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Journal of Sustainability Education
Vol. 8, January 2015
ISSN: 2151-7452
!
Global Sustainability: An Authentic Context for Energy Education !
!
Danica Hendrickson!
Kimberly Corrigan!
Alicia Keefe
Facing the Future, Western Washington University !
Danielle Shaw
Washington Environmental Council!
Sheeba Jacob!
Center for Educational Leadership, University of Washington
!
Laura Skelton
Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility!
Jennifer Schon
Karla Bradley Eitel, PhD
McCall Outdoor Science School, University of Idaho!
R. Justin Hougham, PhD
Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center, University of Wisconsin-Extension!
Abstract: Reimagining energy education involves moving beyond the basics of energy use,
conservation, and efficiency toward a more robust exploration of energy. This exploration should
address energy access and equity, the impacts of energy choices, and personal attitudes, beliefs,
and behaviors related to sustainable energy solutions. One approach to encourage this evolution
is to use a learning context that inspires educators and students to delve deeply and methodically
into the social, economic, and environmental interconnections of energy issues—in other words,
to learn about energy within the context of global sustainability. In this article, we share Facing
the Future’s definition of global sustainability education (GSE), explain why GSE is an effective
context for energy education, and use Facing the Future’s newest energy curriculum to
demonstrate how GSE can be employed to develop engaging and rigorous interdisciplinary
energy curriculum.!
!
Key words: global sustainability education, sustainability, curriculum, global issues, energy,
energy literacy, energy education, lessons
!
Danica Hendrickson is the Curriculum Director for Facing the Future, where she develops global sustainability curriculum and
works to promote energy literacy with the NARA education team. Danica earned a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate
School of Education’s Mind, Brain, and Education program and has 10 years of middle school teaching experience.
danica@facingthefuture.org
Global Sustainability: An Authentic Context for Energy Education!
Journal of Sustainability Education
http://www.susted.org/
!
Kimberly Corrigan is the Executive Director of Facing the Future, an independent program of Western Washington University.
Kim is also a U.S. Affiliate for Earth Charter International (ratified by UNESCO, 2000). She holds a master’s degree in
communication from the Edward R. Murrow School at Washington State University and a Master Certificate for Project
Leadership from Cornell University. kimberly@facingthefuture.org !
Alicia Keefe is the Education and Digital Learning Manager for Facing the Future, where she develops global sustainability
curriculum, adapts lessons for SMART Board, and creates courses for learning management systems. She holds a master’s
degree in science education from the College of Education at the University of Washington and a certificate of Education,
Environment, and Community from IslandWood. alicia@facingthefuture.org !
Danielle Shaw currently provides policy analysis for the Washington Environmental Council. While always keeping one foot in
the education world, she has also earned her law degree with a specialization in natural resource management. Danielle crafted
lessons and readings for two years with Facing the Future's curriculum development team.!
Sheeba Jacob is based at the University of Washington's Center for Educational Leadership. She began her career in education
as an ELL teacher and has several years of teaching experience in urban school districts. She developed curriculum for five
years with Facing the Future. !
Laura Skelton is the Executive Director of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, a nonprofit organization that
promotes peaceful, socially just, and life-enhancing policies. For over five years, she served as Program Director of Facing the
Future. Laura spent several years as a science and global issues educator, teaching undergraduate labs, high school and middle
school courses, and holds a master’s degree in ecology from the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology. !
!
Jennifer Schon is the Program Coordinator at University of Idaho’s McCall Outdoor Science School. She is a PhD. Candidate in
Education at University of Idaho and holds an M.A. in Education from Ashford University and a B.S. in Environmental Science
from Western Washington University.!
!
Karla Bradley Eitel is an Assistant Professor in the Conservation Social Sciences Department of the University of Idaho and the
Director of Education for the McCall Outdoor Science School, a graduate residency and K-12 teacher professional development
and outreach program operated by the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources. She holds a PhD in Natural
Resources, an M.S. in Conservation Social Sciences and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, all from the University of
Idaho. She earned her BA in Studio Art and American Studies from Williams College.!
