An educational trip to Norway

Last May, as a group of six students studying at the University of Malta for degrees in Bachelor of Education in Science and Masters in Sustainable Development, we carried out the second part of the Erasmus+ Programme: EduChange project in Trondheim, Norway. The first part of the EduChange project took place in Olomouc, Czechia where we collaborated on issues related to climate change with other students from three other universities: the Palacký University Olomouc, Czechia; Utrecht University, the Netherlands and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway.

This project provided us with adequate tools to reflect on the impacts of climate change by taking into consideration real-life examples as can be seen in Norway, Netherlands, Czechia and even Malta. We realized that climate change is a global issue that can be effectively resolved through collaborative actions that educate people, address solutions and implement them adequately. This project shed light on the tangible impacts of climate change as we were able to observe and study through site visits and fieldwork trips. As prospective teachers we realised, through site activities, how place-based education leaves a huge impact on learners and how this methodology, besides raising awareness, make climate change issues relevant and consequently motivate learners to act.

In our first trip to Czechia, we were tasked with planning a lesson about one of the topics discussed during the programme in Olomouc. The lesson plan was subsequently carried out in our respective countries. Our lesson was an Integrated Science lesson focusing on Water Footprints and was held at the St Therese Middle School Birkirkara. The lesson included a number of questions asking students to re- flect on their own water footprints, Malta’s water footprint and methods how water footprints can be decreased. We were surprised by the number of students who were not conscious of the fact that the manufacture of simple objects such as shoes, clothes and cars requires a large amount of water. Another part of the lesson plan required the students to list a number of food items they consume during breakfast time and consequently calculate the total amount of water they consumed. Once again, the activity was quite revealing and helped students to reflect how their choices have an impact on their surroundings. At the end of the lesson, students were asked to propose tangible solutions Malta can adopt to decrease its water footprint

The ScienceJam held in Trondheim, Norway provided us with interactive sessions, seminars, workshops, site visits and fieldtrips over a total of five days. The sessions were coordinated by professors from each partner uni- versity and tackled issues such as climate change and water-related issues. However, the ScienceJam was mainly aimed towards providing us with an opportunity to discuss and evaluate the lessons we carried out in our respective countries. Students from all the universities presented their lessons as well as students’ reflections, ideas, opinions and suggestions. Through this experience, we were able to gain knowledge on how students of different countries react to global issues and how different methodologies can provide diverse learning opportunities. Each student group was later allowed to review their plans and upload their respective lessons in a compendium that will be available online on the project’s website.

We are grateful for this opportunity as it made us aware on how we can make use of placebased learning experiences to promote action-oriented education for sustainable development.

The project is supported by the Erasmus+ Programme resources no.: 2017-1-CZ01-KA203-035519

Maltese student delegation with their Norwegian counterparts celebrating the Norwegian Constitution Day