; Wiek et al 2011). Sustainability questions are often ‘wicked problems’ (Rittel & Webber 1973), where no single, correct answer exists, but the answers depend on the values of those who are asked. Education centred around such questions require innovative pedagogy and active, action-oriented learning allowing the learners to think critically and engage in exploring sustainable futures (UNESCO 2018, SDSN 2020)
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