SUSTAIN (Supporting Science Teacher Advancement through Inquiry) is an EU funded Comenius project which aims to develop a pedagogic approach building on the strengths of Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) to enrich Education for Sustainable Development. The project has eleven partners from ten European countries, who are already experienced in developing CPD for teachers using IBSE approaches. Within the network three topic groups are working with different foci to produce resources for teacher educators and teachers, based around a common framework.

The rationale for this project arises from the perception that IBSE can enrich ESD in two inter-related ways. IBSE is recognised as a powerful pedagogic approach for teaching science related to real-life contexts (Dillon, 2012, Rocard et al., 2007). An understanding of key scientific ideas is important if pupils are to develop real appreciation of many sustainability issues. Secondly, IBSE aims to develop skills in critical scientific thinking, including questioning, collecting and interpreting data and constructing evidence-based arguments. Such skills are important if ESD is to go beyond focusing on behavioural change in an instrumental way, and contribute to the education of critical, questioning citizens (Vare & Scott, 2007).

The University of Leicester is working with colleagues in Italy and Berlin to develop resources around the theme of everyday objects. We aim to do this in a sustainable way, providing examples which will be accessible to teachers but also developing a generic planning framework to empower teachers to create their own programmes of activities. Our approach is to choose examples of familiar objects and use an IBSE approach to explore scientific ideas underlying their use. For example, we might compare different kinds of paper cups as a stimulus for pupils to raise questions about their functionality and fitness for purpose, such as which will keep a drink warm most efficiently, which they can explore using scientific methods.

We then widen the frame of attention and consider what happened before the object arrived in our classroom: what it is made from, the source of those materials, how it was designed and made, how the design and manufacture have changed over time, and so on. We also take the opposite perspective, and consider what might happen to it once we have finished using it: if it might be recycled, or reused, or must be disposed of in other ways. We will draw on ESD resources to enable children to see the object as part of a bigger picture, extending forward and backward in time, and geographically, so that they are encouraged to raise questions about environmental, economic, social and ethical perspectives. For example, we might set up a role-play situation in which one group are café owners, another a company selling paper cups, and a third a factory supplying traditional china cups. Each must use evidence-based arguments to present their case, drawing on their own scientific explorations, and on other sources of information.

The work of the topic group will entail developing tasks and task sequences which will be trialed in CPD programmes. Our task design will be guided by the following principles:

• Providing engaging examples, but making the generic framework visible,
• Allowing flexibility for teachers to adapt tasks to suit the age-group they are teaching,
• Recognising complexity in the exploration of real-life issues, but also being realistic about both the confidence levels of teachers and the appropriate challenges for pupils of different ages,
• Foregrounding opportunities to developing statistical reasoning in the development of arguments.

Our emergent research questions will relate to the ways in which aspects of task design support the learning of teachers and of children.

Cobb, P., Confrey,J., diSessa, A., Lehrer, R., and Schauble, L. (2003). Design Experiments in Educational Research, Educational Researcher, 32(5), 9 – 13. Dillon, J. (2012) Panacea or passing fad – how good is IBSE? Roots, 9 (2) 5-8. Rochard, M., Csermely, P., Jorde, D., Lenzen, D. Walberg_Henricksson, H & Hemme, V, (2007) Science Education now: a renewed pedagogy for the future of Europe. Directorate General for Research, Science, Economy and Society. Vare, P. & Scott, W. (2007) Learning for a Change: Exploring the relationship between Education and Sustainable Development. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 1 (2), 191-198.