teaching sustainability in a multicultural environment

TEACHING SUSTAINABILITYin a Multicultural Environment

Nídia Caetano, João Rocha, José Carlos Quadrado, José Marílio Cardoso, Manuel Carlos Felgueiras

MicroalgasFraming this contribution• What is Education?

• A process of transferring to other people the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits of a group of people

• What is Innovation?• Something original and more effective, new, that "breaks into"

the market or society• Why Educational Innovation?

• Formal education vs informal education and the need for more appealing and effective ways to educate

Teaching Sustainability in a Multicultural Environment (Caetano et al., 2015, TEEM’15)

MicroalgasAbout this contribution

• This work is about the experience that ISEP decided to implement last summer, by means of a Summer Course.

• Summer Courses exist for many years. Why can we say this particular one was Innovative?

• It was addressed to Asian students (Korean), who performed the best at their (different) home High School, and were gifted a participation in a Summer Course on Engineering for Sustainable Development (E4SD);


MicroalgasOur goal• The course was part of the School Presidency initiative to enhance

internationalization, and to discover if their teachers were ready for that step at a larger scale:• Is it the same to teach one more Erasmus student in a class full of

Portuguese speaking students Or

• To teach a class of foreign students in English?• To test the Portuguese students for their ability to adapt to non native

language and different learning environment


MicroalgasHow it was done

• An equal number of Portuguese students from ISEP was also invited to participate in this course. Half came from the same Engineering (Chemical) field, part from different fields (Mechanical, Civil, Energy);

• Foreign students were received by a few of the teachers;

• Foreign students were accommodated in a student’s residence near by ISEP;


The Rehabilitation of Historic Cities - The Case of Porto UNESCO World Heritage Site: A Sustainable

Development Challenge

… How it was done• The theme of the course was chosen to be addressable by different

cultures and transversal to all the areas, either in the engineering or architecture field, social sciences, etc.;



Old & New


World Heritage

MicroalgasThe right teachers?

• The structure of the course already existed but…• New “teachers” had to be invited, some just after the course had started;

• Part of the teachers knew each other, but mostly never had worked together in a course:• Different Engineering Departments;• Usually teaching graduation / post graduation students;

• The teachers team was chosen because of their particular ability to educate under informal conditions and to react promptly to any event, having different styles of communication:• Marílio Cardoso and Nídia Caetano; Gustavo Alves and Carlos Felgueiras;

Sónia Pizarro and Ana Meira; Filipe Vasques, Teresa Nogueira; Isabel Sarmento, Rosa Pilão, Luís Castanheira, Jaime Silva, Pinto de Faria, Cristina CamusTeaching Sustainability in a Multicultural Environment (Caetano et al., 2015,

TEEM’15)

MicroalgasThey (students) did it

• Problem Based Learning was the basic process used to educate the (multicultural) participants;


MicroalgasHow students were organized

• Teams were previously formed by teachers in charge, including 2 Korean and 2 Portuguese students, even gender distribution;

• Teams included members with different skills,


MicroalgasLearning environments

• Coffee break…• Early in the morning;• At any time;• Birthday cake;


Microalgas… Learning environments

• Only a small part of the time was allocated to “formal” teaching classes by informal teachers;

• Team work was encouraged;



• City tourism was partially used to educate and mesh the participants;



• After class activities were also used for intercultural exchange and to socialize


MicroalgasThe final product

• Team work presentation, with external participants in the audience;


MicroalgasStill teaching sustainability in an informal environment…

• Informal farewell lunch…


MicroalgasAttitudes can change…

• The girls were really shy…


MicroalgasNow it is time for us (students) to show how we do it at home

• Korean do not show emotions!?…• Korean dinner


Some results from this (breaking) experience• Course evaluation…

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Course QuestionsStudents Relationship PBL MethodologyProfessors's Competences PBL ProblemTeam Work Course LengthCourse Timetable Classroom ConditionsProfessors' Support in PBL Presentation Session

Evaluation

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Course: Theme & ContentM1-NSC M2-LCC M3-GCA M4-FVM5-JPF&JGS M6-NSC M7-MCF M8-SAPM9-CC M10-AMC&JOC

Evaluation

A prize was awarded to the Best Group Work: Addressing

Transportation/Mobility Needs and Standards in Historical Cities: Porto. The opinion of the Jury members was unanimous saying that this work was the one that better showed the knowledge and skills that were supposed to be acquired through participation in this course.Teaching Sustainability in a Multicultural Environment (Caetano et al., 2015,

TEEM’15)

And more results• An emotional farewell session shows it all…


Conclusions• All the School participated in many different ways:

• Museum, International Office, Social & Academic Office, Systems Information Office,… ;

• Portuguese students that were initially afraid of having classes in English enjoyed the experience and would advise their colleagues to take a similar experience.

• We are ready for the big change…• Let the all in english classes start!

Thank you for listening!
