The fourth workshop of the international learning community took place on 21st June. As the project has developed, we have been able to welcome different groups of teacher educators and trainee teachers into the community. This emphasises the fact that there is a demand for and interest in collaborative learning communities. It would seem this is particularly true for addressing STEM and sustainability within the curriculum and finding innovative ways to help students respond to these global opportunities and challenges.
On 21st June we were delighted to welcome colleagues from Zambia into our cross-cultural learning community, bringing new voices and broadening the existing conversations with teachers, tutors and trainee teachers from England and Pakistan.
In collaboration, we explored as a community how to support students to respond to a sustainability question in this case ‘Can Nuclear Power save the planet?’, kindly shared by a member of the community. Here, we observed how different disciplines and perspectives ask distinct questions to inform our thinking about this Big Question, and we examined the similarities and differences between their investigative methods, and norms of thought (or values) that inform the type of answers they provide.
For this question, science was addressing how nuclear power is produced, including the materials needed both to create nuclear power and to construct the power plant. In contrast the ethical and religious aspects of stewardship meant that there was greater emphasis on our responsibility towards the humans and animals living near new power plants, and the social and cultural questions associate with global resource management. When we investigate the question through a scientific lens, science designs and observes experiments examining the efficiency of nuclear power in comparison to fossil fuels and/or the emissions expected both in the creation of the plant, and in the consequent production of energy. In contrast, stewardship uses methods more aligned to the social sciences – the examination of historical documents on the impact of power plant and/or disasters, the social and emotional impact(s) of changing energy production methods (would people lose jobs, farmland etc), and of course the impact of both production and resource consumption on the natural environment. It is important to remember that stewardship is concerned not only with the natural landscape but also the people and animals that live within it. Finally, to identify how a scientist would know they had a good answer to the question, they rely on objective and quantifiable data, that can be reproduced and replicated. While stewardship perspectives are values driven, concerned with our guardianship of the planet, sometimes justified by religious texts or other worldviews, and hence where deriving meaning from qualitative data can be more difficult to measure than the quantitative data provided by the scientific investigation(s). The community produced a lesson plan which is available to view and download at https://zenodo.org/record/8082423#.ZKRFoHbMKUk
The learning community also considered the importance of recognising how students in different geographical spaces approached sustainability. Hence, environmental context, and global awareness will inform a student’s view and may influence the significance of specific environmental and climate change issues when teaching. For example, those living near open water may be concerned about potential flood damage, whereas if water is a scarce resource there may be greater concern from the impact of wildfires. Therefore, when considering how to address teaching about sustainability, teachers need to be critically aware of the social and cultural reference points of their students. This may include helping students make sense of “global” responses such as carbon offsetting that appear to provide greatest benefit to those already causing the greatest harm. Therefore, questions around the “best” solution to improving sustainability and how they are informed by concepts of stewardship are deeply contextual, especially where students may feel that they are disadvantaged by a sustainable innovation.
Overall, the learning community recognised how science, religious and other worldviews can overlap in addressing these complex issues. Scientific and religious worldviews do not sit in contradiction, but this is not always easy to teach. Therefore, the community offered practical help and support when planning and teaching sustainability by focusing on a multidisciplinary approach that includes insights from science and stewardship, helping students to become critical thinkers. We also learnt the benefits of collaboration from cross-cultural perspectives and cross-disciplinary specialisms, widening the lens to consider not only other disciplines but other religious and worldviews. All resources are available to view and download at https://zenodo.org/communities/epistemic-insight/search?page=1&size=20