Conference Agenda

Sustainability issues are characterized by a tension between the urgency of the addressed problems and democratic decision-making structures. This tense relationship is also the subject of an ongoing debate in the field of ESD between normative and pluralistic approaches. Whereas the latter emerged out of a critique of the normativity of ESD practices and position themselves as committed to an emancipatory educational interest (van Poeck et al. 2014), they also face certain challenges, among other things, their handling of relativism (Tryggvason et al. 2023). Questions such as if every opinion is equally valid in pluralistic discussions – and if not, on the basis of what that could be decided – seem to become even more relevant in the current political climate characterized by post-truth debates and openly discriminatory positions.

Building on Haraway’s (1988) considerations on relativism that “the ‘equality’ of positioning is a denial of responsibility and critical inquiry” I want to question whether the pluralization of viewpoints is the most appropriate response to the criticism of a totalization of a normatively based viewpoint – especially in times of urgent challenges. Given humanity’s dependence on ecological foundations and therefore the need to confront ecological crises now and with radical measures, Latour (2018), among others, argues for the need to (re-)interpret emancipation in a way that it is not understood as liberation from but as the ability to answer to (changeable) necessities of and with the world (Hoppe 2022). In this context, Hoppe (2019) – based on her engagement with Haraway – argues for the need of a critical sociology as an interplay of negativistic-destructive and affirmative-constructive practices and relations to the world (Hoppe 2019).

My argument is that these considerations hold significant potential to enhance ongoing educational discussions as well as concrete teaching practices. I want to focus on how those can be taken into account in teacher training. Drawing on an example from an ongoing research project, I want to discuss how joint reflections on authentic classroom situations are beneficial for learning process of (pre-service) teachers and how the above-mentioned theoretical perspectives can enrich the ESD-discourse with new perspectives.

Literature:

Haraway, D. (1988). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. In: Feminist Studies 14(3), 575–599.

Hoppe, K. (2022). Das Anthropozän kompostieren: Speziesübergreifende Verwandtschaft und sozialökologische Transformation In: Insert 2, 1–15.

Hoppe, K. (2019). Katharina Hoppe: Die Kraft der Revision. Epistemologie, Politik und Ethik bei Donna Haraway. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main.

Latour, B. (2018). Das terrestrische Manifest. Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin.

Tryggvason, Á., Öhman, J. & Van Poeck, K. (2023). Pluralistic environmental and sustainability education – a scholarly review. In: Environmental Education 29(10), 1460–1485.

Van Poeck, K., Goeminne, G. & Vandenabeele, J. (2014). Revisiting the democratic paradox of environmental and sustainability education: sustainability issues as matters of concern. In: Environmental Education Research 22(6), 1–21.

This project bridges research and education by integrating soil science into STEM and geography teacher education curricula through a collaborative and reflexive approach between universities and schools. By addressing the complexity and urgency of sustainability challenges, such as soil health and climate change, the project positions soil science as a lens for engaging with broader wicked problems.

In collaboration with local schools, university students in teacher training programs (PPS2) co-develop and implement classroom activities that combine soil sampling, analysis, and ecosystem evaluation with critical reflection. These activities not only foster analytical and practical skills but also encourage prospective teachers to critically examine their roles in addressing environmental challenges. The project moves beyond affirmational teaching by creating spaces where University and school students and teachers reflect on societal narratives about sustainability and their potential to contribute to transformative change.

The initiative evaluates the effectiveness of hands-on, field-based learning in comparison to traditional and theoretical approaches. Through participatory learning and boundary-crossing between disciplines, the project fosters reflexive dialogues among lecturers, University students and school educators. These dialogues explore various dimensions of sustainability like for example inclusion, women empower in STEM subjects and science -education, linking soil science to geography education's perspective.

The project also develops modular, inquiry-based teaching materials that connect theory with practice, ensuring adaptability to diverse educational contexts. By prioritizing inclusivity, reflexivity, and the co-creation of knowledge, the initiative challenges ingrained educational routines and empowers future educators to address environmental challenges from a critical and transformative standpoint. This collaborative framework strengthens university-school partnerships and offers a replicable model for integrating sustainability into geography teacher education, contributing to both educational and societal transformation.

Transformative education describes an approach that intends to create new and hopeful paths for engaged teaching and learning in geography in times of crises. Those who align their pedagogical actions with this concept demonstrate a strong connection to, and responsibility for, their environment. In our presentation, we aim to place this concern at the center and, based on preliminary considerations in educational theory, introduce two method modules of an excursion concept. These are designed to facilitate embodied experiences of soil and surface worlds through affective practices of walking and listening.

First, we present a method that follows approaches of peripatetic (Kaiser 2020) and promenadology (Burckhardt 2006) and aims to raise awareness of and expand the conditions of environmental perception and experience from an aesthetic and cultural science perspective. Through perception experiments while walking—such as “strolling”, “taking detours”, and “thinking while walking”— participants are encouraged to sharpen their awareness of fractures and transformations in the peripheral areas of urban agglomerations. Second, we present a method module based on phenomenological approaches, designed to make barely heard sounds of various soils sensorially tangible. How does the forest floor sound? What noises are hidden under a cemetery or a street? How do the subterranean tones of a meadow differ from those of an urban ornamental lawn? We discuss to what extent listening carefully to the acoustic characteristics of the ground can contribute to a “re-sensitizing self-awareness” (“re-sensibilisierende Selbstgewahrwerdung”, Hasse 2022).

Finally, based on our experiences, we would like to discuss the extent to which these methods can enrich a transformative teaching practice in higher education. In particular, we aim to explore how they can encourage prospective teachers to actively engage in dialogue with our environment and critically question established teaching and learning routines—while also highlighting where the limitations of these approaches become evident.

Burckhardt, Lucius (2006). Warum ist Landschaft schön? Die Spaziergangswissenschaft. Berlin: Martin Schmitz.

Hasse, Jürgen (2022): Das Geräusch der Stadt. Phänomenologie des Lauten und Leisen. Baden-Baden: Verlag Karl Alber.

Kaiser, C. (2020). Peripatetik war schon immer ein SchreibenGehen. Kunstforum international, 48(266), 120-130.

As consumers of media-based information, teachers no longer obtain their educational materials solely from analogue formats, but are increasingly expanding their search for sources into digital spheres of knowledge. These must then be made didactically fruitful for media-supported teaching-learning situations in a producing attitude. Under current conditions of a culture of digitality, such a dual understanding of roles must be addressed in teacher training. In this respect, the contribution focusses on the perspective of teachers as prosuming storytellers. Based on a theoretical-conceptual elaboration of this attribution, an online training course entitled ‘Digital storytelling in the context of sustainability’ is presented, which is also used in a university context as a seminar for geography student teachers.

Storytelling as a didactic method is based on the described media starting point of digital educational practice in order to link complex circumstances, such as the climate crisis, with everyday experiences of pupils. In this way, young people should feel empowered to face the challenges in a meaningful and self-confident way. It is equally about facing up to emergence and unpredictability and finding a productive way of dealing with paralysing contradictions. Stories therefore require a narrative style that captures the diversity of the world and turns away from binary thought patterns. The experiences of others should become one's own source of knowledge, in that stories are not to be understood as closed knowledge, but as open to interpretation. Such narratives imply the possibility of trying out alternative approaches. As a result, the training concept is part of a didactically orientated, transformative ESD, which uses media representations to identify multi-perspective contexts. According to an emancipatory understanding, ESD endeavours to address corresponding values and attitudes and to strengthen knowledge and skills that are conducive to a sustainable way of life.

The submission presents digital storytelling as an innovative approach to contemporary sustainability communication by interweaving educational theory, (geography) didactics and journalistic perspectives. Building on this, the conceptual outline of a digital training programme forms the main focus of the presentation, which concludes with the initial practical experiences of teachers gathered in the course of reflection interviews.