Globala utfodringar i en nordisk kontekst – utvikling av studentcentrert pedagogikk i SPICA-nettverket En bærebjølke i SPICA-nettverket er utviklingen og gjennomføringen av et fellesnordisk kurs (5ECTS) med studenter og forelesere fra Grønland, Island, Færøyene, Norge, Sverige, Danmark og Finland. Kurset brukar innovative metoder basert på flipped classroom, place-based learning og challenge-based learning. Kurset består av envirtuell del med bruk av flipped classroom og nettkonferenser, et intensivkurs på en uge og etterarbeid i form av en individuell reflekterande texst. I mars 2016 er intensivkurset i Island. Under NU-konferensen ønskar vi å presentere og diskutera det pedagogiske utviklingsarbeidet i SPICA nettverket. Hovedmålsettingen med intensivkurset er å styrke lærerstudenternes kompetense i det profesjonsrettede arbeidet med dialog, tolerence, handlingskompetense og aktivt medborgerskap i skolen for slik å legge til rette for et bærekraftig og fredelig samfunn i tråd med skolens samfunnsmandat. Nettverket fokuserer på følles nordiske løsninger på lokale, regionale og globale ineressekonflikter og utfodringer, og nyanser mellom ulike problemløsningsstrategier. Nettverkets pedagogikk skal bygge et stilas for studentenes læring og samtidig gi kompetense i bruk av pedagogiske metoder. I forkant av intensivkurset spiller lærerne i nettverket inn korte filmer tilpasset kurset som studentene ser asynkront før synkrone nettdisusjoner i grupper på 4-5 studenter gjennomføres. Dette er i tråd med metoden flippes classroom. Filmene er knyttet opp mot utfordringer og muligheter i en islandsk kontext sett i sammanheng med overordnete tematiske og teoretiske perspektiver for kurset. Dette er i tråd med metoden place-basedlearning. Arbeidet er samtidigt relevante både i en lokal, regional og global kontext. I nettdiskusjoner med bakgrunn i filmene og egen forkunnskap arbeider studentgrupper med deltakere fra ulike land og institusjoner, seg fram mot en utfordring de vill jobbe med under intensivkurset. Det vi væra en islandk student i hvar gruppe. Utfordringen gruppen velger skal være knyttet opp mot målsetninger for kurset og sees i sammenheng med undervisning i skolen. Dette er slik i tråd med challenge-based learning. Studenten blir også bevisstgjort egne meninger og holdninger i møte aktuelle utfodringer. Studentene lærer å anvende vitenskapelig teori, terminologi og forklaringstyper i en nordisk arbeidsgruppe. SPICA-nettverket finansieras av Nordiska ministerråd og involverar følgende institusjoner: Grønlands Universitet (Illinniarfissuaq), Háskóli Islands, Fróöskaparsetur, Føroya, Malmö högskola, Oulun yliopisto, University College Lillebælt og Høgskolen i Størtøst Norge.

The purpose of this paper is to open up a discussion about the roles and responsibilities of universities in society. Design/methodology/approach – The vision of the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Skane a leading example on how to develop new knowledge about education for sustainable development (ESD) at all levels. The paper poses the question "Why do universities involve in this process?". Lund University as the old, traditional university and the ten-year old university of Malmö on the other hand was formed on the bases of a vision about a university for all people. Findings – The paper finds that two universities have been active in creating RCE Skane, together with three political organizations. The vision has developed to include issues like capacity for cross-boundary action, knowledge-sharing and civic education, all important parts in learning for a sustainable future. Practical implications – The paper discusses the processes at these universities that led up to working together in RCE Skåne and the importance of having the Act on Higher Education in 2006 about responsibility for education for sustainability at all universities. Originality/value – In forming RCEs all over the world it is important to learn from each other and universities play an important role in these actions.

Decline of the oak forests decline in southern Sweden has been reported for more than two decades. Little empirical data exists, however, to study the temporal pattern of the phenomenon in detail. In this study we quantified the temporal pattern of non-windfall oak mortality by analyzing the dataset of 44 dendrochronologically dated dead pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) trees. We compared tree-ring chronologies from recently dead and living trees from the same sites (number of sites = 13) located in the nemoral and boreo-nemoral zones in southern Sweden. For each dead tree, tree-ring chronologies were analyzed for the presence of pre-death growth depressions. A growth depression was defined as a period ( of one or more years) when growth remained below the 5%, 7%, or 10% quantiles of the ring-width distribution obtained from living trees for a particular year and site. The most recent peak in oak mortality occured around the year 2000. Growth depressions were recorded in 80% (n=35) of all dead oaks and were most prominent during the 1990s. While some oaks showed an obvious reduction in growth over several decades, 51% of the dead trees had growth depression for at least 4 years prior to death. Although diameter growth rate differed between living and recently dead trees for at least 30 years, this difference started to amplify in late 1980s-early 1990s. Presence of pre-death growth depression in tree-ring chronologies implies that (a) non-windfall mortality of oaks is a decade-long process and (b) the actual death event might be lagged behind the timing of the mortality-inducing factors. ANOVA revealed significant differences in tree responses to the drought year 1992. The cumulative growth increment ration between 1992-1994 and 1989-1991, was higher in living trees than in those that had recently died. We suggest that the spring and summer drought of 1992 resulted in the mortality of oaks that was observed in southern Sweden at the end of the 20th centurey. If this time lag exists, it may complicate analyses of decline-related factors and the choise of appropriate actions by forest managers. We conclude that studies of oak decline may benefit from widening the perspective to include several decades preceding the sampling year.