!
Justin Hougham is an assistant professor and statewide environmental education specialist at the University of Wisconsin-
Extension. He is also the director of Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center. Justin.hougham@ces.uwex.edu!
!
Hendrickson et al.!
!
Vol. 8, January 2015
ISSN: 2151-7452
Introduction!
Reimagining energy education involves moving beyond the basics of energy use, conservation,
and efficiency toward a more robust exploration of energy. This exploration should address
energy access and equity, the impacts of energy choices, and personal attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviors related to sustainable energy solutions. One approach to encourage this evolution is to
use a learning context that inspires educators and students to delve deeply and methodically into
the social, economic, and environmental interconnections of energy issues—in other words, to
learn about energy within the context of global sustainability. For example, one might ask:!
● How is an individual’s energy use a global issue? !
● Can you think of a situation in which reducing energy use would lead to an increased
quality of life? !
● Does renewable imply sustainable? !
● How does energy use vary around the world?
!
The questions above are ones that teachers and students wrestle with in Facing the Future’s
(FTF) newest middle and high school curriculum units, Fueling Our Future: Exploring
Sustainable Energy Use.1 These units were written through the lens of global sustainability and
invite students into an authentic exploration of human energy use. !
For twenty years, FTF has utilized global issues and sustainability as a framework to develop
resources for educators around the world that equip and motivate students to develop critical
thinking skills, build global awareness, and engage in positive solutions for a sustainable future.
Our experience working with educators around the nation and across the globe suggests that the
context for education matters. While using FTF’s curriculum, 86% of educators reported that
their students are more engaged and 91% of educators reported an increase in their students’
critical thinking skills. Of these educators, 93% reported an increase in their own knowledge of
global issues.2 !
In this article, we share FTF’s definition of global sustainability education (GSE), explain why
GSE is an effective context for energy education, and use Fueling Our Future as a case study for
how GSE can be employed to develop engaging and rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum.!
What is global sustainability education? !
Global sustainability education (GSE) describes the concurrent and intentional use of both global
issues—issues that are transboundary, interconnected, and persist over time —and sustainability
to frame and design curriculum. At FTF, sustainability is defined as the principle of meeting
current needs without limiting the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainability
recognizes that the social, economic, and environmental concerns of a particular issue are
interdependent and that there is an intergenerational responsibility to balance these 3 components
today and in the future. GSE purposefully references global to require the inclusion of diverse
cultural perspectives, world data, and case studies from around the globe to help students
broaden and deepen their global perspective. GSE also intentionally uses inquiry-based and
student-centered pedagogies that encourage critical and systems thinking, individual and
collaborative learning, role playing, and positive action in order to help students acquire the
knowledge, skills, and attitudes that empower them to contribute to a sustainable future.!
Global Sustainability: An Authentic Context for Energy Education!
Journal of Sustainability Education
http://www.susted.org/
!
While FTF’s educational approach is unique, we have not been alone in our desire to integrate
sustainability and education. Global summits in the 1990s focused the world’s attention on issues
of equity and human rights in economic aid and development, demanding a more critical
examination of the full impacts of globalization. Principles of sustainable development emerged
from various international efforts, such as the 1991 Earth Summit’s Agenda 21, the 1995 Beijing
Declaration from the 4th World Conference on Women, and the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) ratification of the Earth Charter in 2000. In
2005, the United Nations declared the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development as a
means to renew education, teaching, and learning and promote the values and principles of
sustainable development. To continue these ongoing efforts, the Sustainable Development Goals
will serve as the United Nations’ post-2015 development agenda.3 Today, the integration of
sustainability and education is also growing among K-12 educators, schools, districts, and states,
as evidenced in national programs such as the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon
Schools program and the inclusion of sustainability in standards such as the Next Generation
Science Standards.4 !
