Tag Archives: education

New paper out: Vocational education for a sustainable future

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Saskia Weijzen published her first article as a part of her PhD-journey. The full title is:  Vocational education for a sustainable future: Unveiling the collaborative learning narratives to make space for learning

I am sharing the abstract here to pique, hopefully, your curiosity:

In the light of urgent global sustainability challenges, vocational education is searching for new approaches that are more just and future proof. At least a part of the answer seems to lie in so-called collaborative learning arrangements where students together with societal actors explore sustainability-related challenges. The amount of this kind of arrangements in which vocational education participates increases. Empirical studies on what actually goes on in the collaborative arrangements are rather scarce. This study addresses the theory-practice gap by applying a participatory design. The study unveils that deeply seated educational and socio-cultural routines like the student as learner, alienation from issues, a bias towards cognitive knowing and ‘solving’ problems seem to limit the possibilities for more genuine collaboration to emerge. The study also found that by intervening with creative and reflexive methods, space for transformative learning can unfold that allows engagement with existential questions like ‘what is it what I really got to do here?’. The opening up of these spaces was accompanied by longings to go beyond the rosy narratives of collaborative learning arrangements and to have more attention for the persistent embeddedness of educational routines in the societal issues around us. Vocational education as society. What happens if we progress towards vocational education for sustainable futures with more modesty and introspection?

The full citation and doi (it is open access!) is:

Weijzen, S. M. G., Onck, C., Wals, A. E., Tassone, V. C., & Kuijer-Siebelink, W. (2024). Vocational education for a sustainable future: Unveiling the collaborative learning narratives to make space for learning. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 76(2), 331–353. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2023.2270468

Another WSA paper: The relationship between student participation and students’ self-perceived action competence for sustainability in a Whole School Approach

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Over the past few years I have been working with colleagues both at Wageningen University and at the Norwegian Life Sciences University (NMBU) on researching the potential merits of so-called Whole School and/or Whole Institution Approaches (WSA/WIA) to sustainability. At NMBU there are currently four PhD projects related to this. One of the PhD candidates I am working with is Ane Thorsdottir who focusses on one aspect of the WSA which is critically important: students participation. A paper of which she is the lead researcher and lead author just came out in Environmental Education Research (open access). In the paper students’ self-perceived action competence within a WSA is a central topc. Here is the abstract:

Here is the full reference and a link to the full paper:

Ane Eir Torsdottir, Daniel Olsson, Astrid Tonette Sinnes & Arjen Wals (2024) The relationship between student participation and students’ self-perceived action competence for sustainability in a whole school approach, Environmental Education Research, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2024.2326462

Tore vd Leij successfully defends: ´Biology education as moral education: Supporting students’ morality within the human- nature context´

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On this day, February 13th, one of my first Masters students during my tenure at Wageningen University (in the mid-1990s!), Tore van der Leij, defended his PhD on ´Biology Education as a moral education´. He did so in the Aula of the University of Groningen which hosted his research. Tore is a Biology Teacher at Hondsrug College Secondary School in Emmen in the North of the Netherlands. Under the mentorshop of Prof. Martin Goedhart (RUG), Prof. Lucy Avraamidou (RUG) and myself, Tore worked, over a period of 7 years (COVID19 inclusive) with secondary school students and fellow teachers in two schools in figuring out how their morality can best be developed within the human-nature context. He developed a series of lessons to help trigger students´morality (all available in Dutch in the appendix). Tore had all four of his empirical chapters published in high quality journals. As an appetiser for his excellent work, I am sharing the Epilogue of his thesis below. The entire thesis can be downloaded via the University of Groningen´s Library System.

Epilogue

“As I described in the introduction to this chapter, many biology teachers in the Netherlands consider supporting students in developing skills related to morality important (e.g., CvTE, 2019; SLO, 2021; Van Maanen, 2021). Unfortunately, most teachers do not get around to it, mainly because of the overloaded exam programme (CvTE, 2019; SLO, 2021). In addition, the skills are not tested in the central exams, but only in the school exams. As a result, supporting students in developing skills related to morality are not teachers’ priority.