A network of oak (Quercus robur L.) chronologies containing 49 sites and 635 single trees was analysed to identify weather variables affecting annual tree-ring increment dynamics in southern Sweden during 1860-2000. We analysed (1) the growth response of oak to non-extreme weather, and (2) the temporal and spatial patterns of regional growth anomalies (pointer years) and associated climatic extremes resolved on a monthly scale. Growth was controlled by precipitation in the current (June-July) and the previous growing season (August) in 48% and 22% of all sites, respectively. Temperature during July of the current year and August of the previous year was negatively correlated with growth in 29% and 43% of the sites, respectively. Growth was positively correlated with temperature in October of the previous season in 72% of the sites. The most extensive growth anomaly occured in 1965 and was probably caused by intrusion of cold Artic air masses into the region at the end of March that year. During the climatically non-extreme years, oak growth is driven mostly by the dynamics of summer precipitation. Many of the negative growth anomalies, however, were associated with temperature extremes. Southern Swedish oak pointer years tend not to coincide with the pan-European pointer years.

Sustainable livelihoods, sustainable consumption and production. This Workshop on Sustainable Livelihoods and Sustainable Consumption and Production will be organized by the Global RCE Service Centre. Since 2005 UNU-IAS' Education for Sustainable Development programme hosts the Global RCE Service Centre to support Regional Centers of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RECs) world-wide as part of UNU's contribution to the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014. The core idea put forward by UNU is that an RCE is a 'network' of existing organizations of formal, non-formal and informal education, mobilized to promote Educational for Sustainable Development (ESD) at the local-regional level. The Global RCE Service Centre provides assistance to individual RCE (currently 55 have been acknowledged world-wide) which entails facilitating communication, thematic work and global RCE networking. Representatives of RCE Saskatchewan, RCE Kano, RCE Skane, and RCE Rhine-Meuse will address the issues of sustainable production and consumption from the perspectives of their three regions located in North America, Africa and Europe. They will discuss questions of food systems and education, role of ESD in promoting sustainable livelihood, implications of introduction of sustainable livelihood ideology and principles of ''environmental capitalism''. The workshop will begin with presentation of the overall concept of RCEs and a conceptual framework that guides the discussions during the workshop. Four cases of practices, challenges and learning achievements will be presented by the RCE representatives.

We will introduce to you some examples on how we are working on ESD in a variety of main subjects at the Teacher Education, Malmö University. We will invite you to active participation in discussions on circulation of materia, how energy flows in the ecosystem and how to connect natural science and learning for sustainable development. How can we challange our students in their thoughts, interest and action competence? As the democratic aspect is very central in ESD, we will also focus on and discus the democratic dimension of ESD.

Without a sense of adventure and an awareness that we all - students, teachers and educational developers - are on an endless journey of discovery, the good learning assessment (Sonesson & Nordén, 2015) or the good teaching does not take place. At the beginning of their teaching careers Prosser & Trigwell (2001) thought, as well as many teachers in science do, that the essence of good teaching was about to get knowledge in a scientifically correct manner and develop their teaching skills in presenting subject knowledge for the students. As teachers, they searched reliable ways to measure student learning, rather than trying to find valuable indications of the students´ understanding. No attempt was made to help students see how the topic they introduced related to the students´ previous subject studies. They did not about to sensitize students about their preconceptions or previous experiences, which might be needed again (Prosser & Trigwell, 2001). In-depth learning (with a deep learning approach) the learner searches meaningfulness and want to understand the behind-lying ideas (Marton & Booth, 1997). Enthusiastically and curiously integrating and relating the learning in a strategic manner to all the individual experiences, besides theorizing and being fully aware of that the words just are carriers of meanings. The meaning of the arguments is focused. On the contrary, with surface learning approaches, the learner focuses - without any reflection on the purpose or strategy of life-long learning - on the least possible effort to root memorize information (Tsui, 2004) only for the knowledge exam without any thought of enhanced meaning-making or understanding (Lundström et al, 2016). The focus is then on the text, formulas or words, actual data and they represent purely symbolically knowledge formation (Prosser & Trigwell, 2001). Anderberg (1999) argues that the expression of intent is of great importance regarding the student´s opportunities to develop meaningful theoretical conclusions and deep learning approaches. Thereby, the importance of experienced knowledge formation situations is emphasized. By activating students' experiences of word meanings and understanding, as during an assessing literature seminar, promotes access to their prior knowledge and could develop extended learning processes and deeper understanding within in higher education. Thus, for their upcoming teaching they are offered new opportunities heading for deep learning approaches based on the theoretical part (Anderberg, 1999). Teacher education is of particular importance for developing competences and knowledge capabilities (Nordén, 2016) required for societal changes towards sustainability (Mochizuki & Yarime, 2016; UE4SD, 2015; Wals 2014; Rauch & Steiner 2013). This research is based on international teacher students´ learning experiences. In the campus course Teaching for sustainability (15 credits) at Malmö university,the perspective is learner focused with a holistic approach on education of the environmental and sustainability challenges in local-global contexts (Avery & Nordén, 2017). The heterogeneous group of students has a variety of knowledge on sustainability issues, different experiences of learning activities and examination forms, since attending the course in Sweden from different continents, cultures and countries worldwide. Consequently, a common foundation for further progression of knowledge formation among the students is valuable to achieve at the course start. One initial learning activity is to read World on the Edge (Brown, 2011) and thereafter construct three questions on environmental and sustainability challenges that the student considers urgent and of particular interest. These questions are sent to the lecturer, who chooses one question from each student. The student that raised it prepares and directs a discussion in the teacher student group with 5-7 students in a student-driven literature seminar. The student thereby introduces the topic, has the responsibility for actively chairing the discussion through the seminar, and sums up the shared thoughts, opinions and knowledge for meaning-making afterwards. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The learning outcome is that the student will be able to describe what effect humans have upon their environment, actively discuss the scope of environmental problems and challenges in sustainable development in the participants´ respective home country and worldwide. The aim of this research is to investigate how heterogeneous groups of teacher students experience a student-driven, non-traditional literature seminar for learning assessment purposes within the extended learning process in higher education, and offered for meaning-making within environmental and sustainability learning and teaching (Anderberg, Nordén & Hansson, 2009; Lundström et al, 2016). Qualitative group interviews with semi-structural questions and analysis were conducted by a phenomenographic approach. Previous experiences of assessments, ways of reading the course literature and formulating questions, expectations and reflections, and student-centered learning processes were focused. The group interviews with the international teacher students (n=63) in 2012, 2014 and 2016 took place in 11 group meetings. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically categorised from the reflected experiences made visible through the analysis of the qualitative data gathered. (P.M. This is work in progress and when analysis has been carried out more details will be avilable, which could be presented if accepted for the ECER 2017...) Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The analysis of the assessment seminars suggests that for many students this form of assessment was a new learning experience. While reading the book students were mainly concentrating on bigger concepts. A few students were afraid as they were unfamiliar with planning and taking responsibility for a discussion. However, the participatory and collaborative learning assessment with sharing of experiences among the students resulted in a rewarding challenge based learning process. After the assessment students continued to reflect and talk about the questions raised. According to them, it generated a deep learning opportunity compared to written examination. This meant that they had a deeper understanding of the questions at hand, and they could draw on richer contextualised resources from their own experience to develop school oriented subject matters through the discussion. A tentative result shows some categories of the students’ experiences of meaning-making: developing critical thinking, focusing on learning and understanding, learning by collaboration, seeing a bigger picture, and taking responsibility in learning for understanding. Besides assessing the learning outcome, the learning needs are identified through the learning activity to be promoted for continued learning in the course. When students share their knowledge and experiences of global environmental and sustainability challenges, extended learning processes for sustainability enhanced literacy seems to develop. The students describe their learning processes as consistent and progressively on-going also after the closing of the seminar (Sonesson & Nordén, 2015).