Why is global sustainability an authentic context for energy education? !
The desired outcome of many energy education programs is not necessarily to produce energy
experts, but to foster energy literate citizens who are able to understand and make informed
decisions about personal, local, and global energy issues. While developing an energy literacy
survey tool, DeWaters, Powers, and Graham found that:5 !
“Literacy implies not only the understanding of a particular, relevant body of knowledge
and set of relationships, but moreover, the ability and willingness to use that knowledge
in a functional manner - to read and write, to communicate, to participate in society.” !
If our desired outcome for energy education is energy literacy, then content knowledge is not
enough. Affect and behavior also must be addressed in order to promote energy literacy.6 This
concept is supported by the experts who created Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and
Fundamental Concepts for Energy Education. According to this framework, an energy literate
citizen will understand “the nature and role of energy in the universe and in our lives” and will
be able to “apply this understanding to answer questions and solve problems.”7 This framework
clearly states that fostering energy literacy requires an interdisciplinary approach to energy
education and the principles and concepts included in this framework explicitly address the
social, environmental, and economic components of human energy use.8 !
Effective energy education programs are in clear alignment with the goals and approach of
global sustainability education. Lessons and curricula designed using global sustainability as a
context are interdisciplinary and examine real-world issues from social, environmental, and
economic perspectives. With GSE’s student-centered approach, students learn much more than
energy facts; they are empowered with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to be
active, global citizens. !
Hendrickson et al.!
!
Vol. 8, January 2015
ISSN: 2151-7452
How can global sustainability be used as a framework to develop curriculum? !
CASE STUDY: Fueling Our Future: Exploring Sustainable Energy Use!
So what does GSE look like in a classroom? This section
highlights the unique characteristics that result from using
global sustainability as a framework to design energy
curricula through a discussion of our newest middle and
high school units, Fueling Our Future: Exploring
Sustainable Energy Use. These two nine-lesson
interdisciplinary energy units were created in partnership
with the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance
(NARA)—an alliance of scientists, sustainability experts,
educators, and industry leaders. This five-
year project, funded by the United States Department of
Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture
(USDA-NIFA), explores the possibilities of creating jet
biofuel from Pacific Northwest forest residuals in order to
provide an alternative to petroleum-based jet fuel and
petroleum-based products.9 Because this project is a
rich example of a contemporary, real-world energy issue, it
was used as a model for several lessons in
this unit. In addition to the lessons, Fueling Our Future
contains student readings that profile youth working to
develop biofuels, rural communities installing solar lighting
and ovens, and youth-led energy and sustainability audits
of office spaces. These examples show students that concrete steps can be taken to help create a
more sustainable world.
Figure 1: Global sustainability was
used as the guiding framework for
this 9-lesson, interdisciplinary
energy curriculum.
Global Sustainability: An Authentic Context for Energy Education!
Journal of Sustainability Education
http://www.susted.org/
!
Lesson 1: Introduction to Energy
If the total amount of energy in the world never changes, what do people really mean when they
talk about “saving energy” by driving less or turning off lights?!
Fueling Our Future begins with an individual and collective
brainstorm of the different ways humans consume energy. This
allows students to begin their energy exploration from personal
experience and provides teachers with information about students’
prior energy knowledge. The lesson then focuses in on some
foundational energy science—the physical laws of energy—so
students can use this content knowledge in subsequent lessons. !
Juxtaposing a conversation about human energy use with the
physical laws of energy provides teachers and students an
opportunity to explicitly address misunderstandings that often
arise from inaccurate references to energy in everyday vernacular
and from a single discipline approach to energy education. For
instance, students might learn in a science classroom that energy
is neither created nor destroyed, while they might hear in a social
studies classroom that natural resources are used to “produce” or
“create” electricity. With this silo approach, students may never
get the opportunity to reconcile these seemingly contradictory lessons about energy. However,
with an interdisciplinary approach to energy education, these different perspectives of energy can
be included and lead to a more comprehensive understanding of energy concepts.!
