Environment in Pedagogy (5cr)
Course unit code: C-10122-KAS--KAA--180
General information
- Credits
- 5 cr
- Institution
- University of Tampere
Objectives
The student- Understands the environment as a relative concept- Knows the basic dimensions of the UN's sustainability agenda, especially the sustainable development goals- Understands the role of education and lifelong learning as part of sustainable development- Recognizes the educational idea of eco-social approach- Knows the main criticisms of the nature-culture dichotomy and the human-centered environmental relationship- Is able to connect an environmental perspective to different disciplines, especially education- Can take an environmental pedagogic perspective when examining various topics- Is able to participate in the discussion about current cross-border phenomena from an environmental pedagogical point of view
Content
The course introduces you to the environment from the perspectives of education. The main goals are to understand how people's relationships with the environment are formed, how they can be influenced by pedagogical means and how people's agency can be changed towards a more sustainable direction through an eco-social approach. Teaching is guided by the perception of the urgency of environmental problems, which requires a holistic, interdisciplinary, and dynamic approach to education and lifelong learning related to the environment. Key topics to be discussed are the dynamics of the construction of human-environmental relationships, the prevailing Western thinking based on the nature-culture dichotomy and human-centeredness and its criticism, the principles of the UN's sustainability goals, especially with regard to education, shared environmental citizenship, the multiple meanings of the environment from the perspectives of different disciplines, and environmental education as a perspective on current cross-border phenomena (e.g. climate change, loss of nature, international migration, energy policy, transnational conflicts).