This paper examines how education for sustainable development (ESD) can be concretely advanced using the theoretical approaches of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and sustainable livelihoods (SL). Five case examples illustrate a diverse set of strategic educational interventions focusing on: (1) education of specific organizational actors about these theoretical frameworks illustrated with case examples, (2)regional education strategies focussed on production and consumption in specific sectors, (3)social learning directed at innovation for sustainable development, (4) education of consumers and firms made possible by the adoption of certification systems affirming SCP and SL or (5) reorienting communities to address underutilized productive physical capital within communities. The cases are drawn from the projects that the UNU-IAS, four of its regional centers of expertise (RCE) on ESD and other affiliates have conducted. In addition to documenting the educational processes emerging from specific regions, the paper highlights findings related to the sucess of these projects and opportunities for further research, including regional and inter-regional approaches.

We followed a project, focusing on the meaning of education in the extended classroom to teachers and students, in order to increase our knowledge on pedagogical cultivation. The principal and the teachers were interviewed three times during the school year, and 85 students in grades 6-7 responded to a questionnaire at the beginning and the end of the school year 2012/2013. The school ground activities were mainly practical tasks like designing and constructing culture beds, collecting fruits to use in the home economics class, cutting shrubs, and planting berry bushes. The teachers’ focus was on doing, not learning. However, the teachers stated that the activities emanated from the syllabus and agreed on a strong connection between the project and environmental issues regarding food production, e.g. farm to table. They had many ideas on how to connect the practical work to various theoretical subject areas, theory to practice. At the end of the first school year, we asked the students if they like doing practical work at school. Most said yes, but more than half the students disliked outdoor teaching in the school garden. Most students agreed that they are able to use all senses while working outdoors, but more than half stated that it was not fun working outdoors with the gardening project. When asked if they learn science better outdoors than indoors, more than half disagreed. They also did not believe they learned other school subjects better when they are being taught outdoors in the school garden. We analysed the discrepancy between the aims of the teachers and the experiences of the learners and found a lack of communication on the didactical questions; why, how, what and where. There was also a need of distinct support from the principal, training on combining classroom and outdoor teaching, and transdisciplinary education.

The aim of the project is to evaluate and further develop educational material and tools on food and ESD and to evaluate the results of the education, eg. insight and action competence.

