Students present the importance of sustainability education: Student Spring Symposium 2023
A group of MA Education students have recently presented at the University of York Europe Campus 'Student Spring Symposium of 2023', talking about their Education for Sustainable Development Project.
MA Education students Samin Qasabian, Abbakary Makinda, Rachael Adefunke Ifatouroti, Fang Ding and Guanyao Wu recently presented at the University of York Europe Campus 'Student Spring Symposium of 2023', talking about their Education for Sustainable Development Project.
During this international symposium, our students presented an overview of their project and key objectives. They reflected on how the co-creation and international project has deepened an understanding of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and teacher Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
This project is funded by the University of York Inclusion Team and is focusing on staff and students learning together and producing materials to incorporate in future teaching and learning.
We asked the MA Education student group to tell us more about their experience presenting their project at the Student Spring Symposium. Read below to find out what they said:
Adefunke Rachael Ifaturoti, Abbakary Makinda, Fang Ding, Samin Qasabian, and Guanyao Wu, all studying MA Education, have been working on a project called "Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)".
Tell us a bit more about your project
The project is a collaborative effort by Department of Education staff members and students to generate instructional materials for classroom use as well as resources for 'Continuous Professional Development' for teachers and other stakeholders to obtain ESD competencies. This was motivated by the UN's fourth goal of 'Quality Education,' and the specific themes we tackled were 'Climate change and Girls' education (Girls in STEM).'
Tell us about your involvement in the Spring Student Symposium
Professor Paula Mountford, one of the project leaders, informed us about the Online Spring Symposium and the need for us to participate. After several discussions with Professor Mountford and the other group members, we worked together to create a PowerPoint presentation to highlight our project, which was delivered by the five of us at the conference. For all of us, it was a very interesting time.
What have you learned from this experience?
Collectively, we learnt the power of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and productive ESD discussions. Subsequently, we intend to educate students, teachers, and other stakeholders on the significance of ensuring a sustainable future through quality education, as well as develop resources that will help inform this.
A huge thanks to the students for sharing more about their project and involvement in this year's Student Spring Symposium. We look forward to hearing about the outcomes of this important project for creating quality sustainability education for all.