Lessons 2 and 3: Personal Energy Use!
Besides choosing sustainable energy sources to produce electricity, what are some other ways
that individuals and communities can lessen some of the negative impacts of generating
electricity? !
While important outcomes of energy
education include knowing where one’s
energy comes from, how much energy one
uses, and the ability to accurately compare
different energy sources, these ideas can be
abstract and removed from students’
personal experience. The sheer size of the
electric grid makes it difficult to hold an
accurate mental picture of this
infrastructure and, while most of us have
lots of experience with electrical outlets,
few of us have seen firsthand a
hydroelectric turbine or a uranium mine. !
By making these energy concepts more
relevant and regional, we empower students
Figure 2: Lesson 1 focuses on
students’ prior knowledge
about energy and the physical
laws of energy.
Figure 3: By making energy production more
relevant and regional, lessons 2 and 3 encourage
personal solutions to real-world energy issues.
Hendrickson et al.!
!
Vol. 8, January 2015
ISSN: 2151-7452
to engage in personal solutions to real-world energy issues. In lessons two and three, students
find out their regional fuel mix and use nonfiction readings to reevaluate this fuel mix. A
personal energy audit begins and ends with a questionnaire that addresses knowledge, attitudes,
and behaviors related to electricity. Tasked with calculating how much electricity they use,
students learn to read their utility bill and use the formula Energy = Power x time. In keeping
with global sustainability pedagogy, these lessons seamlessly integrate core math, science, and
social studies skills and create opportunities for student reflection on personal attitudes and
behaviors about energy.!
Lessons 4 and 5: Global Energy Use!
Do you think that energy is a basic human right? Why or why not? !
By using global statistics and energy profiles from four different countries, the next two lessons
expand classroom discussions from personal energy use to global energy use. Students integrate
information from a hands-on oil drilling simulation, graphs, and global statistics to develop
understanding of petroleum as a global commodity. !
By using profiles from different
countries, students learn that sustainable
solutions to energy-related issues are
much more diverse than energy
conservation and efficiency. They learn
that human energy use is inextricably
linked to issues such as access, equity,
and gender. By analyzing statistics,
integrating information from various
sources, and communicating with peers,
students gain a more comprehensive
understanding of the interconnected
nature of global energy issues, and build
global awareness. !
Lessons 6, 7, 8, and 9: Transportation Fuels!
Why is it important to have many different stakeholders influence policy on biofuels? !
The last four lessons in Fueling Our Future hone in on transportation fuels and invite students to
use what they have learned in the previous five lessons to evaluate the sustainability of
alternative transportation fuels. These lessons are highly collaborative and require students to
take multiple perspectives on energy-related issues.!
Figure 4: By using global energy statistics and profiles
from different countries, lessons 4 and 5 expand class
discussions from personal to global energy use.
Global Sustainability: An Authentic Context for Energy Education!
Journal of Sustainability Education
http://www.susted.org/
!
Lesson six explicitly teaches students the concept of sustainability
and how to use the three components of sustainability to evaluate
complex global issues. The sustainability Venn diagram is used as a
tool to help students attend to the social, economic, and
environmental components of a complex issue such as energy.!!
Lesson six also uses a role playing activity to help students better
understand issues associated with biofuels. Individuals take on the
role of a professional, such as an ethanol plant worker or a marine
biologist, and then small groups discuss and evaluate the
sustainability of this fuel from social, economic, and environmental
perspectives. With high levels of scaffolding within this lesson,
students are able to engage in a sophisticated evaluation of
transportation fuels and gain a more comprehensive and authentic
understanding of transportation fuels. !
Lessons seven, eight, and nine incorporate a context specific,
performance-based assessment (PBA) modeled after NARA’s efforts
to create jet fuel made from alternatives to fossil fuels. This real-
world issue has no easy answer, requires collaboration among
multiple stakeholders from different disciplines and, therefore, provides an authentic learning
opportunity for students. According to A Teacher’s Guide to Performance-Based Learning and
Assessment, !
