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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
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Designing a planning tool for courses about sustainability in middle schools: The creation and implementation of a give box station in a school setting

Translated title

Design af planlægningsværktøj til kurser omkring bæredygtighed i folkeskolen

Authors

;

Term

4. Term

Publication year

2021

Submitted on

Pages

99

Abstract

This thesis examines how sustainability education can increase middle-school students’ awareness and engagement through a course centered on establishing a school give box station, aligned with Copenhagen’s circular economy agenda. Conducted in collaboration with the Department of Education and Sustainable Change (UBO), the study combined desk research with ethnographic and participatory methods: online and in-person co-design workshops with a 6th-grade class and teachers, a field visit, and analysis using Actor–Network Theory and staged negotiation spaces to surface actors’ matters of concern. The work indicates challenges in the existing course model’s problematization phase that limit student motivation and engagement, and highlights the need for differentiated approaches. In response, the project proposes a collaborative planning tool—framed as a design game/platform—to support planning between UBO and teachers and provide a stronger foundation for the course, helping students grasp sustainability and their societal roles. The thesis contributes a process and tool concept for operationalizing municipal circular economy goals in school practice; detailed outcomes and implementation are identified as future work.

Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan undervisning i bæredygtighed kan øge mellemtrinselevers bevidsthed og engagement gennem et forløb centreret om etablering af en give box station på skolen i tråd med Københavns cirkulære økonomi-ambitioner. I samarbejde med UBO kombinerede projektet desk research med etnografiske og deltagende metoder: online og fysiske co-design-workshops med en 6. klasse og lærere, et feltbesøg og analyser med aktør-netværksteori samt iscenesættelse af forhandlingsrum for at afdække aktørers matters of concern. Arbejdet peger på udfordringer i den eksisterende kursusmodels problematiseringsfase, hvilket begrænser elevmotivation og -engagement, samt at elever har behov for differentierede tilgange. Som svar foreslås et samarbejdsorienteret planlægningsværktøj—formuleret som et designspil/platform—der understøtter planlægning mellem UBO og lærere og skaber et stærkere fundament for forløbet, så eleverne bedre kan forstå bæredygtighed og deres rolle i samfundet. Specialet bidrager med en proces og et værktøjskoncept til at omsætte kommunale mål om cirkulær økonomi til skolens praksis; konkrete effekter og implementering peges på som fremtidigt arbejde.

[This apstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]

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Krogh, Peter Knoth: