Inquiry based learning for sustainability

ACTIVATE YOUR STUDENTS
An inquiry-based learning approach to sustainability.
The sustainability focused units contained in this series encourage students to become actively involved in their world. Based on problem-based and inquiry-based learning pedagogy, the units of work are student-focused, promote active and deep learning, and motivate students to want to learn more about, and help them develop a sense of moral ownership for the natural environment.
Each unit contains detailed teacher information on planning and implementing the unit of work, and supporting reproducible student worksheets. It is hoped that by presenting this instructional model to teachers in a clear and sequenced way, they will go on to plan and build further problem-based and inquiry-based units of work with a sustainability focus.
http://www.curriculumpress.edu.au/main/goproduct/12636

Sustainable House Day, Saturday September 13th, 11am-4pm

Sustainable House Day shows the benefits of energy efficiency and sustainable living. A national event organised by the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society. Houses: 3 Giles St, 12 Priest St. Cost $5, free for ANZSES members.

Launch of ProSPER.Net

Promotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate Education and Research(ProSPER.Net)is a network of leading higher education institutions in Asia and the Pacific that have committed to work together to integrate Sustainable Development (SD)into postgraduate courses and curricula. Member institutions involved have strong education and research programmes in sustainable development and related fields.

The network was formally launched on 21 June 2008, in Sapporo, Japan, Currently, sixteen universities from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Thailand are members of ProSPER.Net, in addition to two regional universities in Asia and the Pacific.

ProSPER.Net is an effort of UNU-IAS to bring about understanding and delivery of ESD and SD at the postgraduate level. The creation of the network and implementation of joint activities are currently supported by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment. The Australian Government Department of the Environment, Heritage, Water and the Arts (DEWHA), in conjunction with ARIES, has also been involved in supporting the development of the network.

Membership of ProSPER.Net is limited to higher education institutions located in the Asia-Pacific region that offer postgraduate education and research in sustainable development and in education for sustainable development related fields. Currently RMIT is the only Australian institution involved but there is interest in increasing Australian participation.

For more information on membership and activities see
http://www.ias.unu.edu/sub_page.aspx?catID=108&ddlID=697 or contact:

Mario Tabucannon
Visiting Professor, UNU-IAS; Professor, AIT Bangkok mttabucanon@ait.ac.th or

Nami Akimoto
Programme Assistant
EfSD Programme, UNU-IAS
akimoto@ias.unu.edu

Social networking site for environmental professionals

Earth Newswire is a professional network and news website driven by people interested in environmental science, ecology and conservation. The site includes member-generated pages, event notices, discussion forums, and photos and videos.

Students of Sustainability 2008

Students of Sustainability (SoS) is a five day conference for anyone interested in creating a more ecologically and socially sustainable world.

SoS '08 will be held at the University of Newcastle from the 5th to the 9th of July, with camping close by. Students, community and Indigenous activists, academics, public intellectuals, environmental educators, social change agents of all stripes and from all over Australia will come and participate in a range of educational, practical and participatory forums and workshops. SoS is about imparting the inspiration, tools, motivation and education required for participants to inspire and educate others when they return to their own communities.

The conference includes
- Workshops on environmental and social justice issues
- Planning for a sustainable future
- skills and planning sessions for taking real action
- High Schools Day (Monday 7th July)
- Community Day - Linking the local to the global

Serviced campsites provided

The conference will take place at the University of Newcastle from 5th-9th July.

For more information check out the website

The conference will be followed by the Camp for Climate Action, which is also being held in Newcastle from 10th to 15th July

Sustainability Radio

Did you know that the Arid Lands Environment Centre now have their own Sustainability Radio show?

The show is on every wednesday from 7- 8 pm on 8CCC (102.1FM)

The show covers both local and international environmental issues and ideas for sustainable living in Alice Springs.

Recent interviews include topics such as vegetable oil cars, worm farms, and an acoustic performance of eco-folk tunes.

Tune in!

Learning for Sustainablilty website

Guide to on-line resources for government agency staff, NGOs and other community leaders working to support social learning and collective action around ICM and other resource management issues. A central section of this site links the reader to a range of guides, tools and checklists that can be drawn upon for guidance in this area to address issues such as participation and engagement. Other pages here highlight the lessons that have emerged from researchers and practitioners in different sectors.
New pages link to resources on underpinning social research methods including systems thinking and action research. One page lists on-line resources for both post-graduate research students and their supervisors.
Topics include thinking about the supervisory team, as well as tips for structuring and writing a thesis or dissertation.
The site also manages additional pages on finding volunteering and job opportunities in the sustainability sector. These are directly accessible from the main site indexing system. As with the rest of the site these
sections bring links to lot of on-line resources together in one easy to access site, each link is annotated to provide a guide to its contents.
www.learningforsustainability.net

Sustainability Wiz Online Program

Based on best-practice international research and Gould Group's practical experience with thousands of schools, Sustainability Wiz guides schools through the steps essential to incorporate sustainability in meaningful ways into curricula, operations and culture - and from there into homes.

Using a range of fun online tools and resources, engaging and empowering activities, and through a community of support, Sustainability Wiz provides a one-stop shop for schools and their wider communities.

