| 1. |
- Argento, Daniela, et al.
(författare)
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Integrating sustainability in higher education : a Swedish case
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1467-6370 .- 1758-6739. ; 21:6, s. 1131-1150
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – This paper aims to unveil how sustainability is integrated into the courses/programmes ofhigher education institutions. The research question addressed is: how do academics representing differentdisciplines cooperate and engage in the work of integrating sustainability into their teaching programmes.Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws upon the notions of practise variation andinstitutional work from institutional theory and empirically focusses on the case of Kristianstad University(Sweden). This case is based on an autoethnographic approach and illustrates the experiences shared by sixcolleagues, representing different disciplines, engaged in implementing sustainability in their courses/programmes.Findings – The findings highlight how academics representing different disciplines, with specific traditionsand characteristics, face the sustainability challenge. Despite being bound by similar sustainable developmentgoals, differences across disciplines need to be acknowledged and used as an asset if trans-disciplinarity is theultimate goal.Research limitations/implications – Although the intrinsic motivation of individuals to work withsustainability might be a strong driver, the implementation of sustainability within courses/programmes andacross disciplines requires joint efforts and collective institutional work.Practical implications – By highlighting how academics engage in the work of integratingsustainability, this study emphasizes that managers of higher education institutions need to account for thetime and additional resources needed to ensure that academics effectively cope with sustainability. Intrinsicmotivation may not last if organizational structures and leadership are not supportive on a practical level andin the long run.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Hofman, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Systems thinking as a base for sustainable development
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: Systems thinking as a base for sustainable development Sustainable development is a wide and complex item often connected to environment and environmental policy. There are studies that show the importance of species identification, interest in nature and outdoor experience for achieving the understanding of environmental issues and understanding of a sustainable lifestyle.The fact is that there is an environmental knowledge gap existing. Ecological literacy is important to bridge this gap. It is important to develop a comprehensive understanding of complex casual relationships, as relationships between human systems and natural systems might be. The starting point to develop this complex understanding is for students to develop a mature understanding of key ecological concepts. These key concepts support more complex concepts which are the base for understanding the more complex relationships.In today’s society humans need to develop a narrow specialization, but they also need to develop a capacity of holistic thinking. This capacity of holistic thinking or systemic thinking is needed because for example sustainable development that links economy, human life and natural environment into one single entity. There are also some recent ecological literacy frameworks that emphasize systems thinking for the construction of a “big picture” view. Systems thinking is a way of thinking that can get people to see their part in the big picture. All are part of a system, everything you do affects the system. If a component is changing in a system, it causes changes in the other system components. The focus in such thinking is on processes and entirety instead of parts.Objectives: This will be a presentation of an article in progress. Newly qualified teachers teach about nature and biodiversity with the skills they have obtained during the obligatory part of their teacher education. Knowledge and identification of species is one of the factors that are important in developing an interest in environmental issues and sustainable development. The aim of the study is to find out more about Nordic student teachers’ conceptions about the relationship between species identification, biodiversity and sustainable development and to try to find out if the student teachers develop some kind of systems thinking through their teacher studies.Methods: The survey was conducted as a questionnaire to 456 second- to fourth- year student teachers. For this article mainly one qualitative question in the survey was analyzed. To analyze the relationships between the concepts we have used content analysis of the images and content analysis of text and terms as a method.Results: The results from the study are not completed yet.Conclusion: Because the results from the study are not completed yet, there are no conclusions yet.
