Main Content

Summer School "Teaching for Sustainable Development" 29/8/23 - 1/9/23 

At Philipps-University Marburg, an international Summer School with a focus on "Teaching for Sustainable Development" took place for the first time to support internationalisation@home.

In August of 2023, the Center for Teacher Education of Philipps University Marburg held its first international Summer School on the topic “Teaching for Sustainable Development”. Together with our partner universities and many enthusiastic participants, we examined the world of teaching for sustainable development. The Summer School brought together approximately 70 participants and organizers, including teachers, students, researchers and lecturers, non-formal education actors, and a representative from the Hessian Ministry of Education. We welcomed guests from our partner universities (University of Kragujevac, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan, University of Lisbon, University of Limoges) as well as students, researchers and staff from the Universities of Marburg, Gießen and Wuppertal.

The program included an introduction to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), multiple keynotes on concepts for ESD, an information fair including NGOs and civil-society organisations, engaging workshops offered by colleagues from our partner countries and Germany, panel discussions, and field trips to extracurricular places of learning for sustainable development. 

A central focus of the summer school laid on project work related to education for sustainable development. In interdisciplinary and intercultural project groups, the participants developed innovative teaching methods and lesson plans related to teaching for sustainable development, as well as a plan to develop a new and sustainable summer school. 

The elaborate social program was crucial for crossing cultural communication boarders and for creating a relaxed atmosphere that would enable international and intercultural collaboration. It included fun icebreakers, a city rally, a pub crawl and restaurant visit in the old town of Marburg, an interactive interim conclusion by the improvisation theater group FastForwardTheatre as well as a dinner hosted by the center for teacher education. These activities were a crucial component of the summer school, as they laid the foundation for productive collaborative efforts.

The team of the center for teacher education and project LiMa would like to express their gratitude. Thank you for participating in the event and for bringing and sharing your own unique perspectives. We hope that these newly formed friendships and contacts will turn into international collaboration on teaching for sustainable development and that participants can use their newly gained insights for their own (future) teaching.

Contact: 

Center for Teacher Education
Project LiMa
Dr. Zina Morbach and Inga Steinbach
lima@uni-marburg.de

Arrival: Monday, 28/08 
Departure: Friday afternoon, 01/09

Social evening program: 

• Tuesday: Pub crawl through historic pubs in Marburg's old town center. Alternatively, dinner at one of Marburg's lovely restaurants in the old town. 
• Wednesday: Bring along picnic in the old botanical gardens. 
• Thursday: Social evening in the courtyard of the Centre for Teacher Education with buffet style dinner. 

For additional details about keynotes, workshops and programme related information please check the accordion-menu.

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Keynotes

  Antje Brock, Institut Futur, Freie Universität Berlin:
  "The role of emotions and values for good ESD – How to get from push- to pull-motivations?“ 

  Successfully implementing ESD across educational settings is not just a question of whether or not learners deal with questions of sustainable development, but how they do it. Quality aspects become increasingly important such as how to convey a realistic scope of socio-ecological crises, but not to leave the learners demotivated or even hopeless. What could be paths to motivate them and to enable them to contribute to effective SD-solutions? Those as well as other questions such as the role of values in addressing SD will be presented. 

  
  Alexander Büssing, Leibniz University Hannover:
  "Social Media and climate change“

  While temperatures are rising globally and the scientific consensus reaches striking levels, the public still perceives a lot of confusion about the urgency of climate change and possible actions for mitigation. In the last years several studies showed how social media sites emerged as a new venue for information about complex topics such as climate change. The keynote will dive deeper into this new field of research by (1) further defining the current state of climate change and mitigation possibilities, (2) explaining the role of social media for this including phenomena such as fake news and filter bubbles, and (3) propose new approaches for sustainability education to prepare future citizens for living in - and coping with - these new media environments. 

  
  Marco Rieckmann, Vechta University: 
  "Education for Sustainable Development in Teacher Education and School - Transformative and Disruptive Education”

  Against the background of global ecological and socio-economic crises and in the context of the SDGs, the relevance of education for sustainable development is outlined. ESD is characterised as transformative and disruptive education with the aim of developing sustainability competences and values. The role of ESD as political education is highlighted. The theoretical considerations are illustrated by practical examples. 

   

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Workshops Slot 1 - Wednesday 

  1.      Jutta Bedehäsing, Uni Wuppertal:
  “Extracurricular learning places: potentials for education for sustainable development”

  Outside the classroom, many places are suitable for students to facilitate the different dimensions of learning according to the UNESCO Roadmap Education for Sustainable Development #ESDfor2030. At out-of-school settings of learning, problems of global change can be made visible, approaches to solutions can be shown, or one's own actions can be tested. In this workshop, I would like to work with you on what extracurricular places of learning can actually be and which didactic methods can be used there to promote education for sustainable development.

  2.      Celina Czech-Włodarczyk, Daria Hejwosz-Gromkowska & Dobrochna Hildebrandt-Wypych, AMU Poznan:
  "Appreciating cultural difference for a sustainable lifestyle"

  This workshop aims to develop an understanding of cultural difference. The Hofstede’s model will be used as a framework for the workshop. The workshop is divided into three parts:
  1)      Introduction to cultural difference
  2)      Case study – describing the cultural difference
  3)      Students’ presentation.

   

  3.      Maria Helena Esteves, Universidade de Lisboa, IGOT:
  “Active Learning Activities”

  In this workshop participants will learn how to create activities where students can focus on learning with their peers. Having in mind the framework of Education for Sustainable Development and the theoretical background of Active Learning, participants will focus on creating activities that can be implemented in classroom or other academic/professional contexts. The emphasis will be on introducing the discussion about Sustainable Development through subject content. In the end, participants will create different activities that can be shared among themselves.