Malmö University (MU) is a relatively young university, only 15 years old. In 2014 a new strategic platform, Strategy 2020, was launched. MU believes that the future needs HEIs that contribute to the development of a sustainable community by creating new methods of working in collaboration with others. MU shall stimulate life-long learning and skills for action in an ever changing society. Our aim is education and research for a sustainable society. Our educational programmes are based on students actively seeking out and developing knowledge, with the purpose of achieving expertise that is in demand locally as well as globally. One example regarding our strategy is the interdisciplinary course, Global challenges in a subject context, 9 credits, a compulsory course for teacher students training for upper and upper secondary school (SS and USS). The course content is focusing on citizenship, intercultural issues, sustainable development and learning. Besides lectures, literature seminars and workshops, the students focus on two tasks; a short article on a learning resource suitable for education in SS or USS, and a minor research project. The articles, with practicing pedagogues as stakeholders, are published in a web magazine after approval. The second task is an interdisciplinary group work on pedagogues approach to the perspectives of citizenship, intercultural issues and/or sustainable development in the Swedish school system. The findings have to be discussed in connection to the Swedish syllabus of SS or USS. The results are presented as a paper or a poster at a student driven conference with invited participants, e.g. practicing teachers, school leaders, teacher students and university lecturers.

In 1998 when Malmö University started with the mission of liberal education, three perspectives were highlighted as cross-cutting issues that should penetrate the curriculum; environment, gender and ethnicity/migration. However, a student survey conducted in 2003, reported that the environment perspective has not been emphasized as efficiently as the other two issues. In order to improve the perspectives, there is an in-service two-week course on the perspectives, resource persons and a special venture, The Perspective Days, in October every year. At the School of Teacher Education, all course syllabuses (courses on 15 etc or more) should include information on how the perspectives are considered and included as a part of the course. In February 2006, education for sustainable development was included in the Swedish Act on Higher Education. All universities have been assigned an additional task by a new amendment in the opening paragraph of the Act on Higher Education; Institutions of higher education shall promote sustainable development in their activities meaning that present and future generations will be assured a healthy and good environment, economic and social welfare and justice. The three perspectives are essential parts in sustainable development and highly relevant to evaluate. How are teachers in different subjects at the School of Teacher Education conducting their education and courses to the environment perspective and to education for sustainable development? The aim of the presentation is to discus the challenge and to show some good examples on including the environment perspective in different subjects from Malmö University.

Place based learning in the sustainable city How can we involve young people in sustainable city development and how can we use the sustainable city as a learning arena? Could the learning aspect be a future factor when planning and construction new urban areas? This presentation will focus on student centred learning in urban spaces, by using climate smart school buildings and the city as an extended classroom and environment for education. Experiences of certain school projects and research on place based and challenge based learning in the sustainable city will be presented and discussed. One way to involve young people in climate change, environmental and sustainability issues could be to give students real challenges to work on. The two learning methods, place based and challenge based learning, will most probably increase the motivating of learning. Place based learning is a well-known pedagogy in natural studies, but only recently practiced in urban areas. Challenge based learning provides a framework, collaborative and hands-on, for learning while solving real-world challenges. Four good examples and ongoing research will be presented in the dialogue seminar of track 5: Our sustainable future seen through 10 years of local and global experiences. 1) Climate ambassadors, young teenagers in Malmö and Copenhagen, received a challenge on sustainability from the perspective of young people from the Öresund Committee. The climate ambassadors were inspired by the challenge related to their everyday life in the two cities, today and in the future, and as a result of the project they developed action competence. (Interreg project Öresundsklassrummet 2012-2014, www.oresundsklassrummet.eu , and a Research project on Climate anxiety or action competence, funded by Region Skånes Miljöfond 2014-2015) 2) Students in an upper secondary school were asked by the City of Malmö to make plans on sustainable city development and increased biological diversity in a city area in need of reconstruction. In the school project students could use and develop their power of innovation and creativity outside the traditional classroom. 3) ZlatanPlaza, an innovative suggestion on how to develop an attractive public place in Malmö – a place where people living in the area as well as visitors can learn about city architecture. Learners in grade seven at Apelgårdsskolan participated in Innocarnival 2016 and won a prize in the innovation competition on challenges in the surrounding world from the horizon of young people. (http://www.innocarnivalskane.se/node/736) 4) Climate education in climate smart schools is an ongoing research study on using smart energy systems in school buildings in education, by using the school building as an extended classroom. The aim of the project is to increase the knowledge on place based learning on energy, climate and sustainable development. (Funded by Region Skånes Miljöfond and Interreg ÖKS)

Place-based learning on climate and energy issues in the climate smart classroom possibilities and challenges Kerstin Sonesson, Faculty of Education and Society, Malmö University, Sweden This research study is focusing on how some teachers in elementary schools in a Denmark are reflecting on their experienced challenges and possibilities regarding pedagogical development using indoor climate data on temperature, humidity and content of carbon dioxide in education. The study is part of an interregional collaboration among Copenhagen University, Malmö University, Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Municipality of Höje Taastrup within Smart City Accelerator, Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak, http://interreg-oks.eu The main aim of Smart City Accelerator is to meet challenges on sustainable energy use and climate. Three schools are equipped with indoor climate sensors and DTU is enable use of the data collected, in the past and in real-time, to the schools. Teachers involved in the project are offered a possibility to use the data and to develop place-based learning activities on energy and climate in science and technology education with assistance from a pedagogical consultant in the municipality The theoretical background of the research question and the interpretation of data is influenced by Gibson’s theory of affordance (Gibson, 1979), Dewey’s theory of experience and education (Dewey, 2004) place-based theories (Smith, 2007, 2013) and social-cultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978, Säljö, 2001). The teachers at the schools are interviewed in focus groups, using semi-structural questions (Bryman, 2012) regarding: 1)Previous experiences on place-based learning 2)Aims of working with climate data in the classroom 3)Possibilities and challenges using indoor climate data in education 4)Learning activities and reflections on activities 5)Expected learning by students 6)Teachers learning in the project 7)Broader use of knowledge learned in school The interviews are transcribed and analyzed (Bryman, 2012). The work is ongoing, and so far the results are preliminary. Analyses of the interviews show that teachers are experiencing possibilities to work place-based in science and technique education, to use experiments and measurements together with learners in the classroom. However, they are also experiencing challenges in their learning process while developing and testing new materials and methods in class room education. One important challenge is to understand the indoor climate data received from the sensors in the classroom and how the indoor climate depends on various abiotic as well as biotic factors. Another challenge is to develop student-centred learning activities regarding energy issues and climate change in accordance to the syllabus.

