TITLE:
A Global Classroom for International Sustainability Education
AUTHORS:
Arnim Wiek, Michael J. Bernstein, Manfred Laubichler, Guido Caniglia, Ben Minteer, Daniel J. Lang
KEYWORDS:
Sustainability Education; International Education; Project- and Problem-Based Learning; Interdisciplinary Education
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.4 No.4A,
April
30,
2013
ABSTRACT: Sustainability studies put
emphasis on social-environmental-technical problems with local manifestations
and global impacts. This makes especially poignant the need for educational
experiences in which students confront the challenges of crossing cultural,
national, and geographical boundaries in a globalized world and understand the
historical, epistemological and ethical underpinnings of these diverse cultural
conditions. The success criteria to evaluate the educational experiences
demanded by the globalization of education, however, are yet to be specified
and used in novel educational opportunities. A brief review of international
sustainability education options currently available to students reveals a gap
between the knowledge students may need to succeed in a globalized world and
the opportunities available. Into this landscape, we introduce The Global
Classroom, an international collaboration between Leuphana University of
Lüneburg in Germany and Arizona State University in the US. The project strives
for an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approach to equipping students with
the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to take on sustainability
challenges in international settings. We discuss the structure and organization
of the Global Classroom model and share preliminary experiences. The article
concludes with a reflection on institutional structures conducive to providing
students with the international learning opportunities they may need to tackle
sustainability problems in a globalized world.