All this notwithstanding, the outlined urgency of the context in which supporting students’ morality should take place is evident. Above that, given that many biology teachers do consider supporting students’ morality important, it is my hope that the results from this research project provide a valuable practical interpretation of biology education aimed at supporting students’ morality in the human-nature context.

When I started this PhD journey in 2016, an important motive for conducting this research project was my concern about the socio-ecological challenges, both globally and locally, in which the negative impact of human actions on ‘other-than-human’ beings, and future generations have become increasingly prominent. I felt, and still feel, that education should respond to this urgency by providing our students with the necessary ‘free space’, ‘skolè’, to develop, form and reflect upon these challenges, and give them opportunities to act in relation to the constantly changing world around them.

The fact that Gretha Thunberg (a 15-year old student at the time) with her ‘Skolstrejk för klimatet’ in 2018 (about two years after the start of this research project) chose not to go to school, is perhaps illustrative for education’s challenge to offer our students the valuable and meaningful education, that meets the big challenges of our time. In any case, the following that Gretha has received since then – for instance, the Climate Strikes in which tens of thousands of young people participated – shows that there is plenty of commitment, need and motivation among young people to engage with these moral dilemmas.”

Yanyan Huang successfully defends her thesis ´Exploring the Role of Externalization of Shared Values for Sustainability Transformation´

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Yanyan Huang receving her PhD degree with on her side second promotor Prof Marie Harder of Fudan University, Co-promotor Dr. Renate W<esselink and myself.

On December 19th Yanyan Huang successfully defended her thesis in the aula of Wageningen university. Her thesis presents an in-depth exploration to unravel the roles/potential of the externalization of shared values in facilitating sustainability transformation. Although the need for sustainability transformation is increasing globally and the profound influence of values for sustainability transformation is already established, there is still not sufficient understanding in how to purposefully navigate values for sustainability transformation. This thesis strives to fill this gap by introducing a new perspective: conceptualizing values as tacit knowledge and leveraging the SECI model from the Knowledge Creation Theory. Synthesizing results from empirical data collected from cases conducted in Shanghai, China, this thesis identifies the roles of externalization of shared values with respect to its outcome (shared values) and the procedure (externalization) for sustainability transformation. Further, this thesis presents discussions of the underlying mechanism through which shared values, when externalized, facilitate substantial sustainability transformations, and reflections on the implication for researchers from the field of sustainability science. For those who aim to promote sustainability transformation, this thesis not only enhances the understanding of the dynamic interplay between shared values and sustainability transformation, but also provides a specific roadmap to unleash the potential of the externalization of shared values for sustainability transformation to respond to the above- mentioned gap. With its new perspective, this thesis also underscores the necessity of considering the procedures through which values/shared values are involved.

The entire thesis can be downloaded via the Wageningen University Library.

Marieke Versteijlen successfully defended her PhD thesis on Blended learning in higher education from a sustainability perspective

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On December 12th Marieke Versteijlen of Avans Hogeschool successfully defended her thesis at the Wageningen University. Marieke was co-supervised by myself and Transportation Scientist Prof. Bert van Wee of Delft University in the aula of Wageningen University. The thesis was approved and discussed by a committee consisting of Prof. Taeke Tillema of Groningen University, Prof. Arnold Brecht, Dean of Educaiton, Wageningen University, Dr. Sally Windsor of Gothenburg University in Sweden and Dr. Wim Lambrechts of the Open University of The Netherlands.

Marieke’s research addresses the high environmental impact of students commuting to the higher educational institution (HEI) by exploring the potential of digital technology to lower the travel movements of students.

The research explores how on-campus and online education can be balanced in a blended learning design to decrease student commute without compromising educational quality. By applying a form of Educational Design Research (EDR), involving key HEI stakeholders, guidelines and principles were found that can support the design of blended education to simultaneously meet these environmental and educational requirements.

