University-to-School Environmental Projects for Sustainable Development: A Case of Ural Federal University

Abstract

Sustainable development is a worldwide recognized social and political goal; it is discussed both in academic and political discourse. According to the authors, the formation of a new way of thinking will help to achieve this goal. A lot of research is related to sustainable development in higher education. However, mental models are formed even more effectively at school age. The paper was written in the context of Russia, where the subject of sustainable development in education is extremely poorly developed. The case of Ural Federal University was presented. The University has been working for several years on the creation of a device for the purification of sewage industrial water in the framework of an initiative student group. Recently, schoolchildren have joined this work. Such projects have been called university-to-school projects. Successful solution of inventive tasks contributes to the formation of mental models. The case has been analyzed in terms of institutionalism. The authors argued the primacy of mental institutions over normative in the process of sustainable society construction.