Chicken Raising in a Diverse Finnish Classroom: Multidimensional Sustainability Learning

Abstract

Social change requires new educational planning and sustainable teaching methods. Shaping an environment of care with animals as a part of the daily school life may produce such a change. In this article, we present a transdisciplinary study with the aim of exploring whether raising chickens in a classroom could promote learning, especially sustainability learning, and how. The study employs an ethnographic approach and we have analyzed the data according to interaction analysis. We collected the data in a culturally-diverse Finnish primary school class during May 2018. The data comprise field notes, videos and photographs from indoor and outdoor school activities; interviews and discussions with teachers and students; and, texts and artifacts that were made by students. The results show that having chickens in the classroom not only improved the students' learning of biology, but also enhanced many other activities. The chicken project became part of a complex learning culture that met several of the aims of the curriculum and in many ways reached beyond the aim of merely learning science. The project became a natural part of sustainability education and promoted the acquisition of knowledge and skills in relation to the ecological and social dimensions of sustainability.any structural obstacles to health, influence, competence, impartiality, or meaning making. The crucial elements that should be maintained in a socially sustainable context are trust, common meaning, diversity, capacity for learning, and capacity for self-organization. Even if these criteria are not especially worked out for schools, they are still applicable in a school context. 'Learning as meaning making' involves identities and emotions and emphasizes that when learning, people try to make sense of the situation with its frame, objects, and relationships based on experiences and cultural resources [6].According to Gadotti [7], sustainability means that people live in harmony with each other and the environment; a crucial goal, therefore, is that there should be harmony among the differences [7]. The social dimension of sustainability supports equality in culturally-diverse settings. Among many other important questions, sustainability education must deal with inequality and power issues [1] and it should recognize challenges on ethical, cognitive, and practical levels [3]. Based on empirical research, Green and Summerwille [8] distinguish four meta-level categories through which they understand the essential elements of sustainability education:

Social hållbarhet och scientific literacy i flerspråkiga naturvetenskapsklassrum

“…Ett tredje och avslutande exempel härrör från en femteklass vi besökte som arbetade tematiskt med ett övergripande biologiprojekt där de födde upp höns i klassrummet (se Wolff et al, 2018). Detta påverkade hela skoldagarna, emedan hönsen behövde matas, rastas och skötas på olika sätt.…”

“…Eftersom ett elevinitiativ var början till projektet, samtalade vi forskare med initiativtagaren om hur allt började (Wolff et al, 2018). Eleven berättade gärna och ivrigt om projektet.…”

“…Elevberättelsen ovan synliggör hur hönsprojektet startade och hur elevinitiativet uppmuntrades av såväl rektor som lärare (Wolff et al, 2018). Vi forskare följde med lärare och elever till den närliggande skolträdgården där de letade daggmaskar till hönsen.…”

“…Sammantaget är hönsprojektet ett exempel på hur socialt hållbar undervisning kan ta form i ett klassrum där undervisningens kärna speglar lärarens värderingar och engagemang (Wolff et al, 2018). Att ha djur i klassrummet aktiverar elever på många olika sätt.…”

“…Borg, Gericke, Höglund & Bergman, 2012;Uitto & Saloranta, 2012). Mycket av det som berör hållbarhet ingår innehållsmässigt i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena enligt läroplanerna i Finland och Sverige, men dessa ämnen behöver också utformas så att undervisningen i sig är hållbar, även socialt (Wolff, Vuorenpää & Sjöblom, 2018). Såväl det lärande som sker i klassrummet som det skolspråk som används kan endera förstärka eller utmana den sociala rättvisan (Wrigley, Lingard & Thomson, 2012).…”