The three stages of EDR were followed to design the sustainable blended intervention, exploration, construction and reflection. In the exploration stage, the environmental impact of students commuting to and from campus was explored across several Dutch HEIs and compared with international research on HEIs’ carbon footprint, confirming its large contribution. Also showing that only a few Dutch sustainability and ICT professionals recognized the potential of online learning to lower carbon emissions due to student commute.

After establishing the environmental impact of student travel, the considerations and (de)motivators of Dutch students influencing their travel mode choices and their decisions about whether to travel to their institution or to study online were explored. Their travel mode choice is mostly based on habit and influenced by travel-regulating measures of the Dutch government (a free public transport permit) and HEIs (high parking costs). Their decision to make a trip to campus seems to be a reasoned choice, influenced by the number and time of the day of their scheduled classes, the type of learning activity and their perceived study abilities.

In the construction stage, design principles and associated recommendations were developed to design sustainability-oriented blended education through a realist review and by cooperating with a team of eight educational professionals to design a blended study programme. Lecturers can use these design principles to guide and assess the quality of a blended learning unit. The acquisition of sustainability competencies by the students was considered one of the aspects of educational quality. The implementation of the prototype was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The government restrictions changed the intended blend to mainly online education. Instead of measuring student travel emissions as a result of the design, a possible attitude change of students toward online learning and commuting that might have been caused by going through a period of primarily online learning due to COVID-19 restrictions, was studied. The students experienced that online meetings can be productive and efficient, and less time is lost in travel. Both were appreciated by the students.

This research adds a sustainable perspective and a step toward a detailed pedagogical framework to what is already known about blended learning. Although we could not measure the impact of a blended learning design on student travel emissions due to COVID-19, there are strong indicators that a blended learning design can be used to decrease its environmental impact by reducing student commute. The findings of this study can contribute to a whole-institution approach embedding sustainability in all aspects of the institution.

The entire thesis is available through open access through the Wageningen Library as are the four peer reviewed papers that all have been published.

Exploring environmental stewardship among youth from a high-biodiverse region in Colombia – new study!

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Source: Salva La Selva

Led by Daniel Couceiro, I was priviledged to join a group of reflective practitioners and colleague Valentina Tassone on the meaning of stewardship in a troubled highly biodiverse region Here you have the main premise of the paper but please go to the full paper for a more in-depth encounter with the work.

Nature degradation is rooted in the disruption of the human-land connection. Its restoration requires the regeneration of environmental stewardship as a way to live within environmental limits, especially for younger generations. In this study we used the implementation of a year-round, non-formal environmental education program during COVID-19 times to explore environmental stewardship in adolescents between 14- and 18-years old from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Using a qualitative methodology, we mapped expressions of environmental stewardship among local youth. We found several barriers that can be challenged and levers that can be nurtured through inclusive, place-based and collaborative environmental education strategies to foster youth’s environmental stewardship in Colombian’s high-biodiverse regions.

Full citation and link to open access paper:

Daniel Couceiro, Ivona Radoslavova Hristova, Valentina Tassone, Arjen Wals & Camila Gómez (2023) Exploring environmental stewardship and youth engagement in biodiversity among youth from a high-biodiverse region in Colombia, The Journal of Environmental Education, DOI: 10.1080/00958964.2023.2238649

While Higher Education is grappling with enormous sustainability challenges Ghent University is about to downsize its successful Green Office

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n a time where universities across the globe are trying to figure out how to remain relevant, responsive and responsible in times of climate urgency, biodiversity collapse and rising inequality, Ghent University is about to downsize its infamous Green Office in light of necessary ‘budget cuts’. I have worked with the Ghent Green Office and some of its key members for many years and find it hard to believe. Later this week the university leadership will determine whether it will downsize or continue to fully support some of the most dedicated and capable people and the structures they have created over the years to make sustainability part of the DNA of university and the wider community of Ghent. Together with educators and researchers based at universities across Europe we wrote a letter urging the leadership to rethink its down-sizing plans and to adopt a more visionary and hopeful stance. You can read the letter here:

university-of-ghent-letter-re-green-officeDownload

I couldn´t resist: A SWOT analysis of ChatGPT – implications for educational practice and research

