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  • Civic Education for Sustainability


    • This course is structured in the following manner:

      • There is an overall "kit" in a PDF format that anyone can download and have access to ALL of the units in this course.
      • Below there are the different units or topics of the course which have various materials, activities and suggestions for teaching methods.  

      You are invited to take the whole course or relevant units /topics that contribute to your own teaching and learning.

      For more information, you can contract coordinator of project who will link you up with the relevant expert for the information that you may require.  Coordinator's email address is rhonda@gordon.college



    • Civic Education for Sustainability: KIT in English File

      This Kit provides the reader with resources, activities and different units and modules for a course on Civic Education for Sustainability.   The teacher can choose the units or modules that are most relevant for thier course and upgrade an existing course or create a complete course with the material that is in this Kit.

    • CIVIC EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY Reader in Georgian Language File

      This reader includes articles in Georgian on the topics of this course which are most relevant to Georgia.   

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT-- Topic 2: Historical Relationship between Humans and the Environment►

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT-- Topic 1 : Perceptions of Sustainability

  • UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT-- Topic 1 : Perceptions of Sustainability

    RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES:

    The aim of this unit is to introduce students to the challenge of living sustainably within planetary limits. Climate change, the loss of biodiversity and conflicts between unequal social groups raise complex and interrelated issues. Higher education institutions have an important role in developing critical and creative thinking about such important issues – the meta-narrative of the supposed anthropocene  epoch.

    Sustainable thinking requires us to engage with ‘wicked problems’ which although connected, involve complex feedback back loops leading to unpredictable outcomes. In many cases there are no simple solutions and as such students will need to be able to tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity as they engage in critical and creative thinking. Difficult thinking is therefore the fundamental stance from which to make wise decisions for a sustainable future.

    In the development of a deeper understanding of sustainability and sustainable development students will become more aware of the contested nature of sustainability. This will include encountering, within cultural contexts, terms and concepts derived from ecology, economics, social and political theory.

    LEARNING OUTCOMES:

    • Analyze the conceptions of the sustainable development
    • Recognize the socio-cultural and economic implications of the sustainable development
    • Identify the importance of identity with the place of life in the context of sustainable development
    • Delineate the significance of responsibility for the place where I belong


    TEACHING METHODS:

    • Frontal teaching followed by active group work.
    • Watching video and exploring definitions of sustainability
    • Exploring community definitions of sustainability
    • Encountering "wicked problems" 


    ACTIVITIES: 

    Activity 1.

     Frontal teaching using ‘exploring-sustainability’ website to provide definitions of sustainability and how these have been developed. 

    Students engage with the website and video links to explore further definitions of sustainability.

    Compare definitions with each other and the wider group.

    ‘Interview’ 2-3 family members and friends – focus on older and younger members to contrast generational understandings of sustainability. 

    ‘Interview’ 2-3 Students from other universities in the CURE project to contrast cultural understandings of sustainability.

    Reflect on the Living Report and respond to the following questions …

    Explain the patterns on the graphs on p16. 

    What do you think these graphs will look like in 10, 20, 50 and 500 years time?

    Panel Discussion

    Role Playing

    Narrative/Video Analysis

    Case Studies

    Collaborative Learning

    Jigsaw Group Work

    Technology-Based Activities

    Problem-Based Learning

    Activity 2.

     Watch the movie

    to find out about a range of global problems 


    BIBLIOGRAPHY:

    Compulsory Literature:

    English:

    Raworth, K. (2012) A Safe and Just Space for Humanity. Oxfam Discussion Paper

    Available from:

    https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/dp-a-safe-and-just-space-for-humanity-130212-en.pdf

     

    WWF (2016) Living Planet Report 2016. The summary

    Available from:

    http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_living_planet_report_2016_summary.pdf

     

     

     

    Supporting Literature:

    Scoffham, S. (2014) Exploring Sustainability Website.

    URL: http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/education/our-work/exploring-sustainability/exploring-sustainability.aspx

     

    Kellert, S.R. and Gustave Speth, J. (2009) The Coming Transformation/; Values to sustain human and natural communities. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Available from:

    http://environment.yale.edu/publication-series/5952.html

     

    Kingsnorth, P. and Hine, D (2009). Uncivilisation: The dark mountain manifesto.

    URL: http://dark-mountain.net/about/manifesto/

     

    Lovelock, J. (1979/2009) Gaia: A new look at life on earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press

     

     


    Environments and livelihoods: strategies for sustainability. Koos Neefjes.Oxford: Oxfam Publication, 2000

    Sustainability and communities of place. edited by Carl A. Maida. New York; Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011

    Fundamentals of sustainable development. Niko Roorda with Peter Blaze Corcoran and Joseph P. Weakland. London; New York: Routledge, 2012.

    Health and sustainability: an introduction. Tee L. Guidotti. Oxford [etc.]: Oxford University Press, cop. 2015

    Environment, health and sustainable development. Megan Landon. Landon, Open University Press, 2006

    Science, ethics, sustainability: the responsibility of science in attaining sustainable development. ed. Anders Nordgren. Uppsala: Uppsala Univ., 1997

    Transitions to sustainable development: new directions in the study of long term transformative change. John Grin, Jan Rotmans and Johan Schot; in collaboration with Frank Geels and Derk Loorbach. New York; Abingdon: Routledge, 2010

    Cultural sustainability and regional development: theories and practices of territorialisation. edited by Joost Dessein, Elena Battaglini and Lummina Horlings.Dessein. London; New York: Routledge, 2016

    Biodiversity, sustainability, and human communities: protecting beyond the protected. ed. Tim O'Riordan, Susanne Stoll-Kleemann. Cambridge

    Hebrew:

     אחירון-פרומקין  ת., פרומקין,  ר. (2004).  המחיר הסביבתי של ניצול משאבי הטבע על ידי האדם.  אאוריקה:  כתב עת להוראת מדעים וטכנולוגיה. אוניברסיטת תל אביב, הוצאת

      http://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=10464:רמות מתוך






    UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT-- Topic 2: Historical Relationship between Humans and the Environment►