- within the ecological, economical and social aspects of ESD Annika Manni, Umeå University Supervisors: Karin Sporre and Christina Ottander May, 2011

UN-decade of Education for Sustainable development ( ) The need for a new approach in education Systems thinking and complexity (Hjort & Bagheri, 2006) (Wylie et al.,1998) (Jonsson, 2007) Decision making and action competence (Jenssen& Schnack, 2006) ( Dawidowicz, 2010) Values and ethics (Öhman & Östman, 2008) (Rickinson & Lundholm, 2008) Childrens voices (OMEP,2010) (Hartman et al., 2007)

1, How do young Swedish students understand and value the aspects of sustainable development and their relations? 2, How can the relationships between understanding and valuing SD be described?

209 young students, aged 10-12, Swedish schools Comprehensive questionnaire with open-ended questions, 2010 Phenomenographic approach Content analysis - categories Variations and relationships

81 different questions, 72 closed and 9 open- ended. Open questions with picture support within every aspect of ESD as well as how they are related all together What do you know about….? How do you feel about that ? Response in written text Read as slowly as it takes the pupils to write ( Hartman, 1986)

209 responses, open questions Rich and comprehensive material Meaning-making moment ; that they got to express their own thoughts in a way they had not before

Example: I know that big factories emit bad smoke, both we humans and animal get sick of the smoke, even flowers and plants. It is bad that some people throw waste in the nature,

Example: In Africa children are working to make things that other then get rich of.I think that is really bad!

Example: It is not fair, I think everybody should have equal amount of money. I am happy that I live in Sweden.

Connections between aspects and how things affect each other are generally harder to describe. Still, some students do this in a quite complex way, e.g. When we manufacture something that shall be sold in a factory we destroy the nature. Air and water for both humans and animals are destroyed.

Values or emotional expressions in every aspect has been categorized and are often shown as: Emotions – spontanous, positive and negative Moral reactions – good or bad actions, often taught behaviours Ethical reasoning – reflections about morals, cause and effect Values are often shown together with more complex understandings.

Complex area with great variations in descriptions of the aspects of SD. Swedish students aware and describe every aspect of SD, mostly in simple ways but also some quite complex. In the ecological aspect; mostly within but with different complexity. In the economical; mostly within and quite simple but also some relations with other aspects. In the social aspect; mostly within and very emotional. Relationships are as well described, most difficult between all three. (Loughland et al. 2002, Wylie et al. 1998) Understandings and values intergrated, even; rich of emotions = rich in complex understandings (Öhman & Östman, 2007, Lundholm & Rickinsson, 2008)

Implications for teaching and learning: Holistic and relational approach is needed Integration of knowledge and ethics Importance of the teachers awareness of students pre-understandings

Thanks for your attention!