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| 4. |
- Keinonen, Tuula, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental issues in the media : students' perceptions in the three Nordic-Baltic countries
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability. - 1691-4147 .- 1691-5534. ; 16:1, s. 32-53
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The media, as a source of information, is supposed to have a significant role in effecting people's environmental knowledge and attitudes. The purpose of this study was to find students' perceptions of environmental issues as presented in the media and how students in Finland, Lithuania and Sweden used these media sources in the matters related to environmental issues. The most important source of environmental knowledge was found to be the Internet, followed by newspapers, television, school and education. In their own lives, students discussed environmental issues every day and, to some extent, in social media, discussion forums and blogs. In Finland, newspapers represented the most important source of environmental knowledge; in Lithuania, environmental organisations were the most prevalent, and, in Sweden, it was in a school or educational context. Based on these results, it was concluded that, in order to reach both genders of students in different countries and to more greatly benefit from all sources of information, a variety of media should be used in education for sustainability.
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| 5. |
- Korostenski, Jaromir, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental management system at higher education accentuates education for sustainable development
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: Under Swedish law, the universities are required to implement environmental management systems (EMS) in their operations. The introductory EMS review emphasizes education for sustainable development (ESD) as the most significant environmental aspect. Contemporary education spends time on training in sustainability with established knowledge, hazards, risks and approaches for improvement of known issues through 'declarative knowledge', which is always a step behind developments, because it works with historical facts.Objectives:Consequently, a target has been set of equipping students with the knowledge, values, attitudes and competences that will help them deal with problems that arise in society in the future through the introduction of ESD into all of the university’s programs. The aspect of how we can assess whether graduate students possess these skills remains to be resolved before the annual EMS audit.Methods:The available methods for evaluation are surveys addressed to students, alumni and teachers in a prolonged time study. ESD extends and adapts contemporary 'declarative knowledge' to a teachers' toolkit of 'functioning knowledge' as an intrinsic part regardless of the field or the teaching topic.Results:We will develop ESD in the form of tools which can be easily recognized at higher education. The challenge is to broaden students' knowledge and comprehension of a core academic discipline to a level that has not been considered or introduced into education at our university or used in practice.Conclusion:Toolkits which can conveniently be used in ESD are discussed in the conclusions of this paper. The result in annual surveys reports the level of continuous improvement concerning EMS objectives and for teachers it confirms the achievement in planned progression and development of ESD in courses.
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| 6. |
- Melén, Maria, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Educate the educators in teaching and learning for sustainable development
- 2020
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Ingår i: ETH Learning and teaching journal. - Zurich. - 2624-7992. ; 2:2, s. 338-341
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper will discuss the future-ready university at the level of its future-ready teachers with regard to their teaching and learning practice for sustainable development. Academic institutions have both a role in promoting discussions of concern based on their specialized disciplines and a role in educating students to be future-ready to contribute to the society in a sustainable way. However, carrying out such roles with sufficient credibility may not be a matter of course for university teachers, who need sufficient insights into both sustainability per se and sustainable pedagogical teaching practice. This paper stresses the importance to the development of the future-ready university of cultivating sustainability, and provides an “educate the educators” project as an example.
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| 7. |
- Norrgård-Sillanpää, Pia, et al.
(författare)
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Student teachers' interest in and conceptions about species and species identification
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Humans are dependent on the service species and ecosystems provide. Being able to identify species is a key to understanding biodiversity. The purpose of this study was to clarify student teachers’ (N=426) interest in and conceptions of the importance of species identification and the relationship between biodiversity and sustainable development. The data was collected by the aid of using a semi-structured questionnaire with fixed and open questions. Student teachers explained their interest in plants and animals in a pragmatic, cognitive or emotional and aesthetic way. Pragmatic, cognitive and educational views where used to explain the importance of species identification today and in the future. Few students had a professional view. The relationships between species identification and sustainable development were described with cognitive, pragmatic, conservational and educational views, whereas the relationship between biodiversity and sustainable development were mostly categorised in the no, cognitive, ecological and conservational views. The student teachers´ conceptual framework related to biodiversity and the relationships between species identification and sustainable development were limited. The results are compared with related literature. This study increases and broadens researchers’ and teacher educators’, knowledge about the challenges of species identification in teacher education and at schools.
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| 8. |
- Palmberg, Irmeli, et al.
