SDG 04: Quality Education

Teacher Guide

This guide offers educators a structured yet adaptable framework, including background information, practical examples, and didactic strategies. All exercises can be completed without having any specific pre-existing knowledge about the topic. They build on each other but can also be carried out independently of each other, and individually. Of course, you can make adjustments as needed. The modular structure allows for flexible implementation - lessons can be taught sequentially or individually, depending on time constraints and students' prior knowledge.

It is ideally suited for subject lessons or project-based learning and can also be utilized outside the traditional classroom setting by environmental groups and clubs.

Boardstory

Together with your students watch the short and fact-based boardstory on SDG 4. If terms are unclear, students can also be asked to write down unknown terms and questions so that they can be clarified after watching the boardstory. Student questions can also create the opportunity for further inquiry and exploration.

Take a second look at the boardstory and use the pause button on the player to ask comprehension questions. Use the interactive exercises embedded in the boardstory. The three exercise types - search game, impulse questions, and quiz - allow you to discuss the content, improve understanding and deepen knowledge on SDG 4.

Student Workbook

After watching the boardstory you can extend and enhance the learning process using the "Student Workbook" for which background information, didactic notes and explanation to each of the exercises can be found in the tab "Teaching Unit".

EXPLORING THE BOARDSTORY

This is a wrap-up activity that helps the students connect what they have learned with the content of the Boardstory. Through discussion and reflection, they will revisit key themes, reinforce their understanding, and explore real-world applications of the story's message.

Session 1:

Watch the short, fact-based SDG 4 boardstory with your students. Have an initial discussion and solve the integrated interactive tasks.

Before watching the boardstory for the first time, give the students a listening task: "What do you learn in the boardstory?" Possibly with the addition: "Remember at least three things."

Then, ask the students to describe the boardstory by asking the following:

• What happened in the boardstory?

• What caught your interest and why?

• Why is quality education important?

• Why does everyone benefit from quality education?

Session 2:

Work (further) on the worksheets.

Hand out the worksheets "EXPLORING THE BOARDSTORY" from the student workbook to engage the students in the content of the SDG 4 Boardstory.

DIFFERENT FORMS OF LEARNING

This exercise makes your students realize that learning in the sense of gaining competences is a process that not only happens at school and in academic institutions but also through individual and collective experiences as well as social exchange.

Firstly, let the students individually reflect on learning situations they probably did not perceive as such situations. Secondly, it gets more interactive to highlight that social exchange is a source of gaining information, but also a source that might contain false information.

Hand out the worksheet for exercise “DIFFERENT FORMS OF LEARNING”.

If you feel the students might need an example to understand the task better, you could either create one on your own or use one of the following:

Learning situation: at school

• Interesting information: Liam learned that eating vegetables is good for hit health

• Where: at school, during class

• Who taught him: His teacher and his fellow students from his working group in class

• In what situation can he use it: Every time he can choose what to eat. Now he knows that he will likely become less sick and be better at sports when he chooses vegetables when he has an appetite

Learning situation: experience with friends, fellow students, parents

• Skill: Lisa has learned a new football skill: She can now aim her passes and shots better than before.

• Where: She learned it at the playground while doing sports.

• Who taught her: Her friend who plays in a football club showed her that passing the ball with the inside of the foot (instead of the frontside) gives her better aim. Her friend took time to show her properly and corrected her when she practised the skill afterwards.

• In what situation can she use it: She is now a more skilled football player and can use it in football games.

You can have as many students read out their notepads as you like. In the probably arising discussion about who learned what you could use the following questions to let your students reflect on them:

• Now that you have done this exercise, can you remember any times you did not understand that you were actually learning something until now?

• Let us take a closer look at how you were learning: was it by listening or by doing something or...

• Let us take a closer look at the people who were teaching others information or skills? Who was among them? (Learnings: At least in theory, everyone can teach another person something; once they learned and understood something, they can share it with others and apply it to different areas in their everyday life)

• In part C you experienced that there are people spreading false or misleading information. This could happen by accident or on purpose. What is important to think about and do when you gain new information? (Learnings: nobody knows about everything; check multiple sources; watch out for fake news)

DIFFERENT CONDITIONS FOR EDUCATION

This exercise reflects on which conditions support and hinder education. Especially two learnings are provided: On the one hand, students recognize which resources are needed for good education. On the other hand, reflecting on these conditions they learn that there are different obstacles and reasons for a lack of equitable access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities. Afterwards, the students are encouraged to identify what learning conditions are favorable for them and why.

Introduce this exercise by telling your students that there is a human right to be educated. However, this right alone does not guarantee that everybody receives quality education. Often this is not their own fault but because of different conditions.

Divide your students into smaller groups. Each group gets a set of memory cards that are part of the student workbook.
Their task is: “Which cards are talking about the same way of learning? Collect them in a game of memory.”
(Optional clue: You may have a closer look at the names' initials to find out which cards belong together).

After the memory game is finished, the group works together again, given the following tasks:

1. Create two staples: One for supportive conditions and one for hindering conditions. Place all your cards on the respective staple. Each pair entails one supportive and one hindering condition.

2. Look through the staple with the supportive conditions. List each condition as a brief bullet point and mark one that is really important for you.

   • Examples of good conditions: learning material in someone´s language (also true for e.g. braille); enough time for learning, supportive people (could be family members, friends or [additional] teachers); accessible high technical standards (fast, uncensored internet); good idols; a place without disturbances; (enough) money; good health; having the possibility to learn together with others.

3. Look through the staple with the hindering conditions.

   • Examples of bad conditions: language barriers; no support; technical barriers; censorship; not enough time for learning; no quiet place to learn; not enough money; bad health/disability; no possibilities to learn/play with others.

4. For each card, think about factors or situations that could make it harder for people to access quality education.

You may have your students reflect further on different learning conditions, what their individual needs are concerning this issue, and reflect further with them on how discrimination is connected to access to education. The following questions could be added to the discussion:

• How old do you think the people mentioned on the memory cards are? Does it make a difference if they are younger or older? ( lifelong learning)

• There are more female names among the persons under hindering conditions than male names. Why do you think that is? What might cause unfair conditions in who gets a good education, especially between girls and boys?

• Where do you think the different persons on the memory cards live? Do you think this could be relevant? Why do you think that?

TAKING ACTION

This exercise focuses on learning conditions in school, the student’s classroom and/or at home. The students identify whether and which changes would help them focus and learn in a more effective way. After identifying their needs and possible changes, they develop a plan for implementation. The students also learn that for planning something, they define their aim, plan concrete steps, seek for help and consider how to overcome challenges.

Hand out the last worksheet from the workbook “TAKING ACTION” to engage the students in taking action in their local environment. The students’ plans can be shared in class afterwards.