Vi närmar oss slutet av det av FN utropade decenniet för lärande för hållbar utveckling som har sitt sista år 2014. Den stora utmaningen enligt FN är att göra det abstrakta konkret. Västra hamnen är en unik möjlighet till både organiserat formellt lärande i skolans regi och informellt lärande för alla boende och besökare. Om än lärande pågår ständigt har vi oftast fokus på skolans formella lärande. Kerstin Sonesson är ekologidocenten som blev lärarutbildare och hon ger här en rikt illustrerad provkarta på de möjligheter Västra Hamnen erbjuder till lärande för hållbar utveckling.

We are in the final stage of United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development that ends in 2014. According to the UN the main challenge is to turn abstract concepts into concrete actions. The Western Harbour is a unique opportunity for both organised academinc education and informal education for all residents and visitors. Despite education being a permanent process we often focus on formal learning in schools. Kerstin Sonesson, the Doctor of Ecology who became a teacher trainer, will here give a richly illustrated overview of the posibilities for education for sustainable development that are offered at the Western Harbour.

An interdisciplinary team of lectures at the Teacher Education, Malmö University, are currently developing a new course on intercultural understanding, citizenship and sustainable development. Teacher students training for secondary and upper secondary school will take the compulsory course Global challenges in a subject context, 9 ECTS, during their third year, with start in the autumn 2013. All our teacher training programs, pre-school to upper-secondary school, integrate subject area studies and teacher education. ESD is also integrated in all programs as the Swedish Act on Higher Education claims: Institutions of higher education shall promote sustainable development in their activities … (Chapter 5 §). The students, a mixture of students from all subjects given in the two teacher training programs, will mainly focus on the areas of intercultural understanding, citizenship and sustainability in the context of the student’s subject area during in the course. The learning activities will be among others participatory and inquire based learning. Student written articles in a web magazine and student presentations in a Conference at Malmö University will be the assessments. The new course concept is challenging current paradigms in Swedish teacher training. The participatory approaches and other challenges in developing the course will be presented.

During the last decades of the 20th century, the condition of oak species throughout Europe generally deteriorated. In southern Sweden, oak decline represents a recent phenomenon with complex temporal and spatial patterns. In this region, crown defoliation of the most common oak species, pedunculate oak Quercus robur, increased by >20% from 1988 to 1999. In 1999, 59% of the oaks were considered damaged, i.e. showing >25% crown defoliation. However, a trend of improving crown conditions was observed in southeastern Sweden during 2000-2008. Available research suggests unfavorable climatic variability as the main cause of negative dynamics in oak crown conditions. Studies have demonstrated the important role of climatic extremes (e.g. cold winters during the dormant season and drought events during vegetation season) in initiating decline phenomena, and a strong correlation between crown condition dynamics and tree-ring increments. Phytophthora quercina (class Oomycetes, kingdom Chromalveolata), a soil-born pathogen of oak, is present in declining oak stands with soil pH (BaCl2) >3.5. The role of Phytophthora spp. in initiating the decline in southern Sweden remains unclear, since most oaks stands in this region have more acidic soil conditions (pH <3.5). Similar to other European studies, our results point to the multi-factorial nature of oak decline and the importance of stand conditions in decline dynamics. This paper reviews recently published studies on the topic and presents a simple conceptual model of oak decline. We discuss future research themes that may advance our understanding of oak decline.

Crown defoliation of oak (Quercus robur and Q. petraea) was analysed in 808 trees during three forest condition surveys (1988, 1993, and 1999) in the southern Sweden. From 1988 to 1999 crown defoliation increased by more than 20%. Changes in crown defoliation were related to the pH in the upper 20–30 cm of the mineral soils, which was closely connected to other measures of soil fertility (cation exchange capacity, CEC and C/N ratio). Trees growing on soils with a high pH (≥4.00, in BaCl2 filtrate), high CEC and low C/N ratio had significantly lower crown defoliation than trees growing on more acid soils (pH <4.00), indicating that less favourable soil conditions may further enhance oak decline. Age did not differentiate trees with respect to crown defoliation, indicating that decline in crown condition was not due to an age-related increase in crown transparency. Considering only trees younger than 100 years, a significant interaction was observed between changes in crown defoliation and soil pH. Trees younger than 100 years old growing on more acidic soils had a greater increase in crown transparency than trees on more basic soils between 1988 and 1999. Trees ≥100 years old had significantly higher defoliation on more acidic than on more basic soils, however defoliation dynamics of these trees over 1988–99 was not related to soil acidity. Two biotic agents (insect and fungal leaf infections) evaluated in this study did not prove to be important drivers of defoliation dynamics.