“[p]erformance-based learning and assessment represent a set of strategies for the
acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the
performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students.”10 !
Figure 5: Students use
multiple perspectives to
evaluate the sustainability
of different transportation
fuels in lesson 6.
Figure 6: Lessons 7, 8, and 9 incorporate a performance-based assessment in which students seek to
answer, “What are the most sustainable biofuels that can be produced in the Pacific Northwest?”
Hendrickson et al.!
!
Vol. 8, January 2015
ISSN: 2151-7452
A PBA focused on the timely and relevant issue of biofuels can be an engaging way for students
to develop the skills needed to become energy-literate citizens. During this particular PBA,
students work independently and collaboratively to answer the driving question: What are the
most sustainable biofuels that can be produced in the Pacific Northwest for aviation? This
question challenges students to apply systems thinking to assess the entire supply chain of fuel
rather than just the feedstock or the finished product. Students also learn about stakeholders
associated with biofuels and learn active
listening and negotiation techniques to
use during a classroom stakeholder
meeting. Upon completion of the PBA,
individuals are asked to reflect on their
collaboration, communication, and
critical thinking skills and to write a
personal position paper on biofuels in
the Pacific Northwest.
If we want our students to be able to take on
complex, real-world energy problems, then
we need to teach them to do so. This focused, context-specific driving question allows students
to answer the question with genuine and thoughtful answers. It drives home the point that
sustainable solutions are not necessarily one-size-fits-all; in fact, a feedstock sustainably grown
in one locale may not be sustainably grown elsewhere. !
Multiple Revisions and Perspectives: The Curriculum Design Process!
Just as we ask students to take on multiple perspectives and actively apply the 4 Cs (critical
thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity), we ask this of our curriculum
development process. FTF lessons are reviewed by educational experts, content experts, and the
FTF Teacher Advisory Group. Teachers in different subject areas from around the world pilot
lessons in their classrooms and provide feedback. This invaluable input is used to revise,
redesign, and enhance our curriculum.!
As noted earlier, Fueling Our Future was developed in partnership with NARA. Because this
alliance includes people from many different fields who are working together to solve a real-
world problem of energy, it inspired engaging, interdisciplinary lessons and provided a
community of experts who were able to provide feedback. NARA partners who are assessing the
sustainability of this real-world biofuel supply chain and partners working with tribal members
took the time to review lessons. The staff and graduate students at University of Idaho’s McCall
Outdoor Science School (MOSS) helped to brainstorm lesson ideas, review lessons, pilot lessons
with students, and provided feedback from an informal science education perspective. As such,
the collaborative nature of GSE is illustrated in this partnership with NARA.!
Since Fueling Our Future’s publication in 2014, over 270 units have been purchased and
accessed by educators in eleven different countries. The next steps in our curriculum
development process are to further evaluate this resource using an energy literacy assessment
tool developed by the NARA education team, and to develop an elementary curriculum. !
Figure 7: States involved in the NARA project.
Global Sustainability: An Authentic Context for Energy Education!
Journal of Sustainability Education
http://www.susted.org/
!
Conclusion !
As human energy use is complex and interdisciplinary in nature, so too should be our efforts in
energy education. As shown in Facing the Future’s curriculum, Fueling Our Future: Exploring
Sustainable Energy Use, global sustainability is an authentic, interdisciplinary context for
teaching students about the complexities of energy, addressing the social, economic, and
environmental components of human energy use, and preparing students to be energy literate
citizens. Beyond energy education, the global sustainability framework provides an engaging and
empowering opportunity for students to learn about other contemporary issues while gaining the
knowledge and skills needed to respond effectively to 21st century challenges. While FTF’s
educational approach is unique, we are not alone in our efforts. Major global efforts are
underway to integrate sustainability into K-12 and higher education. Going forward, it is clear
that educating to achieve sustainable development around the world—what it means, how we
achieve it, and why it matters—will continue to be a major theme in education, commerce, and
governance.