(författare)
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Nordic-Baltic student teachers' identification of species and understanding of biodiversity and sustainability
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Knowledge of species, interest in nature, and nature experiences are the factors that best promote interest in and understanding of environmental issues, biodiversity and sustainable life. The aim of this study is to investigate how well student teachers can identify common local species, their interests in and ideas about species identification and about the importance of species identification for biodiversity and sustainability. Totally 456 student teachers for primary schools were tested using an identification test and a questionnaire consisting of fixed and open questions. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to get a more holistic view of students’ level of knowledge. The student teachers in Nordic countries identified species reasonably well, while the student teachers in Lithuania identified only up to four species. Experiential learning outdoors was suggested by the majority of students as the most efficient learning method, followed by experiential learning indoors, project work and experimental learning. They regarded the knowledge of species as ‘important’ or ‘very important’ for citizens today, for sustainable development and for biodiversity. Our conclusion is that teaching and learning methods for education of biodiversity and sustainable development should always include experiential and project-based methods in authentic environments.
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| 9. |
- Palmberg, Irmeli, et al.
(författare)
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Nordic student teachers' views on the importance of species and species identification
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Science Teacher Education. - 1046-560X .- 1573-1847. ; 29:5, s. 397-419
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- People’s knowledge about nature, their interest in nature, their nature experiences, and their values and emotions regarding nature are factors that promote people’s positive views on environmental issues and sustainability. Knowing the variation and patterns in teachers’ and student teachers’ views is an essential step in considering the ways in which sustainability might be interpreted and enacted in schools and in teacher education. The aim of this study is to analyze student teachers’ views on the importance of species and species identification in general and as a part of their professional development regarding their understanding of biodiversity and sustainability. A total of 426 student teachers in Finland, Norway, and Sweden answered a questionnaire consisting of fixed and open-ended questions. Mixed methods were used: t test and analysis of variance for quantitative data and inductive and deductive, model-based content analysis for qualitative data. According to the majority of student teachers (85%), both species identification and biodiversity are important for sustainability; species identification in general was important to 58% of them. Their statements about importance contained mostly ecological views (46%), followed by emotional (17%), educational (16%), and utilitarian (11%) views. The remainder of the student teachers’ statements (10%) contained negativistic or indifferent views. The reasons for the low percentage of educational views are discussed. The implications of the results for teacher education worldwide are emphasized, especially the importance of those teaching methods that have the potential to increase student teachers’ understanding of sustainability.
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| 10. |
- Palmberg, Irmeli, et al.
(författare)
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Nordic student teachers’ views on the most effcient teaching and learning methods for species and species identification
- 2019
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - 2071-1050. ; 11:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Teachers need knowledge of species and species identification skills for teaching thestructure and function of ecosystems, and the principles of biodiversity and its role in sustainability.The aim of this study is to analyze Nordic student teachers’ views on the most ecient methodsand strategies to teach and learn species and species identification, and to find some trends abouthow well their views are reflected in a species identification test. Student teachers in Finland,Norway, and Sweden (N = 426) answered a questionnaire consisting of fixed and open-endedquestions, and a species identification test. An analysis of variance, Chi-Square, and t-test were usedfor quantitative data and an inductive content analysis for qualitative data. Results showed thatoutdoor teaching and learning methods are more ecient than indoor methods. The majority ofstudent teachers considered outdoor experiential learning with living organisms as the most ecientteaching and learning method. Student teachers who highlighted outdoor experiential learning andoutdoor project work as their most ecient methods received significantly better results in the speciesidentification test than the others. Field trips and fieldwork were emphasized as the most importantsources in schools and universities, while the Internet was the most important source among media.The student teachers underlined teachers’ expertise in the form of in-depth understanding of subjectsand supervising skills for ecient teaching both outdoors and indoors. Therefore, teaching andlearning of species and species identification as the practical part of biodiversity and sustainabilityeducation is emphasized as an integral part of teacher education programs.
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