GfGD Develops a New Open-Access Higher Education Teaching Module: ‘Geoscience and Sustainable Development’
Geology for Global Development (GfGD) recognises the increasing demand for the inclusion of sustainability concepts into geoscience teaching within higher education, as well as the impact of Covid-19 on the means of delivering learning resources. GfGD is pleased to announce the development of a short, open-access module on ‘Geoscience and Sustainable Development’ to be shared with universities across the UK and beyond.
The module will have approximately eight classes. Each class will focus on an open-access reading, and link to associated short videos, websites, online activities, and reports. They will each have a set of discussion questions and activities that can help students to explore the theme individually, in small groups, or in whole-class contexts.
Tentative themes include: (1) geosciences and the SDGs, (2) leaving no one behind – working in Global South contexts, (3) geoscience and decarbonisation, (4) geoscience and disaster risk reduction, (5) geoscience and water security, (6) geoscience and global health, (7) geoscience for sustainable urban development, and (8) geoscience and reducing inequalities.
Institutions, and educators within them, can use the whole module, individual classes, or resources from individual classes to support their teaching. We aim to make the resources available in early September, via our website.
The resources are being produced and reviewed by a team of volunteers, including both students and those with interdisciplinary teaching experience. This project is supported, in part, by a grant from the International Union of Geological Sciences and support from UNESCO/IUGS International Geoscience Programme Project 685.
The teaching materials are fully open-access and their use is free of charge. We encourage those who can, to participate in the #GfGDPayItForward initiative, where use of the short course translates in supporting the work of GfGD in another area. Some original ideas include:
Support one of our other initiatives;
Actively choosing to partner with us in departmental fundraising;
Direct donations to support our work;
Collecting and donating surplus textbooks for us to rehome in institutions in the Global South;
Contribute to our blog;
Providing a small grant to students at their own university to engage in our work
Help us fund raise; or
Simply help us spread the word about the educational resources and #GfGDPayItForward
This set of resources precedes a dedicated book, with teaching resources, on ‘Geosciences and the Sustainable Development Goals’ to be released soon by Springer-Nature. This book was co-produced by Geology for Global Development and the British Geological Survey, involving 42 authors from 6 continents.
For further information, or questions about this new initiative, please get in touch with us.