Building sustainability through an activity-based approach

Abstract

The matter of environmental protection, the practice of environmental awareness and the motivation to do so are not only emphasised in environmental education and natural science classes, but are now an essential, integrated part of every taught subject. It is particularly important for language learners, as texts related to the topic have appeared in every type of examination in recent years. The topic can play a varied role in the Hungarian classes of upper school students, as it provides an excellent basis for teaching text types (argumentative, informative, opinion-forming). In the course of my teaching practice in recent years, I have experimented with many didactic procedures for both my subjects and both age groups in order to integrate the topic of sustainability into my classes, which are characterized by the use of active tasks. I would like to share these good practices in my study, based on which I present the theory of task-based education. Thanks to active learning methods and varied class activities, students are engaged in their learning by thinking, discussing, investigating, and creating – and not only studying. As well as being learners they are also social actors, and also learn to think about their wider environment and form opinions. The transfer of basic knowledge of environmental education is the task of scientific subjects. However, the activation and use of knowledge about sustainability and related world knowledge is an essential part of the methodological practice of other subjects as well.