**7. Sample case lesson**

*Teacher Education in the 21st Century - Emerging Skills for a Changing World*

variables change.

the problem.

**5.5 Meta-thinking**

meta-thinking [14].

activity plans.

**6. The six steps**

**5.4 Systemic thinking**

situations but also relevant to the ability to conceive of different future scenarios as

Systemic thinking is well known as a key factor in developing a sustainable solution to real world problems [15] since students must see all interwoven aspects of the system under consideration in their own community. Thus, systemic thinking is a precondition for any effective sustainable learning process. Systemic thinking encourages problem solving through defining the problem as part of the system from which it derives and then looking at different aspects of the system to see which of these need to be, and which can be adjusted to come closer to a solution of

Since the Green Pedagogy approach is more than mere knowledge transfer but also about developing a sustainable mindset around relevant collaboration and values, it is appropriate to add a layer of meta-thinking. This is supported by the extensive work of educators in promoting thinking about thinking as a way of raising learning levels in general. As an example, the work of Ritchhart, Church and Morrison on what they term Visible Thinking [18] is enabling educators globally to engage learners in thinking about their thinking to measurable effect in terms of achieved learning. Meta-thinking is important in the application of Green Pedagogy in that it supports the generation of novel solutions to intractable and complex sustainability problems. It has also been pointed out that the increased complexity of the modern world requires increased self-reflection, which is an integral part of

It could be argued that these five cornerstones of Green Pedagogy seem to overlap, and that systemic thinking could be sufficient to cover them all. However, each cornerstone highlights a specific aspect of systemic thinking that is of benefit when being considered by teachers separately as they develop their learning

It is recommended that once a teacher or institution has made the decision to promote a sustainable mindset in their learners, that most learning activities should follow the Green Pedagogy format in the order in which they are described across the six steps. The learning activity plan template developed by the ProfESus project helps teachers planning one or several lessons or trainings. It is often more appropriate to go through the six steps over a series of lessons rather than in one short 45-minute or 90-minute timetabled class. The learning activity plan (LAP) [19] template is thus a tool to act as a prompt for teachers so that they do not forget to highlight the targeted professional and sustainability competencies and how they will be exercised over the six steps. The LAP template can be used as an aide-memoire rather than being explicitly filled out before each lesson or group of lessons.

As we describe the six steps below, it should be noted that where there is a choice of topic, the teacher should choose 'wicked problems' (*i.e.* unGoogleable problems) [20] that are part of complex systems and of direct relevance to the learners by preference. These could also be in the format of a case study. Case studies are particularly well suited to the Green Pedagogy approach because they often deal with

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We will now describe the six steps in more detail using the example of menu planning to illustrate how each step follows the previous one. 'The Menu today can change your World Tomorrow' is a sample lesson plan built around the application of Green Pedagogy. The main purpose of the lesson is to raise learners' awareness of the criteria to use in preparing menus for specific target groups such as kindergartners, hospital patients or residents in elderly care homes. The conventional way of tackling this topic is by focusing on nutritional values and individual preferences, tempered by budget constraints. The aim of the case study lesson is to build awareness of the complexity of planning healthy and sustainable nutrition and to use extended criteria in concrete planning situations.

#### **7.1 Step 1: Confrontation with the problem**

In this stage, learners must come to the realization that a specific problem exists and needs to be solved, achieved by finding out what learners already know about the designated topic. In the case study lesson, this was done by exploring the concept of 'meal' by showing images of a wide variety of meals, some of which probably pushed the boundaries of some of the learners. They included traditional meals, hospital tray meals, insect dishes, vegan dishes and 3D printed food. A key aspect of Green Pedagogy is to evoke and use emotions in order to prompt action and reflection and this is particularly essential in this first step in order to motivate learners. For example, most people would react to the idea of an insect-based meal, such as the one shown in **Figure 3**, with disgust.

#### **7.2 Step 2: Reconstruction**

This is the step during which misconceptions are uncovered and confronted. So, the reconstruction refers to what is put in place of misconceptions. In the case study lesson, the learners were presented with a set of weekly menu plans from different types of institutions such as schools, hospitals, elderly care homes and kindergartens. The learners were then asked to analyze the menu plans according to nutritional, practical and dietary requirements. This step is the first stage of conceptual change [12] where the teacher finds out what the students believe they know about the topic. This stage leads directly to the next step in which the perspective is widened.

#### **7.3 Step 3: Provocation**

In this stage learners are prompted to suggest solutions by being provoked with unexpected possibilities. Ideally the provocation should come as a response to the direction in which the learners have been going so far. Therefore, the provocation can neither be the start of the lesson nor be completely planned in advance. An important aspect of this stage is to widen the scope of stakeholders involved in the problem. In Green Pedagogy, this stage is also referred to as "irritation" and this can be confusing for English speakers as we explore later in this chapter.

In our case study lesson, this stage was achieved by showing the learners images of the food production, consumption and waste cycle involved in some of the menu plans that had been described. These included images of intensive farming, use of

**Figure 3.** *Tarantula spiders as a meal.*

#### **Figure 4.** *Do eggs and chicken come from battery farms?*

pesticide, intensive farming methods of animal husbandry regarding pigs and milk cows as well as images of the food waste and garbage that is a common end result of this type of institutional catering. At this point the learners realized that they had not considered intensive farming methods (as seen in **Figure 4**) or pollution problems that were embedded in their menu plans. Their perspective had stayed almost wholly in the kitchens.

This step is the second stage in the conceptual change process in which beliefs are challenged. This stage was an invitation to re-visit the menu analysis stage to discuss possible improvements. In a learner group that has already been exposed to Green Pedagogy for a while, this step could sometimes be a rapid and simple check whether all stakeholders have been considered.
