Education for Sustainable Development and Action-Oriented Learning at Higher Education Institutions: Reflections on a Trans-Disciplinary Teaching Project

Abstract

The objective of ESD is to make people think differently about lifestyles as well as economic and political structures, to raise awareness for complex problems, to sharpen political judgment and to empower people to act. A means to achieve these objectives is to engage students in action-oriented learning. The ESD courses aimed at implementing transdisciplinary projects to go beyond the acquisition of knowledge about sustainable development but to make students act. The courses were in line with ESD objectives but came with specific challenges particularly with regard to implementing real life projects.

Keywords:

• Education for sustainable development
• action-oriented learning
• higher education institutions
• SDGs

Acknowledgements

I thank all cooperation partners for their support and assisting us in the realization of the projects. Finally, I would like to thank all students participating in both the courses and the projects. They always showed strong commitment as well as great responsibility to develop the projects and keep them going.

Notes

1 See UNESCO’s ESD website, http://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development (last accessed August 12, 2020).

2 UNESCO (2014, 2017); UNESCO (2020).

3 UN General Assembly Resolution 72/22 (2017), https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/72/222 (last accessed August 12, 2020)

4 For a discussion about a “good life” and “buen vivir”, see also Fatheuer 2011, Rosa 2016; Sommer and Welzer 2017.

5 UWC colleges have been established in 17 countries, the movement is represented in 150 countries and more than 50.000 students from approximately 180 different nations. The UWC in Freiburg has a specific focus on sustainable development. For more information about UWC, see http://www.uwcrobertboschcollege.de/, http://www.uwcrobertboschcollege.de/en/uwc- robertboschcollege/uwc-movement (last accessed August 12, 2020); for scientific discussions on international education and UWC, see, e.g. Tsumagari 2010; Peterson 2003; Hayden and Thompson 2000, 2004; Hayden, Rancic, and Thompson 2000; Wagner 2012.

6 For more information about experiential learning at UWC and the school garden see https://www.uwcrobertboschcollege.de/learning/experiential-learning/ (last accessed March 1, 2021).

7 For further information about residential life at UWC see https://www.uwcrobertboschcollege.de/living/boarding/ (last accessed March 1, 2021).

8 RYL! is a non-profit organization that runs a mentoring programme between common school students and university students. Participation in the mentoring programme is voluntary and face-to-face meetings are regularly supplemented by joint events. For more details about “Rock your Life!”, see https://www.rockyourlife.de/ (last accessed August 12, 2020).

9 For more information, see http://campusweltbewerb.org; For more information about the sustainability strategy and action programmes of Baden-Wuerttemberg, see http://www.nachhaltigkeitsstrategie.de/informieren/politik/die-strategie.html, for information about the research programme on sustainability, see https://mwk.baden-wuerttemberg.de/de/forschung/forschungspolitik/wissenschaft-fuer-nachhaltigkeit/, for the development strategy, see http://stm.baden-wuerttemberg.de/fileadmin/redaktion/dateien/PDF/Entwicklungspolitische_Leitlinien_f%C3%BCr_B aden-W%C3%BCrttemberg.pdf (last accessed August 12, 2020).

10 For the “Campusweltbewerb” goals, see http://campusweltbewerb.org/Der-Wettbewerb/Ziele/; for the SDGs, see https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?menu=1300 (last accessed August 12, 2020).

11 For more details about the executing organization, see www.finep.org (last accessed August 12, 2020).

12 For more details about the ESD fund (“BNE-Fonds”) of the city of Freiburg, see http://www.oekostation.de/de/themen/freiburger_bne_fonds.htm; for a short description of the project see http://www.oekostation.de/docs/Projektbeschreibungen_BNE_Fonds_Kurzfassung_2017.pdf (last accessed August 12, 2020).

13 For more information, see https://rockyourlife.de/standort/freiburg (last accessed August 12, 2020).

14 For more information, see https://rockyourlife.de/informationen (last accessed August 12, 2020).

15 SMART stands for specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic, time-based, see https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/smart-goals.php (last accessed August 12, 2020)

Additional information

Funding

I would like to express my gratitude to the Campusweltbewerb, financed by the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst and the Ministerium für Umwelt, Klima und Energiewirtschaft, coordinated by the forum für internationale entwicklung und planung (finep), for funding the project on the GPS tour sustainability (“Besser leben, Welt bewegen”). I also thank the ESD fund of the city of Freiburg for supporting the project “Rock your Life-Style”.

Notes on contributors

Astrid Carrapatoso

Astrid Carrapatoso graduated from the Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg in 2003. She then started her PhD in political science, which she finished in 2007. Since then she worked as an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Freiburg until 2018. At that time, she researched in the field of International Relations, particularly on environmental and climate change politics. She taught undergraduate and graduate courses in International Relations and was responsible for the interdisciplinary learning project National Model United Nations (NMUN). Having a passion for teaching, she completed a didactics certificate at the university and integrated innovative teaching methods in her courses. From 2018 to 2019 she worked at a high school and completed her teacher training. Since October 2019, she is a full professor for political science and didactics at the University of Education Freiburg.