Sustainability and young children…Inspire, Explore, Act!

Presented by Di Nailon & Sherridan Emery

Linking sustainability education and the EYLF/NQS.

Introducing sustainability through daily routines, story books, arts and caring.

Starting with a story

What does this story make you think about?

Sustainability

What is it?

Let’s start with something we all know…. a cup of coffee.

How did this get here?

How does our morning cup of coffee get here?

In your table group draw or note all of the things you can think of that have to happen for your cup of coffee to be possible.

Other ideas about what is needed for our morning coffee…• Coffee growing, water, soil• Employment of coffee pickers• Producing coffee from beans • Energy to produce coffee• Transportation of coffee beans• Rubbish disposal (coffee, milk,

sugar)• Supermarket distribution, stocking

the shelves, checkout operator• China clay mining/coffee cups• Stainless steel spoon• Kettle for the boiling water• Water came from the dam• Electricity powered the kettle

I need coffee!!!

Who knew a simple cup of coffee could become so complex???

Systems at work

Our children need to start to understand the many systems that work in their lives in order for them to flourish.

Can we see how our cup of coffee can be thought of in terms of the types of systems involved?

How does that relate to sustainability?

Sustainability is COMPLEX! It involves a range of

different SYSTEMS working together which each have multiple inputs, processes and outputs.

The children in our care today will inherit unprecedented problems that will need to be addressed in their lifetimes.

(Challenge based learning research report, 2009)

Sustainability

Starting with the child

Let’s meet Bronte….

What might be matters of sustainability she will need to face in her lifetime?…

Lets discuss in small groups and brainstorm our ideas.

Can we group some of these issues into themes?

Looking back at our story

Can we see any of these themes reflected in the story we began the session with?

Let’s revisit what we thought about in our discussion at the end of the story?

Four dimensions of sustainability

Sustainability involves “living in ways that enable future generations to flourish”.

(Source: UNESCO, 2005)

Sustainability is much more than recycling and composting

Children explore sustainability through inquiry learning.

Asking good questions is the key.

What are some good questions that can help inspire children to be curious about their world?

Principles of education for sustainability

Participation Critical thinking and reflection Partnerships for change Envisioning a better future Systems thinking

How do we incorporate these principles in our practice

(Source: Australian Government, 2009)

Starting with curiosity…

What is it about the world that the children in your care are curious about?

What can you do to foster this curiosity?

Bronte is curious about the sky and chooses to express her thinking by painting the sky.

Conferencewith childrenabout theirinterests

Interested in clothes –Decided they would like new dress up clothes

Parent input Looked at photos of Multiculturalclothing

Bead threading

Makingbutterfly masks

Dancing with scarvesand ribbons

Project Web

[Bronte has seen butterfly wings that inspired her to create a mask. She had been curious about the colours found on butterflies in the garden.]

Let’s reflect on how our practice incorporates these principles?

ParticipationCritical thinking and

reflectionPartnerships for change Envisioning a better futureSystems thinking

Let’s look at our practice a little differently

How many Re… words can we create?

Reduce, reuse, recycle.What else?

Inspire… through stories

A great place to stimulate thinking about sustainability is with stories.

Consider including story books which explore broader themes of sustainability.

Arts as ways of exploring and expressing: ideas, thoughts, values and learning

Visual arts Music Drama Dance Storytelling Media arts Invite exploration and expression

through the languages of the arts that we learnt about in the previous PD session.

To close our session, let’s think again about some sustainability initiatives we are already doing or thinking about doing…

In/about/through the veggie patch! [Let’s start talking with children about the systems that are part of children’s lives]

Going beyond the veggie patch! [participation; envisioning a better future]

Can we implement some ideas together [partnerships for change?]

Can we reflect “critically and creatively” at our own practice to start transforming our practice [you’ve taken a great leap in critical thinking and reflection just by being here]

So where to from here?... How can you use the ideas introduced

today into your practice?