Teaching Materials for ESD
This library of open educational resources serves as a digital repository where educators can freely access, share, and adapt high-quality teaching and learning materials focused on education for sustainable development. Comprising lesson plans, multimedia resources and a variety of digital content these resources are designed to help learners understand and address complex sustainability challenges across environmental, social, and economic dimensions.
How to use these resources
These resources are intended to be reusable across different disciplinary and interdisciplinary contexts. To allow for easier navigation, they have been grouped here thematically. By providing access to these resources, we aim to empower educators in all disciplines to embed ESD concepts and development of competencies into their curricula to create a more sustainable future for all.
Exploring Worldviews, Perceptions and Values on Sustainable Development
This theme explores worldviews, beliefs, values and some biases that typically frame judgements. Questions posed prompt reflection on how our worldview is likely to impact on our approach to sustainable development. Impacts of colonialism and capitalism on global equity and climate justice are considered. Decision-making frameworks that support reasoning through related dilemmas in an ethically defensible manner are outlined and reviewed.
Part 1 of 5: Worldviews: How Do You See the World? Why does It Matter?
This video introduces worldviews – what they are, and how our worldview shapes our experience of reality. A range of contrasting worldviews, and their influence on our understanding of our place in nature, are examined.
Part 2 of 5: Beliefs, Attitudes and Values: Exploring Their Impact
This video introduces beliefs and attitudes - with particular emphasis on how they influence our perceptions and behaviours. Values, and how they inform our thoughts and influence how we interact with others, are explored.
Part 3 of 5: Colonialism and Capitalism Impacts on Climate Justice: DRC in Focus
This video discusses how the global economic model has created the intersecting and overlapping crises of social inequality and overshoot of planetary boundaries. The case study of the Democratic Republic the Congo is explored.
Part 4 of 5: Power, Privilege and Social Justice: Inequality and Climate
This video discusses some assumptions about the way in which the benefits and burdens of life on earth are divided up. Concepts of power, privilege and intersectionality are explored.
Part 5 of 5: Principles of Climate Justice: Framework for Addressing Inequality
This video asks what we can do to address intersecting global challenges and explores how frameworks such as the Climate Justice framework proposed by the Mary Robinson Foundation can support a just transition to a more stable world.
Guides for This Theme's Videos
These guides align with the five videos above for the theme titled: 'Exploring Worldviews, Perceptions, and Values on Sustainable Development':
- The teaching guide provides context and suggestions for integrating these videos into teaching practice that is learner-centred and action-oriented, and integrates into the curriculum to foster transformative learning (UNESCO, 2017:55).
- The workshop pack includes session plans, facilitator notes, case studies and templates; it is intended to help educators to facilitate interactive workshops so that students actively engage with the theme and demonstrate and achieve the workshop's learning outcomes.
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Problem Framing in Sustainability: Prevention, Mitigation and Adaptation
The theme of ‘Problem Framing in Sustainability: Prevention, Mitigation and Adaptation’ can be used to introduce the concepts of problem framing and problem statements, in the context of risk mitigation and adaptation, and to explore how risk management strategies to address current and future challenges related to climate change might be developed.
Part 1 of 3: Characteristics of, and Factors Influencing, Complex Systems
This video introduces characteristics of, and factors influencing, complex systems.
Part 2 of 3: Problem Framing and Problem Statements for Sustainability Challenge
This video aims to increase understanding of how to frame a problem in a coherent manner, and to write an effective problem statement thereafter.
Part 3 of 3: Risk Management Strategies for Solution-oriented Approaches...
This video aims to introduce the concept of risk identification, and to outline defined processes for the development of risk management strategies to provide solutions-oriented approaches to prevention, mitigation and adaptation challenges.
Guide for This Theme's Videos
This guide aligns with the videos above for the theme titled: 'Problem Framing in Sustainability: Prevention, Mitigation and Adaptation':
- The teaching guide provides context and suggestions for integrating these resources into teaching practice that is learner-centred and action-oriented, and potentially integrates into the curriculum to foster transformative learning (UNESCO, 2017:55).
Misinformation Related to Sustainable Development
The theme of ‘Misinformation related to Sustainable Development’ can be used to introduce the concepts of misinformation and disinformation, and to explore how corporate disinformation campaigns can negatively impact sustainable development initiatives and democratic processes.
Part 1 of 3: Common Sources of, and Tactics Used to Hide, Misinformation
This video introduces Common Sources of, and Tactics Used to Hide, Misinformation.
Part 2 of 3: Identification of Misinformation...
This video explores how you might identify misinformation and differentiate between 'individual interests' and the 'greater good' in messaging.
Part 3 of 3: Practical, Political and Personal Spheres of Responses...
This video addresses how the viewer might activate change from a range of perspective including the Practical, Political and Personal Spheres of Responses.
Guide for This Theme's Videos
This guide aligns with the videos above for the theme titled: 'Misinformation related to Sustainable Development':
- The teaching guide provides context and suggestions for integrating these resources into teaching practice that is learner-centred and action-oriented, and potentially integrates into the curriculum to foster transformative learning (UNESCO, 2017:55).
Acknowledgements
Many of the resources shared here were developed collaboratively by six ESD Fellows and four student interns as part of Trinity’s ‘Enacting Education for Sustainable Development in Trinity’ module. Click here to find out more about this module and its development. This work was funded by the National Forum/Higher Education Authority under the Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund.