Dr Alison Greig, Director of Education for Sustainability (EfS) at Anglia Ruskin University, shares three ways to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into learning during the #SDGTeachIn.
1. In our MSc Sustainability we ask students to think about whether having 17 separate goals is the most effective way to address global sustainability challenges. We ask them to identify the links between these goals and think of ways in which they can condense the 17 into a smaller number of goals. Each team is asked to justify their decisions as part of a presentation and discussion with the rest of the class. This exercise helps students appreciate that the SDGs are all part of a complex system rather than a series of 17 separate challenges.
2. The Global Sustainability Institute, in collaboration with the Government of India runs a professional development course for Corporate Social Responsibility professionals. This course includes a team activity in which delegates explore the positive and synergistic interactions between SDGs. For example, delivering clean energy to a community to replace smoky cooking fuels (SDG 7), not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric pollution (SDG 13), but can also improve the health (SDG 3) and education prospects of the poor (SDG 4), especially the women, by limiting their exposure to smoke and dust and reducing the time each day they need to search for fuel (SDG 10).
3. Anglia Ruskin�s academic regulations require that sustainability is part of all courses. We have created a set of resources, which includes books, journal articles, blogs, websites, newspaper articles and YouTube clips to help staff and students introduce sustainability into their curriculum. Each resource includes a list of related SDGs which should be very useful for the SDG Teach-in.
Get involved, and pledge to support the #SDGTeachIn, too!
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