Teacher Training Curriculum on Environmental Issues | Seite 19

ICT: ICT can offer helpful tools in education for sustainable
development. Data from experiments or investigations can be
collected, shared and displayed by the whole class or group in e.g.
Google docs. A collective spreadsheet in Google docs helps students
to view each other‟s results from a collective data collection. ICT
tools can also work as an easy way for digital storytelling, e.g. as a
book made in Storybird, www.storybird.com or as a film made in
Plotagon, www.plotagon.com. Students can in that way share their
new knowledge or experiences with each other. A tool for an easy
way to collect digital products made by several students and to
collaborate in a group is to use a digital billboard in Padlet,
www.padlet.com. To help students to get an overview of a complex
subject area it can be a good idea to use concept maps or mind maps such as e.g. CMapTools,
cmap.ihmc.us or http://drichard.org/mindmaps/.
Mathematics: Mathematics plays a big role in the education of sustainable development since it
can be applied to all the three aspects that is social, environmental and economic. It's up to the
educator to find a relevant topic. According to Making Secondary mathematics sustainable, a WWF
school case study, the teachers involved in the project seem to believe “Mathematics is where
Education for Sustainable Development meets the real world.” They have come up with beautiful
ideas of the “Oil Spills” and the “Population Explosion” projects for their pupils.30.
Mathematics has an ancient history with contributions from many cultures. It is developed from
both a practical need of human curiosity and desire to explore mathematics as such. Mathematical
activity is by its nature a creative, reflective and problem-solving activity that is closely linked to
the societal, social and technological developments. The human population on Earth is increasing
every day and all these people need food, clean water, housing, energy, etc. etc. The demands on
Earth‟s resources are high. Global Goal 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 and 15 can be easily incorporated into the
mathematics curriculum. A few examples are where learners compare energy efficiency, pros/cons
of green energy, calculation of how much water we need every day for drinking washing, bathing,
etc. calculate CO2 emissions with the help of footprint calculators, present and interpret the data of
ecological footprint per capita, etc. Since knowledge of mathematics gives people the ability to
make informed decisions in everyday life's many choices and increasing opportunities to participate
in community decision-making will help young learners be more able to understand how to use
Earth's resources in a clever way.
Modern languages: In modern language courses such as French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian,
Portuguese, etc. ESD topic areas such as French Revolution and associated politico-historical events
and ideas, World War1, World War 2, the conflict between Christian and Saracen (the Crusades),
etc. can be interesting as well as informative. Even social problems such as immigration, integration,
legacies of colonialism; political activism, etc. can be used to discuss ESD.
Mother tongue: ESD discussion topics such as “Should I buy organic and locally produced
products? Should I take the train or travel by car?” can be used to enhance critical thinking skills
and the ability to communicate effectively (both orally and in writing)
Physics: Education for Sustainable Development has strong connection to physics. The ideal gas
law as a model to describe the physics of the atmosphere, Orientation on how physical models and
30 Making Secondary mathematics sustainable, wwf.org.uk Assessed 27 th Jan, 2016. See publication for the above
mentioned example and ideas.

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