According to the Scottish Government, sustainable development ensures that people all over the world are receiving their basic necessities and are given the best quality of life (Scottish Government,2017). Up until this session I have never fully understood the whole broad term sustainable development. However, after this session I gained a deeper understanding by establishing all the different topics that were under the term of sustainable development such as disasters, climate change and diversity.
As the picture shows above, there are many things which I never thought would fit in under sustainable development. After further explanation, it was clear to see why certain aspects of sustainable development were present in that photograph. Certain aspects such as children’s right are classed as a branch under sustainable development as if children are in, for example, a natural disaster their rights will be taken away if their homes and schools etc have been taken away from them therefore they don’t have a right to a shelter or education anymore.
This links in with our first session with the West of Scotland Development Education Centre(Wosdec). Wosdec had introduced to us the 17 Global Goals which were agreed by all world leaders to guarantee better life’s by 2030.
Within the session we took part in various activities in a carousel. Our activity was based on natural disasters. It was a role play activity which you were given a character and you were told to read a scenario sheet and if that kind of disaster affected your character you either had to step forward or backwards depending on how badly it would affect you’re character. It indicated to me how severe these situations were in certain parts of the world and how natural disasters can truly ruin individuals’ lives either by destroying their family home or losing a family member. This resource would be good to use within the classroom as all pupils are involved in the situation, allows them to learn about sustainable development without realising they’re doing it and it also allows pupils to be in the heart of the situation rather than thinking about it happening to other people across the world.
The science section introduced us to biodiversity. Biodiversity is the sheer range of living things within the earth between us as humans and living insects (Carrington D, 2018). We took part in group experiments such as dissecting a flower and taking our learning outdoors to trace different shapes of leaves. This was a great session as it allowed myself as a student teacher to see the importance of involving outdoor learning. However, although there were advantages to outdoor learning there were some disadvantages such as the risk of weather for example. This can cause some issues with outdoor learning and can leave children disappointed. This however should not stop teachers encouraging themselves to involve outdoor learning in their lesson planning.
Cultural diversity was another topic we looked at within the diversity section of the module.As an individual I never actually realised how diverse our modern world is. Our first activity was to stand in front of the smart board if you had a certain thing in your life such as a tv in your home or can speak a different language. Within our section 4 people spoke a different language however the majority of the section had a family member or a friend who was part of the LGBTQ+. This highlights how we as individuals need to embrace the differences within our world and allow people to be whoever they want to be without judging them for it. Teachers need to involve diversity within the classroom to educate children that everyone is unique and that certain people may have different beliefs.
A challenging part of this task was to have a group discussion about our thoughts on stereotypes. However, we weren’t allowed to challenge each other on our views and opinions on issues. This was challenging for me because when working within a group my first reaction for me would be for to get involved within the discussion and give my opinions. It allowed me to develop teamwork skills as I was able to listen to other people’s thoughts and views.
Overall, diversity is a topic that needs to be embraced in this generation as no two people are the same. There are many skills which pupils can learn from diversity such as critical thinking, teamwork and leadership. I look forward to involving diversity within my classroom!
References
Carrington,D. (2018) What is Biodiversity and why does it matter to us? [Online] Available: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/12/what-is-biodiversity-and-why-does-it-matter-to-us. [Accessed : 24th September 2019]
Scottish Government. (2017) Sustainable Development. [Online] Available: https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20170701060750/http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment/SustainableDevelopment[Accessed: 24th September 2019]
