Lessons from Teachers

The Lessons from Teachers project aims to demystify the process of integrating sustainability education into secondary teaching and reinforce the value of peer learning in sustainability education. This will be achieved by providing inexperienced teachers with access to case studies from experienced peers.

Lessons from Teachers case studies include a unit of work and a narrative, where teachers share their reflections on delivering these lessons. They discuss how sustainability issues can be integrated into their subject area, the way they approach teaching the unit and the highlights and challenges they have encountered. Case studies available now include:

• A Stage 4 Mandatory Technology unit of work developed by Elizabeth Heurtier and taught by Renato Ramsay at Sydney Distance Education High School. It is a four week course encouraging students to research and design a solution to an environmental problem, reducing landfill through composting. Students research, design and construct a compost bin and then evaluate and prepare a presentation on their design solution.
  
• A Design & Technology Stage 6 (preliminary) unit of work developed by David Innes from Monaro High School. It is a 10 week course encouraging students to research, design and evaluate a sustainable landscape.
• A Stage 4 Science unit of work developed by Ian Judd from Dorrigo High School. This is a 6 week program enabling students to develop knowledge, understanding and skills about energy conservation. 
• ‘Our Shire our Future’ is a ten week Stage 5 Science unit developed by Carol Miller and Andrew Mackenzie from Our Lady of Mercy College (OLMC) Burraneer Sydney. The unit examines the physical and biological components of the local environment and challenges the students to consider some of the environmental issues that are of importance in the area. 
• A Stage 5 Geography unit developed by Tracey Bradbery from McCarthy Catholic College, Tamworth. In this five week course students investigate whether spatial inequality exists in the Tamworth local area. 
• A Visual Arts program on renewable energy developed by Canny Kinloch and Melanie Evans from Shepherds Park Education and Training Unit, Wagga Wagga. The case study describes teaching the unit at Shepherds Park to students from the Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre. The ideas in this unit were adapted by Paul Lawrence, Head Teacher Visual and Performing Arts at Elizabeth Macarthur High School Sydney into a Stage 5 (Year 10) unit on relief printmaking. In this unit students investigate sustainability issues as a source of ideas for artmaking with the form of relief printmaking.
  

A number of themes emerge from these teachers’ reflections:

• Students are introduced to environmental/sustainability concepts in primary school so teachers need to build on this existing knowledge base to maintain students’ interest
• Using the local environment makes research tasks real for students and frequently leads to revelations about aspects students took for granted “seeing the area through fresh eyes”
• Independent research projects incorporating a student led inquiry approach are rewarding for students and can be set up to cater for a range of abilities
• Peer assessment is an effective way of encouraging students to learn from their classmates and reflect on their own work
• Teachers have developed these units out of personal passion and interest in sustainability and often find they are learning along with their students as they undertake their research projects.