Every year, the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research (GEI) hosts the Georg Arnhold International Summer Conference. The Conference brings together scholars from the humanities and social sciences (Professors, researchers, post-doctoral scholars and doctoral candidates) and practitioners working for international organizations and NGOs in the relevant fields. The Conference provides an interdisciplinary and international forum that allow participants to debate and critically reflect upon key research questions, methods, findings, and their implications.
The annual theme for the 2021 Conference was The Environmental Crisis and Education. Because of the global pandemic the conference was held online (August 23 to 27, 2021) using different tools for synchronous and asynchronous formats. The Conference used a combination of pre-recorded video presentations (prepared and submitted by the authors), an online-forum, and a conference tool for the daily online meetings during the week. This combination of a “flipped classroom” design and online-forum was effective and engaging!
The Center for Sustainable Futures contributed two presentations. The first presentation “Improving Environmental and Sustainability Education through Research-Practice Partnerships” (with Oren Pizmony-Levy as author) was part of a panel on Education for Environmental Sustainability. The second presentation “Educators’ Perspective on Climate Change Education: Lessons from New York City” (with Erika Kessler and Oren Pizmony-Levy as authors) was part of a panel on Community Education and Experiences from Case Studies. The presentations were well received and we enjoyed the discussion. For example, one colleague attending the first presentation suggested we reflect on the role of social context on research-practice partnerships (RPPs): How would a change in the political environment affect RPP? To what extent RPPs could be transferable to other social contexts where expectations from academics and the value of evidence might be different? Colleagues attending the second presentation asked about the role of standardized tests in Climate Change Education (driver or barrier). We find the feedback from participants to be very valuable as we continue to work on these projects.
Improving Environmental and Sustainability Education through Research-Practice Partnerships
Abstract
Making progress with sustainability balancing the planet, people and prosperity is the most serious challenge of our time, and education is a long-term strategy in this effort. Our presentation focuses on a new direction for improving environmental and sustainability education (ESE): Research-practice partnership (RPP) between higher-education institutions and policy makers working in a local educational authority (LEA). RPPs are part of a larger family of collaborative approaches to education research. They are long term relationships between researchers and education system leaders who share an open-ended commitment to build and sustain a working collaboration over multiple projects. They focus on problems of practice that policymakers and/or practitioners face, and they involve original research. We focus on RPP between New York City Department of Education Office of Sustainability and Teachers College, Columbia University. Using qualitative document analysis, we offer two contributions. First, we analyze the emergence of the partnership and point to the importance of trust, social relationships, and production of local and relevant knowledge. Second, we demonstrate how policymakers use knowledge produced in the RPP to inform specific programmatic decisions (instrumental use) and to clarify assumptions about the system (conceptual use). We also show
how engagement with research informs participants’ views towards improving school engagement with ESE. We are hoping to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of RPP, and to explore whether RPP could work in other social contexts.
Educators’ Perspective on Climate Change Education: Lessons from New York City
Abstract
Teachers and school staff are the centerpiece of any educational reform movement, such as climate change education (CCE). They can have a positive effect on students’ engagement with climate change by addressing the topic throughout the curriculum, challenge misinformation/disinformation, and increase student motivation to change behaviors and practices. Therefore, it is important to understand their views of climate change. In this presentation, we will share results from study of sustainability coordinators in New York City public schools, which is the largest school district in the United States (i.e., 1.1 million students, 65,000 teachers, 1,800 schools located in 1,400 buildings). The study has two objectives: (1) to explore what educators think about climate change and CCE, and (2) to identify drivers, barriers, and variations in engagement with CCE. Data for this study come from two surveys in 2020/2021 (n=1,250) and one focus group (n=18). Our analysis suggests that a vast majority of educators are concerned about climate change (72% very concerned and 25% somewhat concerned). However, educators are not as well informed about climate change. Slightly more than one-fifth (22%) of educators in the sample say they are very informed (with 56% somewhat informed and 22% uninformed). Indeed, half of the educators in the sample (50%) say that human activity and natural patterns in the Earth’s environment have equal contribution to climate change. Interestingly, almost all educators in the survey (99%) say that schools should teach about climate change (i.e., causes, impacts, solutions). Compared to other educators (e.g., assistant principals and support staff), teachers are more likely to talk with students about climate change (77% vs. 65%). The main barrier for engagement with climate change is perception of climate change as not related to their curricular responsibility, and feeling unprepared. We are hoping to discuss these and other patterns, and to explore ways to better support teachers.