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Source: https://evaluationcomics.freshspectrum.com/comic/chatgpt-and-plagiarism/

After a very good impromptu explanation of how ChatGPT works and will affect the future of research and education by ELS colleague Auke Westerterp in a homemade videoclip (have a look here), a lively discussion started among colleagues about the pro´s and cons of ChatGPT.

I found myself on the side of being skeptical and, indeed, worried. But there were also colleagues who see AI and chatbots as inevitable and potentially beneficial. In fact, it turned out they were already using it in both research and education, and, upon asking around a bit, I found out that many students are using it to (re)write their papers and to save the time of reading (which apparently is seen as an inefficient activity).

I then tried it out myself and was perplexed by what ChatGPT can create in seconds. I out in key words we use in our RiverCommons project which focuses on things like ´rights to nature´, ´water justice,´ ´decolonization´ and sustainable development, social learning, etc. I put in these words and asked ChatGPT to write a 300-word paper, with references APA style. To convince the project leader – Prof Rutgerd Boelens of Wageningen University´s Water Resource Management Group, I also asked to refer to the work of Boelens in the. article. The result was impressive and could have easily fooled the reviewers of a bunch of journals. To top things off, I asked ChatGTP to include a 100 biography of Rutgerd Boelens.

In fact, a good colleague of mine, also active in sustainability in higher education, Debby Cotton based at the University of Plymouth, submitted a paper to a journal, together with colleagues, to a journal which had been written by ChatGTP. They told the editor beforehand. The editor was in for an experiment and the paper went through a proper review process and… was accepted and then published with a discussion of what happened and what might be possible implications of this. The paper – have a look here – got featured in major newspapers like the Guardian and the Washington Post.

In the meantime, my colleagues working on ICT-supported learning had already started working on a SWOT of the use of ChatGPT in education. When I showed my interest in the debate, they asked me to join. Given the magnitude of the phenomenon, I could not resist and agreed to join. The paper just got published in Innovations in Teaching International and can be downloaded here. Have a look and see what you think. One of my concerns, not highlighted in the paper, is that these technologies will only expand our screen time (videophilia) and further disconnect us from places and people and the relations between them. As such they serve Nasdaq-listed companies and their shareholders most, while further eroding life on this Earth (biophilia). Perhaps, now that the AI is becoming so powerful, it will lead to a new discussion about the purpose of education and people´s motivations to learn. That, in the end, might be the best outcome.

Full citation:

Farrokhnia, M., Seyyed Kazem Banihashem, Omid Noroozi & Arjen Wals (2023) A SWOT analysis of ChatGPT: Implications for educational practice and research, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, DOI: 10.1080/14703297.2023.2195846

High school biology students’ use of values in their moral argumentation and decision-making in times of polarization, confusion and unsustainability

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Another paper based on PhD Tore van der Leij just appeared in the Journal of Moral Education. I took the liberty to add a few words to the title… ‘in times of polarization, confusion and unsustainability’ to emphasize the importance of this work.

In this qualitative case study Tore examined the impact of a specially-designed classroom intervention for a group of 15–16-year-old Dutch biology students’ use of values in contemplating five socioscientific issues in the human-nature context. The students worked in small groups to support various aspects of their morality. An ethical matrix was used as a heuristic to explore different arguments and moral values from different perspectives. The collected data consisted of written assignments, group conversations, and individual interviews. The results show that students’ use of values differed from one issue to another. The values they used in their moral decision-making indicated that the influence of the intervention activities, aimed at enhancing a relationship between moral agent (student) and moral object (topic), was limited. The study provides evidence that the intervention positively conduced to students’ cognition of the values that are personally relevant. Recommendations for further theorization, research and practice are discussed.

