{"id":15104,"date":"2015-06-25T00:00:53","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T21:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.luma.fi\/en\/?p=429"},"modified":"2015-06-25T00:00:53","modified_gmt":"2015-06-24T21:00:53","slug":"sustainable-development-needs-a-holistic-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luma.fi\/en\/news\/2015\/06\/25\/sustainable-development-needs-a-holistic-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable Development Needs a Holistic Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers call for holistic and student-centered approaches in sustainable development education. Two PhD theses form the University of Helsinki focus on sustainable development education bringing new knowledge and suggestions on meaningful and relevant approaches in\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">STEM<\/span>\u00a0teaching.<\/p>\n<p>Global environmental problems are dramatically affecting natural environments and, ultimately, the way we live. Science and technology are generally recognized as the best options to deal with global challenges including climate change and to secure a sustainable future.<\/p>\n<p>To drive forward sustainable development we need more science, technology and engineering experts who are aware of the complex environmental, societal and economical aspects of the issues at hand. In education development could be used as a meaningful and relevant context to engage students in learning.<\/p>\n<p>Two recent PhD dissertations published at the University of Helsinki examine the role of sustainable development education and propose new pedagogical methods.<\/p>\n<p>In her thesis\u00a0<strong>Marianne Juntunen<\/strong>\u00a0carried out design research to study the features of holistic and inquiry-based learning methods in sustainable development education in the context of secondary school chemistry. Her aims were to explore sustainable development education through varied approaches such as green chemistry, product life-cycles analysis, argumentation and environmental literacy.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cStudents find it relevant when content knowledge in chemistry is connected to societal aspects and action competencies. When the context of the subject is personal in some way students are interested in learning. It also increases the students\u2019 ability to take actively part in building a sustainable future,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Juntunen says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sakari Tolppanen<\/strong>\u00a0shares Juntunen\u2019s holistic point of view in sustainable development education.<\/p>\n<p>Tolppanen\u2019s PhD thesis focused on sustainable development education from the point of view of gifted international students. To discover what the students found relevant about sustainable development and its education he analyzed the types of questions the students asked about sustainable development, what actions they took to make a difference and what kind of expectations they had from non-formal education, a science camp, with the theme of sustainable development.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cYoung people have an essential role in building a sustainable future so it is very important to take into account their questions, actions and expectations in teaching sustainable development. This approach would also help them to develop a cross-disciplinary understanding of sustainable development,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Tolppanen says.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201dThe students were interested in both scientific, societal and ethical questions regarding sustainable development. The results indicate sustainable development education should be holistic instead of separating the scientific side from the social and ethical questions,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he continues.<\/p>\n<p>According to Tolppanen\u2019s studies\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">STEM<\/span>\u00a0teachers should move towards student-centered learning by taking the students\u2019 questions and interests into account in sustainable development education.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201dSustainable development education could use the opportunity to give students more autonomy and responsibility of their own learning,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Tolppanen concludes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"divider\">Read more:<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/helda.helsinki.fi\/handle\/10138\/154531\">Juntunen, M. (2015).\u00a0<em>Holistic and Inquiry-Based Education for Sustainable Development in Chemistry.<\/em>\u00a0Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Helsinki.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/helda.helsinki.fi\/bitstream\/handle\/10138\/155121\/creating.pdf?sequence=1\">Tolppanen, S. (2015).\u00a0<em>Creating a Better World \u2013 Questions, Actions and Expectations of International Students on Sustainable Development and Its Education<\/em>. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Helsinki.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Text: Maija Pollari.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers call for holistic and student-centered approaches in sustainable development education. Two PhD theses form the University of Helsinki focus on sustainable development education bringing new knowledge and suggestions on meaningful and relevant approaches in\u00a0STEM\u00a0teaching. Global environmental problems are dramatically affecting natural environments and, ultimately, the way we live. Science and technology are generally recognized &#8230; <a title=\"Sustainable Development Needs a Holistic Approach\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luma.fi\/en\/news\/2015\/06\/25\/sustainable-development-needs-a-holistic-approach\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Sustainable Development Needs a Holistic Approach\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sustainable Development Needs a Holistic Approach - LUMA-keskus Suomi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luma.fi\/en\/news\/2015\/06\/25\/sustainable-development-needs-a-holistic-approach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sustainable Development Needs a Holistic Approach - LUMA-keskus Suomi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers call for holistic and student-centered approaches in sustainable development education. Two PhD theses form the University of Helsinki focus on sustainable development education bringing new knowledge and suggestions on meaningful and relevant approaches in\u00a0STEM\u00a0teaching. Global environmental problems are dramatically affecting natural environments and, ultimately, the way we live. Science and technology are generally recognized ... 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