Acknowledgement
This work, as part of the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA), was supported by the
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2011-68005-30416 from the USDA
National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
! !
Hendrickson et al.!
!
Vol. 8, January 2015
ISSN: 2151-7452
!
Author Thumbnail Photos and Icon Image!
Danica Hendrickson!
Danielle Shaw!
Karla Eitel, PhD!
Kimberly Corrigan!
Sheeba Jacob!
Jennifer Schon!
Alicia Keefe!
Laura Skelton!
R. Justin Hougham, PhD!
Global Sustainability: An Authentic Context for Energy Education!
Journal of Sustainability Education
http://www.susted.org/
!
!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 D. Hendrickson, D. Shaw, S. Jacob, A. Keefe, & L. Skelton, Fueling our Future: Exploring
Sustainable Energy Use, Middle School ed., (Seattle: Facing the Future, 2014),
www.facingthefuture.org; D . Hendrickson, D. Shaw, S. Jacob, A. Keefe, & L. Skelton, Fueling
our Future: Exploring Sustainable Energy Use, High School ed., (Seattle: Facing the Future,
2014), www.facingthefuture.org; D. Hendrickson, D. Shaw, S. Jacob, A. Keefe, & L. Skelton,
Fueling our Future: Exploring Sustainable Energy Use, SMART Board ed., (Seattle: Facing the
Future, 2014), www.facingthefuture.org; This project is part of the Northwest Advanced
Renewables Alliance (NARA), supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative
Competitive Grant no. 2011-68005-304 from the USDA National Institute of Food and
Agriculture. !
2 “Educator Testimonials,” Facing the Future, under Curricula & Free Units, accessed October
14, 2014 www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/Testimonials/tabid/148/Default.aspx. !
3 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Education for
Sustainable Development Sourcebook, Education for Sustainable Development in Action:
Learning and Training Tools, (UNESCO: Paris, France, 2012),
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002163/216383e.pdf. !
4 NGSS Lead States, Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States, (Achieve, Inc.
on behalf of the twenty-six states and partners that collaborated on the NGSS, 2013),
www.nextgenscience.org/. !
5 J.E. DeWaters, S.E. Powers, and M. Graham, “Developing an Energy Literacy Scale,” In
Proceedings of the 114th Annual ASEE Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, HI, June 2007,
paper number AC 2007-1069, www.clarkson.edu/cses/research/pdf4.pdf. !
6 J.E. DeWaters, S.E. Powers, and M. Graham, “Developing an Energy Literacy Scale,” In
Proceedings of the 114th Annual ASEE Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, HI, June 2007,
paper number AC 2007-1069, www.clarkson.edu/cses/research/pdf4.pdf. !
Hendrickson et al.!
!
Vol. 8, January 2015
ISSN: 2151-7452
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7 US Department of Energy, Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts
for Energy Education, (Washington, DC: March 2012), http://energy.gov/eere/education/energy-
literacy-essential-principles-and-fundamental-concepts-energy-education. !
8 US Department of Energy, Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts
for Energy Education, (Washington, DC: March 2012), http://energy.gov/eere/education/energy-
literacy-essential-principles-and-fundamental-concepts-energy-education. !
9 Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) website, accessed September 9, 2014,
www.nararenewables.org/. !
10 K. Michael Hibbard et al., “What is Performance-Based Learning and Assessment, and Why is
it important?,” in A Teacher’s Guide to Performance-Based Learning and Assessment,
(Middlebury, CT: Educators in Pomperaug Regional District 15, 1996), accessed
www.ascd.org/publications/books/196021/chapters/What_is_Performance-
Based_Learning_and_Assessment,_and_Why_is_it_Important%C2%A2.aspx. !
