Why is teaching Sustainability to younger years important?
Children are naturally curious, creative, and extremely receptive to new ideas. When students understand concepts like conservation, recycling, and renewable energy, they're more likely to adopt eco-friendly practices in their daily lives. This early introduction lays the foundations for responsible environmental citizenship as they grow into adulthood.
At NAS Dubai, this is intertwined into our unique curriculum whereby each primary year group focuses on learning 1 of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Goals each term, ensuring coverage of all. By Year 6, the children have gained a greater insight into how they can contribute positively to society. In addition to the curriculum offered, weekly DICE lessons in Years 4 – 6 have been introduced with a significant sustainability focus!
How do we implement this into our curriculum?
1. “Sustainable Cities”
Since term one, our Year 4 children have learnt all about sustainable cities, renewable energy, and the importance of recycling through practical activities such as city pop-up books educating younger students in the school!
This term the students have delved deeper into what makes a sustainable city through our current “Food Heroes” topic! This focuses on the children creating their own sustainable supermarket prototypes. Through this topic they each learn about sustainable packaging, the environmental impact of food exports and imports on our planet, as well as the benefits of locally grown produce and hydroponics farming!
2. Saving the Rainforests By Raising Awareness
Year 5’s topic in Term 1, involved educating others on the effects of human intervention and natural disasters on rainforests, challenging the children to come up with engaging ways to inform others of the destruction using coding and a digitally created educational board games.
This term the children have been given the creative freedom to create an APP that will help to address a sustainable goal of their choice! Ideas generated included “DroneEx” – an app where you can deliver food aid to those in need via drones.
3. The Changemaker’s Market
The Year 6 “Changemaker’s Market: Messages that Matter” project was a huge success! The children picked a world issue that they wished to highlight, created Banksy inspired graffiti artwork in class which was later pressed onto merchandise such as mugs, bags and keyrings and sold in order to spread awareness. Topics explored through the artworks and merchandise included coral reef bleaching, protecting endangered animals and raising awareness of deforestation.
So… Why is sustainability education so crucial?
Sustainability education encourages critical thinking and problem-solving skills among our children, here at NAS Dubai, by presenting real-world challenges that demand innovative and creative solutions! Addressing and coming up with ways to reduce waste, designing eco-friendly supermarkets, or creating awareness through educational games, empowers students to think creatively and collaboratively to address environmental issues. By exploring topics such as climate change, pollution, and resource depletion, students gain a deeper understanding of the urgency of these issues and how relevant they are in their own lives. This connection promotes a sense of personal responsibility and inspires them to take action to create positive change within their respective communities.
In summary, teaching about sustainability in classrooms is not just important; it's a necessity for the well-being of all future generations. By ensuring environmental consciousness is at the forefront of our student’s minds, empowering tomorrow's leaders with their own thoughts and solutions, encouraging critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and connecting classroom learning to real-world issues, there is no doubt this can help to grow a generation of empathetic global citizens committed to creating a more sustainable world for all!
Pamela Cuthbertson