The Climate Ambassadors – from anxiety to action competence This presentation is based on research on “The Climate Ambassadors”, one of the subprojects in “Öresundsklassrummet Level 2”, an interregional project (funded by EU/Interreg IV Öresund-Kattegatt-Skagerak) with three partners; the City of Malmö, the City of Copenhagen and Malmö University. The aim of the subproject is to educate young people, 13-15 years old, in sustainability and climate change, and to motivate and involve the youth in creating a sustainable future. As a part of the activities the learners from six secondary schools got a mission by the Oresund Committee - to work on and plan for sustainability from the perspective of young people. The participants worked in mixed groups with four different themes and presented their results in a workshop together with politicians, planners and other municipal civil servants from Sweden and Denmark. The aim of the research study is to listen to the voices of the Climate Ambassadors and analyse their statements on what they learned during the project, their anxiety for the future, their possibility to make a difference and to affect the future development, and which barriers they identify in creating a sustainable future. The scientific methods are qualitative interviews in groups of participants two-five months after the final workshop and qualitative thematic analyses of their answers. The participants like the way of working in the project and gain new knowledge, competences and skills. They find these useful in their daily life, at school as well as in leisure time. At the interviews they discuss their role and possibilities to influence the future development in the region. The Climate Ambassadors mean that the future belongs to them and one says: “We can make a different if we decide to.” Identified barriers are adults and economy. The ways of working in the subproject was highly appreciated by the participants and they expressed positive thinking of their possibilities to participate in democratic processes and in development of the future. Pedagogues working with young teenagers can learn from the two projects in order to change their education, motivate and involve the learners in sustainability and climate change.

The Global School will foster intercultural dialogue and education in global issues for sustainable developmant in preschools, schools, adult education and teacher training institutions in Sweden. The Global School is a programme administrated by the International Programme Office and funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). In this session we will present Lärhut, a national network about, in and for ESD. One aim of the network is to join hands and learn from each other in the process of developing ESD in Teacher Education. Some good examples and outputs of our cooperation will be presented.

This presentation is based on international teacher students` experiences of a learning assessment on environmental and sustainability challenges. In Teaching for sustainability (15 credits, http://edu.mah.se/en/Course/NM164E#Overview ), a course offered once a year by Malmö University, the perspective is learner oriented with a holistic approach on education and sustainability. The heterogeneous group of students has a variety of knowledge on sustainability issues, different experiences of learning activities and examination forms. Consequently, a common platform for progression of knowledge formation among the students is needed. One of the first learning activities is to read World on the Edge (Brown, 2011) and to formulate three questions on environmental and sustainability challenges that the student considers important. Prior to the first out of three assessments in the course, the lecturer selects one question per student and during the assessment seminar the student directs the discussion of the selected question among a group of 5-7 students. During the seminar, the students share their thoughts, experiences and knowledge for meaning-making through discussions. The learning outcome is to be able to describe what effect humans have upon their environment. Students are graded “Passed with distinction”, “Passed” or “Fail”, whereas the full course has a six-pointed grading system (Passed with distinction; A-B, Passed; C-E, Failed; F). Our aim of the research study is to investigate how heterogeneous groups of teacher students experiences a student-driven, non-traditional learning assessment, their learning process and meaning-making within environmental and sustainability education. Qualitative group interviews, semi-structural questions, and analysis were carried out through a phenomenographic approach. Focus was on previous experiences of assessments, ways of reading the book and formulating questions, expectations and reflections, and learning processes for meaning-making. The interviews with the international teacher students (n=41) in 2012 and 2014 were recorded, transcribed and thematically categorised. To many students the assessment was a new learning experience. While reading the book students were mainly concentrating on bigger concepts. A few students were afraid and nervous as they were unfamiliar with planning and taking responsibility for a discussion. However, the participatory and collaborative learning assessment with sharing of experiences among the students resulted in a rewarding meaning-making process. After the assessment students continued to reflect and talk about the questions raised. According to them, it generated a deep learning opportunity compared to written examination. A tentative result shows some categories of the students’ experiences of meaning-making: developing critical thinking, focusing on learning and understanding, learning by collaboration, seeing a bigger picture, and taking responsibility in learning for understanding. When students share their knowledge and experiences of global environmental and sustainability challenges, sustainability literacy for understanding seems to develop. The students describe their learning processes as on-going after closing the seminar.

Introduction: This research is based on experiences by international students. In Teaching for sustainability (15 credits), the perspective is learner oriented with a holistic approach on education and sustainability. The heterogeneous group of students has a variety of knowledge on sustainability issues, different experiences of learning activities and examination forms. Consequently, a common platform for progression of knowledge formation among the students is needed. One learning activity is to read World on the Edge (Brown, 2011), formulate three questions on environmental and sustainability challenges that the student considers important. One question per student is selected by the lecturer and the student directs the discussion among 5-7 students. The students share their thoughts and knowledge for meaning-making, discussions through the seminar. The learning outcome is to be able to describe what effect humans have upon their environment. Objectives: The aim of the study is to investigate how heterogeneous groups of teacher students experience a student-driven, non-traditional learning assessment, their learning process and meaning-making within environmental and sustainability education. Methods: Qualitative group interviews, semi-structural questions, and analysis were carried out through a phenomenographic approach. Focus was on previous experiences of assessments, ways of reading the book and formulating questions, expectations and reflections, and learning processes for meaning-making. The interviews with the international teacher students (n=41) in 2012 and 2014 were recorded, transcribed and thematically categorised. Results: To many students the assessment was a new learning experience. While reading the book students were mainly concentrating on bigger concepts. A few students were afraid as they were unfamiliar with planning and taking responsibility for a discussion. However, the participatory and collaborative learning assessment with sharing of experiences among the students resulted in a rewarding meaning-making process. After the assessment students continued to reflect and talk about the questions raised. According to them, it generated a deep learning opportunity compared to written examination. A tentative result shows some categories of the students’ experiences of meaning-making: developing critical thinking, focusing on learning and understanding, learning by collaboration, seeing a bigger picture, and taking responsibility in learning for understanding. Conclusion: Besides assessing a learning outcome, the learning needs are identified through the learning activity to be promoted for continued learning in the course. When students share their knowledge and experiences of global environmental and sustainability challenges, sustainability literacy for understanding seems to develop. The students describe their learning processes as on-going after closing the seminar.