  4.      Susann Gessner & Philipp Klingler, Philipps-University Marburg:
  “Putting the Political in Education for Sustainable Development: Addressing Social, Political and Economic Issues in the Classroom”

  Education for sustainable development encompasses not only ecological, but also political, social and economic, and thus societal issues. But because this is not only the task of the civid educators, all teachers must be empowered to understand and teach the social aspects. During the workshop we will give an insight into the German Orientation Framework Global Learning/Education for Sustainable Development. Besides content-related aspects (what is political?), basic principles of civic education/social science education in the context of education for sustainable development will be briefly presented. Following on, we want to analyze with the participants supposedly non-political topics of education for sustainable development and question them with regard to their political content, as well as expand corresponding educational materials in this regard. We want to work out the potentials for civic and democratic learning in the topics of ESD.

  Participants are welcome to bring their own (teaching) topics and materials from their subjects in the context of Education for Sustainable Development.

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Workshops Slot 2 - Thursday 

  1.      Rieke Ammoneit, Philipps-University Marburg:
  „Digital Modelling in Geography Education“

  Digital modeling is necessary to map developments in complex systems. Understanding systems is crucial in education for sustainable development because sustainable development depends on complex human-environment systems. In this workshop, we will engage in modeling with tools suitable for school education and explore the potential digital modeling has in understanding sustainability. 

  2.      Marzena Buchnat & Celina Czech-Włodarczyk, AMU Poznan:
  „The system of education through movement as a method conducive to the holistic development of a child”

  The system of education and therapy "Education through movement" (EPR) is a set of techniques and methods of work based on natural, optimal, rhythmic human movement. Moving according to a specific rhythmic procedure, activating the senses, supports the increase in the level of sensory integration to prepare the body and mind for the learning process. The system was built based on many experiments and observations carried out both during school classes and in groups of preschoolers. The main assumption of the EPR system is movement planning as the basis for inducing cognitive activity of the child. During the workshop, the instructor will use specific simple or more complex forms of movement in accordance with the physiology and psychomotor abilities of the learners, basing the fun created in this way on the so-called. the power of measured strokes. Each game of the EPR system is built of many techniques - exercises that fulfil specific functions supporting comprehensive, i.e. holistic development, especially useful when working with children with disabilities.

   

  3.      Jelena Mladenovic & Nenad Stevanovic, University of Kragujevac:
  “Ecological intelligence and myth-busting about sustainable development”

   Considering that Sustainable Development is such development that meets the needs of current generations, while at the same time not jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs, the question arises as to what is "ecologically justified" or "green" behavior of modern man. How much do our activities affect the environment and do we really know the real impact of our "green" behavior on the environment? We will analyze with the participants of the workshop some of the impacts described in Daniel Goleman's book - Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything (2009). Also, workshop participants will calculate their ecological footprint - a quantitative measurement describing the appropriation of natural resources by humans - using the footprint calculator.

   4.      Marija Stanojević Veselinović, Olivera Cekic-Jovanovic & Violeta Jovanović, University of Kragujevac:
  “Sustainable development in foreign language teaching”

  In this short presentation we will present the recent results regarding Sustainability in the Foreign Language Teaching. Considering Sreten Adzic' work Ručni rad u muškoj školi (Handwork in the Boys' School, 1886), which unequivocally goes to the heart of the problems of upbringing and education and whose genius transcends the boundaries of the time of its origin we will introduce the new approach in foreign language teaching. Given the great responsibility of school education today, a step towards improvement should be taken precisely by going back in time and projecting the future from the perspective of the past.

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Field Trips 

  Discover extracurricular learning places during our excursions to...

  Chemikum Marburg
  In the Interactive laboratory we will be attending a workshop on a climate change related topic. 

  Grüne Schule in the Botanical Garden
  Immerse yourself in a one-and-a-half-hour guided tour, where you will not only marvel at the flora but also gain insights into Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

  Mathematikum Gießen
  The Mathematikum in Gießen is the first mathematical hands-on museum in the world. There we will be able to see numerous exhibits related to mathematics.

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Panel Discussion

  Speakers:
  - Silke Bell, State coordination of Hessian environmental schools and education for sustainable development, Ministry of education and cultural affairs Hesse
  - Michael Röhrig, Seminar Lead, Teacher-training college Marburg
  - Rieke Ammoneit, Research Associate at the Department of Geography Didactics, Philipps-University Marburg
  - Aylin Yüzgülen-Bienek, Senior Teacher for bilingual teaching, Steinmühle International School

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Practical Information 

  Transportation:
  via airplane (Frankfurt), train or bus
  Please note that the Airport Frankfurt Hahn is not located in Frankfurt and about 4 hours away from Marburg.
  If you are not sure about the best and most convenient way to travel to Marburg, do not hesitate to contact us and we will help you with your trip.
  
  Accommodation:
  For lecturers: Gästehaus Tabor, University Guesthouse Old Botanical Garden
  For students: We strive to make private accommodation available. If you can host another student, please contact us at lima@uni-marburg.de
  
  
  Insurance:
  Please make sure that you carry your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) with you or have sufficient travel health insurance. 
  
  Emergency contacts: 
  Police: 110
  Fire department / medical emergency services: 112
  Medical on-call services: 116117
  Pharmacies

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Financial Affairs

  International students from one of our partner universities can receive a scholarship for the Summer School. The amount of the scholarship is 250 euros, accommodation and meals are also provided. Please contact your home university for more information on how to apply.
  
  Please remember to carry cash in euros. You can either withdraw this from German ATMs with a credit card or exchange it at the airport from your own currency.