Transcript Mapping young students understanding

- within the ecological, economical and social aspects of ESD
Annika Manni, Umeå University
Supervisors: Karin Sporre and Christina Ottander
May, 2011
 UN-decade of Education for Sustainable development
(2005-2014)
 The need for a new approach in education
 Systems thinking and complexity (Hjort & Bagheri, 2006)
(Wylie et al.,1998) (Jonsson, 2007)
 Decision making and action competence (Jenssen& Schnack,
2006) ( Dawidowicz, 2010)
 Values and ethics (Öhman & Östman, 2008) (Rickinson & Lundholm,
2008)
 Children’s voices (OMEP,2010) (Hartman et al., 2007)
1, How do young Swedish students’ understand and
value the aspects of sustainable development and their
relations?
2, How can the relationships between understanding
and valuing SD be described?
 209 young students, aged 10-12, Swedish schools
 Comprehensive questionnaire with open-ended
questions, 2010
 Phenomenographic approach
 Content analysis - categories
 Variations and relationships
81 different questions, 72 closed and 9 open- ended.
 Open questions with picture support within every aspect of ESD as well
as how they are related all together
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 ”What do you know about….? How do you feel about that ? ”
 Response in written text
 ”Read as slowly as it takes the pupils to write” ( Hartman, 1986)
 209 responses, open questions
 Rich and comprehensive material
 Meaning-making moment ;
” that they got to express their own thoughts in a way
they had not before”
Ecological aspect
No response
Complex negative understanding
Complex positive understanding
Simple negative understanding
Simple positive understanding
Describes
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Example: ”I know that big factories emit bad smoke, both we humans and
animal get sick of the smoke, even flowers and plants. It is bad that some
people throw waste in the nature”,
Economical aspect -trade
No response
Relates economy and social aspects
Relates economy and ecology
Understandings within the aspect
Describes
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Example: ” In Africa children are working to make things that other
then get rich of .I think that is really bad!”
Social aspect
No response
Reflektions about causes
Emotions and morals about wellfare
Emotions about justice
Understandings within the aspect
Describes
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Example: ”It is not fair, I think everybody should have equal amount of
money. I am happy that I live in Sweden.”
35
Relationships in SD
No response
Relates all aspects
Relates economy and social aspects
Relates ecology and social aspects
Relates ecology and economy
Simple understanding
Describes
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Connections between aspects and how things affect each other are generally
harder to describe. Still, some students do this in a quite complex way, e.g.
”When we manufacture something that shall be sold in a factory we destroy the
nature. Air and water for both humans and animals are destroyed.”
Values or emotional expressions in every aspect has been
categorized and are often shown as:
 Emotions – spontanous, positive and negative
 Moral reactions – good or bad actions, often taught
behaviours
 Ethical reasoning – reflections about morals, cause
and effect
Values are often shown together with more complex
understandings.
 Complex area with great variations in descriptions of the aspects of SD.
 Swedish students aware and describe every aspect of SD, mostly in
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simple ways but also some quite complex.
In the ecological aspect; mostly within but with different complexity.
In the economical; mostly within and quite simple but also some
relations with other aspects.
In the social aspect; mostly within and very emotional.
Relationships are as well described, most difficult between all three.
(Loughland et al. 2002, Wylie et al. 1998)
Understandings and values intergrated, even;
rich of emotions = rich in complex understandings (Öhman & Östman,
2007, Lundholm & Rickinsson, 2008)
Implications for teaching and learning:
 Holistic and relational approach is needed
 Integration of knowledge and ethics
 Importance of the teachers’ awareness of students’
pre-understandings
Thanks for your attention!