Me and Leif Dahlberg attended a two-day course on ”Drama-based methods for sustainability teaching” last autumn. We very much enjoyed the course so I invited one of the teachers, Dr. Eva Österlind, Professor in Applied Drama, Department of Teaching and Learning, Stockholm University, to come and talk to us about her work. Read a short summary of Eva and her talk below.
Teaching for Sustainability in Higher Education - Interactive Drama Workshops
An overarching purpose for all teaching is to promote connections between the content and each individual student. When it comes to climate change, it is a challenging topic for both teachers and students, due to the magnitude of the problem and the existential threat. In order to avoid defensive responses like denial or hopelessness, Drama for Learning looks promising.
About Eva: I teach Drama in Teacher Education, lead a Master program in Drama and Applied Theatre, and tutor PhD-students. My research focus on the potential of Drama for Learning, especially Drama in Education for Sustainable Development in HE
Suggested readings:
-Österlind, E. 2018. Drama in higher education for sustainability: work-based learning through fiction? Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning8(3), pp. 337–352.
Lehtonen, A., Österlind, E., &Viirret, T.L. 2020. Drama in education for sustainability: Becoming connected through embodiment. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 21(19). http://www.ijea.org/v21n19/