Rediscovery Centre Education Team completes Sustainable Schools: STEM and the SDGs in Ireland; direct reach of 18,472 people

Sustainable schools: Achieving the SDGs through STEM

The Rediscovery Centre (RDC) is Ireland’s National Centre for the Circular Economy and aims to facilitate Ireland’s transition to a more sustainable future through Demonstration, Education & Collaboration. The Rediscovery Centre is a creative space connecting people, ideas and resources. We bring together the skills and expertise of artists, scientists, designers and craftspeople in a common purpose of sustainability through resource efficiency and reuse. The Rediscovery Centre supports the development of the circular economy, and advocates for a more resilient, equitable society. The Centre has four reuse social enterprises: Rediscover Furniture, Rediscover Fashion, Rediscover Paint, and Rediscover Cycling, which use unwanted materials as resources for new product design. We actively participate in research, particularly in the fields of sustainability, behavioural change, resource efficiency and waste management.

The Rediscovery Centre’s Education Team has recently completed a 2-year project titled Sustainable Schools: STEM and the SDGs. The project consisted of 400 workshops delivered to 100 schools across Ireland, with four workshops delivered to each class. The aim of the project was to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into primary schools in Ireland. Usually in Ireland, the SDGs are not taught until secondary school, and this is at the discretion of the teachers, as it is not integrated into the curriculum. This project aimed to give students aged 8-12 the opportunity to engage with the SDGs, how they relate to everyday life and how STEM can help to achieve the goals. Each participating class completed a series of four hands-on, interactive workshops. The first of the series was an introduction to STEM and the SDGs to provide a basis on which the following workshops would be built. For the remaining three workshops, the classes had the choice of the following topics: - Water - Waste - Biodiversity - Energy - Food - Climate

Students were encouraged to choose the topics they wished to explore, thus giving them more ownership of the project. Each workshop consisted of a presentation mixed with engaging, hands-on activities to encourage critical thinking and engagement with the topic. The students were then asked to complete a project on their chosen topics after each workshop. These could be in the classroom, school or the wider community. This further deepened engagement with the topics and showed the students how the SDGs relate to everyday life. While the official project has ended, the Rediscovery Centre will continue to offer this series of workshops as part of our standard educational offerings.

The aims of the project were to: - Improve perception and understanding of STEM, particularly as it relates to global issues - Improve perception and understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals - Increase knowledge and awareness of local and global sustainability issues - Build confidence in using STEM skills and critical thinking skills - Increased engagement with the SDGs and understanding of how STEM can be used to tackle relevant social and environmental challenges - Increased focus on practical STEM-related solutions to effect positive change for issues in their school, community, or even globally.

As part of achieving these aims, a free online toolkit was developed to aid in teaching the SDGs. The toolkit included a number of free resources and activities covering a wide range of topics, age ranges, and abilities. This was done to increase the reach of the project beyond just the participating classes. Also funded under the project was the Rediscovery Centres 2024 annual science fair, Let’s Talk Science. This fair is aimed at the local Ballymun community, a recognised area of deprivation with low engagement in education. The fair includes a range of hands-on, interactive displays and talks delivered by a range of accredited STEM organisations and the Rediscovery Centre’s education team.

The number of participants for each education workshop delivered, including students and teachers, were recorded. We also recorded the number of attendees at the project event Let’s Talk Science Festival 2024. ● 2365 students participated in education programmes ● 100 teachers participated in education programmes ● 520 attendees at Let’s Talk Science Festival 2024 ● 586 students at 20 pilot workshops ● 20 teachers at 20 pilot workshops

Online Platform: ● 2,376 unique visits to the webpage ● 12,505 unique downloads of resources

Leading to a direct reach of 18,472 people, including students and teachers. This does not include the classes that compleated activities from the toolkit that did not take part directly in the programme.

Link to free online toolkit: https:

Sustainable schools: Achieving the SDGs through STEM

2.1 | Education for Climate priority

develop green skills and competences

SDG (03) Good Health and Well-being

SDG (06) Clean Water and Sanitation

SDG (07) Affordable and Clean Energy

SDG (08) Decent Work and Economic Growth

SDG (09) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

SDG (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities

SDG (12) Responsible Consumption and Production

SDG (14) Life Below Water

SDG (15) Life On Land

SDG (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

SDG (17) Partnerships for the Goals

2.4 | GreenComp: sustainability competence focus

1.1 Valuing sustainability (Embodying Sustainability Values)

1.2 Supporting fairness (Embodying Sustainability Values)

1.3 Promoting nature (Embodying Sustainability Values)

2.2 Critical thinking (Embracing Complexity in Sustainability)

3.1 Futures literacy (Envisioning Sustainable Futures)

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