On the communication and appropriation of systemic sustainability contexts
Between social and natural science perspectives in childhood: concept and cooperation development for the practice of extracurricular learning locations
Against the background of the complexity associated with sustainability issues, our project focuses on the concrete practice of education for sustainable development (ESD) with primary school pupils.
Project description
In the project "On the mediation and appropriation of systemic sustainability contexts between social and natural science perspectives in childhood - concept and cooperation development for the practice of extracurricular learning venues", we are working with extracurricular learning venues in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg to accompany and reflect on how education for sustainable development (ESD) can be designed and further developed at the interface with political and social science education for primary school pupils.
The relevance of political, social and sociological dimensions and interrelationships for the (non-)sustainable shaping of the present and future is still often marginalized or only marginally considered in ESD practice. This is all the more true for elementary school (cf. Röhner et al. 2023), even though numerous points of contact for ESD in general and the associated linking of social science and natural science perspectives in particular can be found in science lessons.
Elementary school can therefore be seen as a particularly relevant - yet largely untapped - entry point for ESD. With Sachunterricht, it has a subject that is expressly committed to the educationally effective understanding and shaping of the living world and is characterized by the linking of political-social and technical-scientific perspectives(GDSU 2013).
Project goals
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Practical research on multi-perspective ESD in elementary school
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Strengthening social science perspectives in ESD practice
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Developing materials for the further development of multi-perspective ESD practice
Everything at a glance
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Duration
01.04.2024 - 31.03.2027 (Ongoing) -
Research area
Didactics of social sciences, educational science with a focus on subject teaching and its didactics, education for sustainable development (ESD) -
Funding
German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU): €172,872.00
Funding bodies and cooperation partners
The project is funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU).
The extracurricular learning locations are also important cooperation partners of the project, and we would like to thank them for supporting the project from the very beginning, which was the only way to implement the practical project approach.
We are also working with the Heidelberg School of Education (HSE) in Baden-Württemberg, a cross-university institution between Heidelberg University and Heidelberg University of Education, to test the project's approaches nationwide. In this context, we would particularly like to thank Dr. Nicole Aeschbach
for her support.
The project is also in close contact with the DBU-funded project Social-ecological education for sustainable development in elementary school science lessons at theUniversity of Kassel and the project funded by the DBU.
at the University of Kassel and the DBU-funded Forum Pol*BNT - Expert Forum for Research and Practice on Principles, Demands and Perspectives of Civic Education in and for (Social) Transformation and Sustainability.