Here is the link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057240.2023.2185595

Full citaton:Leij, Tote, van der, Martin Goedhart, Lucy Avraamidou & Arjen Wals (2023) High school biology students’ use of values in their moral argumentation and decision-making, Journal of Moral Education, DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2023.2185595

White Paper on Regenerative Higher Education – Rethinking education in times of dysfunction and collapse

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Regrettably this white paper is only available in Dutch. Some ot the ideas artuclated in the paper can also be found in The Regenerative Education Podcast Series created by PhD Bas van den Berg see: The Regenerative Education Podcasts – Planting the seeds of change

Ik maak sinds een paar jaar deeluit van een Nederlandse  Community of Practice rondom Regenerative Higher Education bestaande uit PhDs en medewerkers van verschillende universiteiten en hoge scholen. Dit White Paper is het resultaat van de samenwerking in de Community of Practice en is samengesteld door Martine de Wit en gebaseerd op interviews met Bas van den Berg, Daan Buijs, Mieke Lopes Cardozo, Marlies van der Wee en Arjen Wals. Met input van Nina Bohm, Linda de Greef, Michaela Hordijk, Naomie Tieks, Koen Wessels, Rosanne van Wieringen, en Roosmarijn van Woerden. De illustraties en vormgeving zijn verzorgd door Mari Genova.

Het paper vertrekt vanuit de vraag:

Onderwijs dat het beste haalt uit onszelf en onze studenten, op weg naar herstel van de aarde. Hoe komen we daar?

Lees hier ons verhaal en laat ons weten wat resoneert, schuurt of wat het anderzins losmaakt!

whitepaperrenerativeeducationDownload

Designing a module for supporting secondary biology students’ morality through socioscientific issues in the human-nature context – new research

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One of my PhD’s. Tore van der Leij – jointly supervised with Prof Martin Goedhart and Prof. Lucy Avramidoo, both from Groningnen University here in The Netherlands where Tore hopes to receive his degree sometime this year – just had one of his studies published in the Journal of Biological Education.

The paper, of which Tore is the lead-author, poses that in addressing contemporary socio-ecological challenges it is imperative to engage individuals with the moral dilemmas in the human-nature context. A socioscientific-issues (SSI) approach to secondary biology education can contribute to engaging students in moral dilemmas and reflecting on their values.

Following a design research methodology, the paper aimed to: (1) develop a set of design principles of an intervention in Dutch upper secondary SSI biology education, aimed at supporting secondary biology students’ morality in the human-nature context; (2) concretise the design principles as a module.The practical output of the study is a module, which was refined and improved during the design phase, and then implemented by two biology teachers. In this paper, we present an exemplary example of a lesson from the module. As theoretical output, the paper discusses the role of the design principles: nature of the dilemmas; Four Component Model of morality; group work; and ethical matrix. Based on experiences in classrooms, recommendations are provided for further research and practice.

The paper can be found HERE: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00219266.2023.2174160

Full citation: Leij, T. van der; Goedhart, M.; Avraamidou, L. & Wals, A. (2023) Designing a module for supporting secondary biology students’ morality through socioscientific issues in the human-nature context, Journal of Biological Education, DOI: 10.1080/00219266.2023.2174160

For another paper related to this research see:

Tore Van Der Leij, Lucy Avraamidou, Arjen Wals & Martin Goedhart (2022) Supporting Secondary Students’ Morality Development in Science Education, Studies in Science Education, 58:2, 141-181, DOI: 10.1080/03057267.2021.1944716

KEYWORDS: 

Just out: Embodiment Talk – a podcast on what embodiment might mean for education and creating true connections with ourselves, the other and the world

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In this Embodiment Talk I am interviewed by Marjon van Opijnen of the Embodiment Lab

We talk about the importance of embodiment in education. And how we can create education systems that create space for connections with ourselves, the other and the world. We talk about:

• What embodiment means for education;

• How education can help to create true connections with ourselves, the other and the world;

• The different forms of learning in eduation and how these can contribute to a more sustainable world;

• How education can teach us to criticize, connect and care. And that vulnerability can exist next to strength;

• How to integrate a systemic perspective in the education system.