Importantly Sustainability Wiz allows students from around the world to engage in addressing climate change through actions in their school and the community and tackle issues such as carbon footprint, and water and energy usage to create schools for the future.

Too young to vote but have stuff to say?

You may know some students that are too young to vote but still want to have a say about climate change and other issues relating to environment and sustainability.

Turning the Tides is a music project by Australian artists calling for action to address the grave threats posed by climate change in a manner that respects all those who share our planet. The voices of traditional Aboriginal elders are interspersed amongst songs from leading Australian artists including Missy Higgins, John Butler, Ghostwriters, Lior and more. The album features fresh material, some produced especially for the album from a range of Australia artists including Wolf and Cub, After The Fall, Good Buddha, Ben Fink, Watussi, Declan Kelly, Gelbison and more.

On the website you can learn great skills such as how to write a letter to politicians, find out information on various issues such as nuclear power aswell as the opportunity to upload your images and creative response to issues you feel passionate about onto the website.

Let the politicians know what you think real leadership means this election and what they should do about climate change.

A Youth delegation will take all Too Young To Vote messages to politicians in Canberra a week before the election.

For more info contact: TTTclimateaction@gmail.com and check out the turning the tide website at http://www.turningthetide.com.au/

Re-Thinking Waste in Schools Workshop

The challenge invites all NT schools to encompass a broad range of long term sustainable initiatives for reducing all types of waste. What action can your school take in the areas of waste? This might include reducing water and energy consumption, reducing total waste, increasing recycling or reducing litter in your school.

A list of sustainability action project ideas and resources that participating schools may select from is now available on the Keep Australia Beautiful NT website www.kab.org.au/nt

Is your school ready for the challenge?

Come along to the workshop to get things rolling in your school.

Workshop
If your school would like to be involved you might like to have two facilitators attend a workshop to help with the planning of your action project(s).

When: Friday 30 November, 2007 (week 8) 8.30am – 4.00pm

Where: The Education Room, Alice Springs Desert Park

What: This workshop gives participants the opportunity to

• Find out more about the challenge and the types of action projects that students and teachers could be involved in
• Find out more about a whole school approach by looking at some examples from some of the NT Sustainable Schools who are part of the national AuSSI (Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative)
• Develop an action plan for their school projects
• Develop a funding proposal for the small grants available for the ‘challenge’
• Talk and plan with representatives from key supporting agencies/departments
  
  Ø NT Department of Employment Education and Training – Teaching, Learning & Standards Division,
  Ø NT Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts –Waterwise Schools
  Ø Desert Knowledge CRC Cool MOB
  Ø Arid Lands Environment Centre
  Ø Gardens for Wildlife
  Ø Alice Springs Desert Park
  
  ERT is available for up to 2 participants per school to attend the workshop. Application forms have been sent to all schools.

Contact Emma Bliss Emma.Bliss@nt.gov.au for more information

The Re-Thinking Waste in Schools Challenge is project managed by Keep Australia Beautiful and funded by NT Government and the Packaging Stewardship Forum

Learning for Sustainability website

Learning for Sustainability - supporting dialogue, collective action and reflection:

The Learning for Sustainability website focuses on sustainability issues such as natural resource management, and provides an online guide for government agency staff, NGOs and other community leaders working to support multi-stakeholder learning processes.

It may also be of use for professional development purposes by teachers delivering the Sustainable Futures SSABSA courses.

The site provides links to key information sources on topics including networking, dialogue, adaptive management, knowledge management and evaluation. A new section highlights resources on social research methods, systems thinking, and action research.

Australian Association for Environmental Education

The Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) is the national professional association for those who identify themselves as working in the fields of environment or sustainability education.

Members include teachers and people working in other organisations that provide environmental and/or sustainability education.

Members have access to a number of online resources and receive a monthly electronic newsletter. The association also publishes the Australian Journal of Environmental Education (AJEE). There is also a biennial conference which will be held in the NT (Darwin) in 2008.

Teachers interested in Environmental and Sustainability education may benefit from joining this association.

Energising Sustainable Communities

An International Schools Competition to design a sustainable city is being held in conjunction with the 2008 International Solar Cities Congress - Energising Sustainable Communities - options for our future. Students need to produce a design for an existing city or neighbourhood and the submission may take a range of forms including a poster, written report, drawing, poem. song, interview or essay (or any combination of these) in hard copy or electronic form. This competition provides an excellent opportunity for our students, particularly after the recent announcement that Alice Springs is to be the Fourth Solar City in Australia

Beating the Carbon Cops

Have you been watching the Carbon Cops on ABC TV during the holidays? I bet some of your students have. Now might therefore be a great time to dedicate a couple of lessons to the ways that we use energy and and produce carbon dioxide in our own homes, communities and lifestyles.

Imagine the difference we could make if all households reduced their carbon production by 50%.

Lessons on this may be supported by the Carbon Cops website which includes fact sheets and an emissions calculator. Another great website for this topic would of course be the official website of An Inconvenient Truth. This website includes an Education Guide which you can download. Copies of the DVD have also been sent to all schools.

Please feel free to share your your thoughts on these ideas or any practical examples of when you have studied this topic with your class.