Mustafa Öztürk (mustafaozturk@hacettepe.edu.tr)
During the 2015/16 academic year, I was a post-doctoral fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University. In addition to attending research seminars and workshops, I worked closely with Dr. Oren Pizmony-Levy on a large study of Turkish in-service teachers and their engagement with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). While publications from the study are forthcoming, I used the findings to design a project that seeks to empower teachers with ESD approach through Flipped Learning Model. The project, which is supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Science and Society program: Innovative Training Practices), is in the implementation process.
The project’s main objectives are twofold: (1) to equip participants with necessary competences in Education for Sustainable Development, which is a global priority in educational agendas; and (2) to enhance this acquisition by using an innovative educational pedagogy, which is Flipped Learning Model. In this respect, the participants are provided with two interconnected learning areas: (a) Individual Learning Environment; and (b) Collective Learning Activity. The individual learning environment is an online education platform where participants can access relevant educational materials, watch videos, read written resources, take notes, prepare questions and convey those questions to the instructors. The collective learning activity is a face-to-face education platform in which the knowledge acquired in individual learning environment is discussed, assimilated, transferred into practice by interaction and collaboration with other participants.
The target group of the project consists of teachers working in different educational levels in different regions of Turkey. Teachers are invited to the project by a call to be announced through the website and social media networks. As there is no limit to the participation in the individual learning environment, which is independent of time and space, each applicant is provided access to the individual learning environment. However, a total of 150 teachers from different regions, school types, education levels, branches and age groups are included as participants in the collective learning activity to be carried out face to face. The selection criteria are based on volunteering, motivation and completing modules in the individual learning environment. The collective learning activity is organized in two different periods during between June 24-28 and July 01-05, 2019. Considering that each teacher participating in the project interacts with dozens of colleagues and hundreds of students in their school environment and social circles, the widespread impact of the project reaches important heights.
The content of the Individual Learning Environment consists of the following four modules with five sub-themes within each module:
Module 1: Sustainable Development and Education
Topics include: Overview of the problems of our world and humanity; conceptual and historical foundations of sustainable development; Millennium Development Goals - UN Declaration; Sustainable Development Goals - UN Declaration; UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
Module 2: Education for Ecological Sensitivity
Topics include: Climate change and global warming; energy use and ecological footprint; food systems and food safety; biodiversity and habitat loss; water problems on earth and hygiene.
Module 3: Education for Societal Transformation
Topics include: Social inclusion and cultural diversity; gender issues and women's rights; human rights and freedom of expression; universal peace and culture of living together; public health and equal opportunity.
Module 4: Education for Economic Development
Topics include: Economic growth and income distribution; poverty and economic challenges; working conditions and child labor; consumption, waste and savings; local products and domestic production.
The content of the Collective Learning Activity consists of the following practices: (1) art activities through upcycling; (2) creative drama activities; (3) workshops on new media literacy; (4) sessions for designing school-wide projects; and (5) workshops on developing in-class and out-of-class activities.
I am looking forward to sharing outcomes from this project as well as lessons learned from this work!
Follow the project on social media:
Facebook: SGE - Sürdürülebilir Gelişme odaklı Eğitim
Twitter: SGE Portal - Sürdürülebilir Gelişme odaklı Eğitim
YouTube: SGE Portal - Sürdürülebilir Gelişme odaklı Eğitim