Here you can go straight to the Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJlpE3rK0MM&t=153s

Go to: https://www.youtube.com/@embodimentlab-marjonvanopijnen for all the podcasts Marjon has made so far.

 Education in Times of Climate Change – comprehensive NORRAG Special Volume

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Climate change is not a new issue for education, but new levels of consensus and concern are emerging, suggesting that new policy developments may follow. This NORRAG Special Issue (NSI 07) addresses the question of how education is to equip learners to participate in climate action that would fundamentally disrupt existing problematic systems. This NSI has the potential to inform pedagogical praxis, co-learning, curriculum, climate action, policy formulation, frameworks for evaluating success, resourcing decisions and what we might consider educative acts for engaging with climate change and its multi-dimensional uncertainties, risks and opportunities. 

Edited by South African Professors Eureta Rosenberg and Heila Lotz-Sisitka, this is one of the most comprehensive and ground braking collections of papers available at the moment. The special issue is completely open access. You can find the full table of contents here.

I am very pleased to have found two wonderful Norwegian colleagues – Astrid Sinnes of the Norwegian Life Sciences University and Ole Andreas Kvamme of the University of Oslo who were willing to join in writing a contribution which is titled: School Strikes as Catalysts for Rethinking Educational Institutions, Purposes and Practices

I am also delighted to see two of my former PhD’s, Thomas Macintyre and Martha Chaves, based in Colombia in the special issue as well with a paper on Climate Change Resilience through Collaborative Learning in the Colombian Coffee Region – they co-authored with Tatiana Monroy who, like omas and Martha volunteers for Fundación Mentes en Transición, Colombia, South America

There will be an online launch of the NORRAG Special Issue 07 (NSI 07): Education in Times of Climate Change, will take place on 6 October 2022 at 16:00 – 17:30 CEST. For more information about the llaunch event have look here!

‘Sweet Acid’ An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Students’ Navigating Regenerative Higher Education

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Another important paper appeared led by PhD candidate Bas van den Berg. This time is appeared in a Special Issue edited by Santiago Alonso-Garcia on  Educational Research and Innovation in the First Global Catastrophe of the 21st Century: Committed to Education in the journal Education Sciences. The paper is completely Open Access an can be downloaded here. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/8/533 but to give you a taste of what you can expect I am pasting the abstract below.

Abstract

Regenerative forms of higher education are emerging, and required, to connect with some of the grand transition challenges of our times. This paper explores the lived experience of 21 students learning to navigate a regenerative form of higher education in the Mission Impact course at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. This semester-length course ran for two iterations with the intention of connecting the students with local transitions towards a more circular society, one where products are lasting and have multiple lives when they are shared, refurbished, or become a source for a new product. At the end of each iteration, the students reflected on their experience using the Living Spiral Framework, which served as basis for an interpretative phenomenological analysis of their journey navigating this transformative course. The results of this study include four themes; (1) Opting in—Choosing RHE, (2) Learning in Regenerative Ways, (3) Navigating Resistance(s), and (4) Transformative Impacts of RHE. These themes can be used by practitioners to design and engage with regenerative forms of higher education, and by scholars to guide further inquiry. View Full-Text

Keywords: regenerative higher education; interpretative phenomenological analysis; lived experience; living spiral framework; regenerative learning; navigating resistances

Full citation: van den Berg, B.; Poldner, K.A.; Sjoer, E.; Wals, A.E.J. ‘Sweet Acid’ An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Students’ Navigating Regenerative Higher Education. Educ. Sci. 2022, 12, 533. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12080533