Teaching for sustainability and altruism through project-based learning: A framework and case study

Abstract

This paper introduces an education for sustainable development (ESD) framework and professional development system called Teaching for Sustainability and Altruism through Project-Based Learning (SAPBL). The framework conceptualizes how a global moral identity develops through project-based pedagogy. The SAPBL framework fosters sustainability citizenship and altruistic living by empowering learners, starting in early childhood, to engage with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals in their local context. A qualitative case study is presented to describe how early childhood teachers from the U.S. and China completed the SAPBL course and implemented this approach to ESD with their students. Teachers reported increased confidence to facilitate sustainability projects, greater ability to connect curricula to societal issues, increased examination of local-to-global challenges by students, and students’ increased action to improve their world. Preparing students for global citizenship can start in preschool by motivating young children to act sustainably and altruistically.