New Perspectives in Science Education
Social Learning Networks for System Transformation: Local STEM Experiments to Build Global Competencies
Elizabeth Kurucz, Gordon S. Lang School of Business, University of Guelph (Canada)
Barry Colbert, Lazaridis School of Business, Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada)
Catherine Hands, Faculty of Education, Brock University (Canada)
Karin Archer, Let’s Talk Science (Canada)
Emily Krysten Spencer-Mueller, Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada)
Mehrnaz Amadian, Gordon S. Lang School of Business, University of Guelph (Canada)
Abstract
This mixed methods research explores how design thinking enables schools and communities to co-create 21st century learning models that support social-ecological resilience and build leadership capacity for sustainability. The project aims to form a Canada-wide partnership with academic collaborators and organizations to develop learner skills and sustainability leadership. Using a social innovation process, we co-design local 'experiments' that benefit partner organizations and inform our research. Employing design thinking, we foster interdisciplinary collaboration across education, organization studies, natural sciences, psychology, and philosophy. Our goals include co-designing and analyzing school-community partnership experiments, generating insights for student learning and teacher training, and facilitating dialogue across a Canada-wide network. This paper presents early findings from community-school partnership experiment co-constructed with the University of Guelph Arboretum and an innovative secondary school program that situates STEM learning in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, and examining Grade 9 and 11 STEM students' nature connectedness and development of global competencies.
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Keywords |
School-Community Partnerships; STEM; Global Competencies; Nature Connectedness; Design Thinking |
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REFERENCES |
[1] Lor, R. (2017, May). Design thinking in education: A critical review of the literature. International Academic Conference on Social Sciences and Management Conference (pp. 36-68). Bangkok, Thailand. [2] Cook-Deegan, P. (2016). Redesigning American high schools for the 21st century. Stanford Social Innovation Review, June, 1-6. [2] Hands, C. M. (2023). School-community collaboration: Insights from two decades of partnership development. In B. Cleveland, P. Chandler, J. Clinton, I. McShane & S. Stackhouse (Eds.), Schools as community hubs: Building ‘more than a school’ for community benefit (pp. 31-43). New York: Springer. [3] Kurucz, E., C.M. Hands, K. Archer, K. Spencer-Mueller and N. Gudz (in press). Co-Creating a better world with collaborators: A design lab approach to transforming education. School Community Journal. [4] Lam, C. Y., & Shulha, L. M. (2015). Insights on using developmental evaluation for innovating: A case study on the cocreation of an innovative program. American Journal of Evaluation, 36(3), 358-374. [5] Let’s Talk Science. (2018). Supporting education transformation in Canada: The intersection of Canada 2067 and education 2030 framework for action. Let’s Talk Science. [6] Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (2020). Pan-Canadian systems level framework on global competencies. |
