16 September 2019
On September 7, 2019, the Science Festival was held on the territory of the Central Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. An exhibition of scientific achievements was part of the program, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have taken a significant place. Acquaintance with them and their popularization among exhibition visitors is the main content of the interactive stand of the Education for Sustainable Development Association.
At the exhibition, the Association’s interactive stand worked under the name “Science Shop for Sustainable Development Goals”. What is a Science shop? This is a new activity for our country, helping people and local developing communities to find reasons for making informed decisions. In the activities of a Science shop the methodology of cooperation between researchers and society is “civil science”, which means joint research on mutually interesting issues and topics of localization and achievement of the SDGs.
The main idea and methods of the scientific shop’s work were presented by the employees of the Coordination Center “Education for Sustainable Development” of the Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University (BSPU). They talked about the experience of implementing this idea in the Republic of Belarus, which was obtained in the partnership of the Education for Sustainable Development Association, Belarusian State Pedagogical University and the non-profit organization Scientific Bonn (Germany) with the Berezovsky and Schuchinsky district executive committees, as well as the Zditovskaya secondary school of the Berezovsky district and the Shchuchin Gymnasium within the framework of the Belarusian-German project “Scientific Shop as a Tool for Integrating Educational Practices into Regional Sustainable Development Processes” (2017 — 2019).
Representatives of the Partnership Network of Sustainable Development Schools shared their experience in implementing methods of “civic science” and resources created for this purpose in local communities. More than 300 people took part in the events organized at the stand.
The board game “Know Your Goals” and the exhibition of the Helios Children’s Science Laboratory of the Resource Center for Integrated Support for ESD Practices of Gymnasium No. 19 in Minsk allowed young and adult exhibitors to plunge into the world of sustainable development. The workshops of the team of the Sustainable Development public association “Our Footprint” helped to determine the degree of eco-friendliness of their life and behavior (“ecological trail”, “waste management”, “the impact of transport on the environment”, etc.).
The same ideas were followed by the environmental team of the secondary school No. 4 of Dzerzhinsk, who presented the program “Be Lean!”. It unites the region’s eco-friendly families in the school’s activities.
The friendly team of students and teachers of Negorelsky secondary school No. 1 (Dzerzhinsky district) shared the experience of joint research work “School and the village together for sustainable development”. The school is a participant in the Teacher for Belarus program. Focusing on future generations, the schoolchildren, together with their parents, organized the DecorWoods business company and created the educational video “Children for Children. Talking simple about complex things”. Sergey Vasilevsky, a student of the XI class, presented computer games that help children and adults deepen their knowledge of the history and culture of Belarus.
Consultations of the student research laboratory “Educational Practices for Sustainable Development in Preschool Education Institutions” of the Belarusian State Pedagogical University Preschool Education Faculty showed parents how to explain to their children what sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals are. “Climate Workshop” was organized by representatives of the Ekamaisterni Cultural and Environmental Institution and helped to see how the processes of climate change and the related SDGs are manifesting in the life of each of us.
The final phase was the presentation of the student campaign “Eco-Bus routes: we localize the SDGs together!” of the Belarusian University of Culture and Arts. The inclusion of students in the processes of greening the lifestyle of both their own, the university, and the community is a promising component of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The organizers of the interactive stand of the Education for Sustainable Development Association were the Education for Sustainable Development Coordination Center of the Belarusian State Pedagogical University and the Inter-University Club of Friends of the Sustainable Development Goals.
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