Introduce Sustainable Development Goals

1. Students can broadly describe the SDGs and their purpose 
2. Students can identify SDGs which are relevant to their study and personal interests

Lead-in/ warmer ideas (5-10 mins)

What do you already know about sustainability? Invite students to discuss or write down anything they know relating to sustainability, and how it might relate to their subject or discipline. You could do this via a Canvas discussion board, Teams chat or other collaborative spaces like Padlet and google docs if working asynchronously.

Create a quick quiz in Mentimeter or another polling tool. Students answer the question, ‘How familiar are you with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals?’ with one of the following options:

• I feel curious yet a little apprehensive as I don’t know much about these goals yet.
• I feel comfortable as I have encountered the goals before and have a basic understanding of these.
• I have worked with the SDGs before and feel confident applying these to different contexts.
• If you have any question about the SDGs, please ask me as I am an expert in this area!

Main activities (15-30 mins)

Now take students deeper into the SDGs and encourage links to your subject, course or discipline. Watch this video (about 7 mins) that explains the 17 SDGs, which can be divided into 3 categories: 

We all have different values and beliefs and therefore place different emphasis on each goal. Which SDGs are you most passionate about and why? How do you think this relates to the industry you are working in, or the discipline you study?

Students follow these steps to answer the questions above.

1. Find an SDG that is particularly interesting to you on the UN Website.
2. Share the link to the goal and why it’s important for you. You could also include an image that visualises the goal.
3. Repeat this process if you want to add more than one SDG.

Encourage students to discuss in class or reply to each other’s posts in your subject discussion board or other shared space.

Finishing up (5-10 mins)

Direct students to this 2-minute quiz on the Global Goals to identify which SDGs are most important to them, and how these can translate into practical, everyday actions.

Encourage students to compare and share their results. Which are most common across the class/ cohort?

You can copy or adapt these words to explain more in your class or online space:

• The world’s population has surpassed 8 billion people. We are also consuming natural resources faster than they can be replenished. As you can imagine, this can’t continue if we envision future generations living in peace and harmony. To ensure a vibrant future, we need to start considering new approaches and ways of living. So what is sustainable development and how can we achieve it?
• The UN Brundtland Commission defines sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
• The 17 goals are a framework that provides a roadmap toward sustainable societies by 2030 and beyond. They are being implemented at all levels of our society: by federal and state governments; councils and cities; businesses; schools and universities. 

You may find the following tools and resources useful:

• Run remote/ asynchronous discussions via a Canvas discussion board, Teams chat or other collaborative spaces like Padlet and google docs
• Mentimeter for polls – especially where answers are better shared anonymously
• UN Global Goals ‘Take action’ quiz: https://www.globalgoals.org/take-action/ 

You can use this at any point during your subject or course. If you decide to use it early in the course, you can refer back to the SDGs when they appear relevant to different topics. The activities above would also work with:

• Small or large class cohorts
• In-person, blended and online learning
• Classes with international student cohorts
• Social Sciences, Business, Design, Architecture and Building, Engineering and subjects where students consider the impact of their discipline and profession on society

Did you know that there’s a global ranking of universities and their impact relating to the SDGs? To explore how your institution is doing, check out The Times Higher Education World University Impact Rankings.