Abstrakt till NU2016 – Bedömning, examination och betyg Studentorienterat litteraturseminarium som lärandeaktivitet och examinationsform Denna presentation är baserad på en studie av internationella lärarstudenters erfarenhet av studentorienterade litteraturseminarier om globala miljö- och hållbarhetsfrågor som examinationsform. Syftet med forskningsstudien är att undersöka hur en heterogen studentgrupp upplever en icke-traditionell examinationsform, sin lärandeprocess och kunskapsutveckling inom ämnesområdet globala utmaningar och hållbar utveckling genom ett studentdrivet litteraturseminarium. Kursen Teaching for sustainability (15 hp, http://edu.mah.se/en/Course/NM164E ) har ett holistiskt perspektiv på lärande för hållbar utveckling. Det teoretiska innehållet består av globala utmaningar, hållbar utveckling och didaktik. Kursen utgår från studentorienterat lärande och varierande arbetssätt. Kursdeltagarna utgörs av en heterogen grupp av lärarstudenter, av utbytes- och svenska studenter. Förkunskaperna varierar och likaså studenternas erfarenheter av olika examinationsformer. En av kursens första aktiviteter är att läsa boken World on the Edge. How to prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse (Brown 2011) och att formulera tre frågor om globala utmaningar. Frågorna ska vara inspirerade av boken och frågor som studenten vill diskutera i ett seminarium med 5-7 kurskamrater. Lärandemål som examineras: The student will be able to describe what effect humans have upon their environment, actively discuss the scope of environmental problems and challenges in sustainable development in the participants´ respective home country and worldwide. Inför litteraturseminariet väljer läraren ut en fråga per student och studenten får introducera och leda diskussionen kring sin fråga. Under diskussionen bidrar varje student med sin erfarenhet och kunskap. På så sätt bidrar alla med sina perspektiv på de frågeställningar som behandlas. Studenterna bedöms enligt en tregradig skala; väl godkänd, godkänd samt underkänd. Efter litteraturseminarier vid två kurstillfällen (2012 och 2014) genomfördes intervjuer med semi-strukturella frågor i fokusgrupper (7 grupper och sammanlagt 41 studenter). Intervjufrågorna fokuserades på studenternas tidigare erfarenheter av examinationer, läsande av kursboken, formulering av frågor och förväntningar litteraturseminariet, samt reflektioner efter genomförandet. Intervjuerna spelades in, transkriberades samt analyserades med en fenomenografisk ansats. För flertalet studenter var det studentorienterade litteraturseminariet en ny erfarenhet. Medan de läste boken fokuserade studenterna i huvudsak på de stora sammanhangen och inte på detaljer. De sökte vidare information kring frågor de ville veta mera om. Några studenter uppgav att de var nervösa inför seminariet och förklarade detta med att de var ovana vid att planera, leda och ansvara för en diskussion kring en fråga de själva valt. Studenter menade att alla i gruppen bidrog till en gemensam lärandeprocess då de delade erfarenheter, tankar och kunskap kring globala utmaningar och hållbar utveckling. Efter avslutat seminarium fortsatte de fundera kring frågorna som diskuterats.

This study investigates a reciprocal partnership between two cities in Namibia and Sweden to deepen the understanding of challenges and learning outcomes in a project on education for sustainable development. Since 2008, two municipalities have developed a strong partnership via The Municipal Partnership Programme at the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy. Municipal partnerships are results-oriented collaborations in joint projects on sustainability. The purpose is to describe how eight team members in the mutual South-North project, by addressing similar problems in different contexts, experienced challenges in the implementation of the project plan, solutions and learning processes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the end of the second project year. Transcripts and field notes were analysed using a phenomenographic approach and contextual analysis. Five main categories of description based on collective statements and three dimensions of learning were recognised in the research data. The analysis identifies strategies for critical knowledge formation and capability building to support mutual learning in South-North Municipal Partnerships. The concluding discussion spots the learning dimensions—how sharing experiences by justifying non-formal and transformational learning promotes organisations’ readiness for knowledge formation by conducting mutual global learning towards sustainable development goals.

