Telling Reflections: Teaching Sustainably in a Complex Learning Environment

Deborah Prescott

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This article examines learning design in a postgraduate preservice teacher setting. The overarching aim was to embed environmentally responsive approaches throughout two companion units for diverse student cohorts. This article reports on a teacher educator self-study in a regional university with extensive online delivery for large units (300-800 students) in a 1-year course. The author examines how assessment tasks in literacy- and numeracy-oriented units are designed to meaningfully integrate environmental sustainability using contextual cues, collaborative learning, complex tasks, and reflexivity. The author argues for the use of these four key guidelines of environmentally responsive pedagogies alongside environmental education programs to emphasise messages of sustainability even in units that are not traditionally environmentally oriented. Challenges include problematising the nature of effective teaching and dealing with the complexities of purposeful learning. Innovative unit learning design alone, however, is inadequate if the surrounding systems are fragmented and seen as separate to learning about sustainability.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)80-90
    Number of pages11
    JournalAustralian Journal of Environmental Education
    Volume32
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2016
    Event18th AAEE Biennial Conference - Sustainability, Smart Strategies for the 21st Century - Hobart, Australia
    Duration: 2 Nov 20145 Nov 2014

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Telling Reflections: Teaching Sustainably in a Complex Learning Environment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this