Havsmedveten? Kerstin Sonesson & Agneta Rehn, Malmö universitet kerstin.sonesson@mau.se agneta.rehn@mau.se Marint kunskapscentrum, https://www.smkc.se/, driver tillsammans med Malmö universitet projektet Havet, målen och jag. Fokus: Rädda havet från plast med bidrag ur havs-och vattenmiljöanslaget för marin pedagogik, Havs- och Vattenmyndigheten. Syftet med projektet är att ta fram en pedagogisk modell för hur man i grundskolan, med stöd i Lgr 11, kan arbeta med Agenda 2030 med fokus på mål 14, Hav och marina resurser, och därmed öka elevers havsmedvetenhet. Marint kunskapscenter i Malmö har utvecklat ett skolprogram med två träffar på Marint kunskapscentrum, klassrumsarbete och träff tre på respektive skola. Klasserna ska arbeta med innovativ problemlösning på utmaningar kopplade till Rädda havet från plast, utmaningar som de själva formulerar. Träff 1: De globala hållbarhetsmålen och plastproblematiken i haven. Träff 2: Fältstudier, havets ekosystem och biologisk mångfald samt skräpinsamling på stranden.. Träff 3: Presentation av elevernas förlag till lösning på valda utmaningar. Under höstterminen 2018 ska 20 grupper, 18 grundskoleklasser i Malmö stad och lärarstudenter i två kurser vid Malmö universitet, delta i programmet. Våra forskningsfrågor: I vilken utsträckning upplever elever och lärare i grundskolans åk 1-9 att eleverna utvecklar havsmedvetenhet, handlingskompetens och kreativ förmåga att finna lösningar till utmaningar kopplade till havet genom att delta i det elevcentrerade programmet Havet, målen och jag? Hur upplever klasslärarna programmet och dess länkning till Lgr 11? Metod: Icke-deltagande observation vid träffarna på Marint kunskapscenter i Malmö. Enkät med påståenden och Likertskala samt frågor av mera öppen karaktär till alla deltagande elever, studenter och lärare samt semistrukturerade intervjuer med personal vid Marint kunskapscenter och klasslärare. Analys av konstruktiv länkning i programmet genom innehållsanalys av det producerade studie- och handledarmaterialet. Projektet är pågående.

Window farming - utmaningsbaserat och ämnesöverskridande lärande i slöjdsalen. Författarna till denna presentation fick i uppdrag av en kommun i Sydsverige att följa ett utvecklingsprojekt, ”Odling och hälsa”, initierat av ett lärarlag på en åk 6-9 skola. Under de tre åren skol- och forskningsprojektet pågick undersöktes och dokumenterades bland annat lärarnas utvecklings- och förändringsarbete genom individuella intervjuer och fokusgruppintervjuer med rektor, lärare och skolträdgårdsmästare. Forskningsansatsen var fenomenografisk. Skolans träslöjdslärare inspirerades av projektet och fick en idé om hur han kunde förändra arbetssättet i slöjdsalen, från ”presentfabrik” till kreativt samarbete mellan såväl elever som flera av skolans ämnen i projektet ”Window farming”. Syftet med projektet är att få trevligare klassrum med bättre inomhusmiljö, att utveckla elevernas kreativitet och samarbete, samt öka samverkan mellan olika skolämnen. Elever i årskurs 6 indelades i grupper och fick en utmaning: Att designa och konstruera en fungerande fönsterodling i ett stort fönster i slöjdsalen eller i salen som används i hem- och konsumentkunskap. I presentationen diskuteras hur projektet med ändade arbetsformer, utmaningsbaserat och ämnesintegrerat grupparbete, mottogs av eleverna, vilka utmaningar som lärarlaget ställdes inför samt hur det didaktiska nytänkandet motiverades av lärarna med hänvisning till Lgr 11.

Globala utmaningar i en nordisk kontext – utveckling av studentcentrerad didaktik i SPICA-nätverket Grundpelare i SPICA-nätverket är didaktiskt utvecklingsarbete och genomförande av en kurs (5 ECTS) för lärarstudenter från de nordiska länderna. Kursens innehåll fokuserar på nordiska lösningar på lokala, regionala och globala intressekonflikter och utmaningar. Kursens målsättning är att utveckla och stärka lärarstudenternas didaktiska kompetens i professionellt arbete med handlingskompetens och aktivt medborgarskap i skolan, utifrån lokala utmaningar och i samverkan med det omgivande samhället. Kursen planeras utifrån studentcentrerat arbetssätt och består av tre delar: * En virtuell del med flipped classroom och studentledda seminarier på nätet, * En intensiv kursvecka med placed-based och challenge-based eduction i ett av länderna, samt * Efterarbete i form av en individuell reflekterande text. I mars 2016 träffas drygt 20 studenter och 10 lärarutbildare på Island. Inför kursstart i februari spelar nätverkets lärare in korta filmer som behandlar för kursen relevanta begrepp och arbetssätt, samt kopplar till utmaningar och möjligheter i en isländsk kontext. Filmerna som ger såväl teoretiska som tematiska perspektiv ses av kursdeltagarna och diskuteras i grupper om 4-5 studenter från lika många lärosäten. I de nätbaserade diskussionerna arbetar studentgrupperna sig fram till en utmaning som de vill arbeta med under intensivveckan. Temat för gruppens arbete, den utmaningen gruppen väljer, ska vara kopplad till kursens målsättning och ska sättas i förhållande till skolans undervisning. På postern presenteras och diskuteras utfallet av det didaktiska utvecklingsarbetet och SPICA-kursen 2016. SPICA-nätverket finansieras av Nordiska ministerrådet koordineras av Åsmund Aamaas, Högskolan i Söröst-Norge, asmund.aamaas@hit.no

Development is the premise of sustainable development: people are the focus of sustainable development; education for sustainable development (ESD) is based on the needs of sustainable development and education. "China - Sweden's Training of Collaboratively Comparative Research on ESD" organized by Yunnan provincial Federation of Social Science Circle and Swiss International programme office (IPO) launched the new exploration to the creative idea of ESD. In the graduate course named "ESD Research", graduates and scholars air their own views on ESD.