Cupcakes backen - Nachhaltigkeitsthemen im naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht

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Beschreibung

The “Cupcakes” teacher manual, developed by educators and researchers from Utrecht University, offers a hands-on module that allows students to explore sustainability through baking. Working in groups, students bake cupcakes incorporating a specific ingredient—cacao, vanilla, blueberries, or honey. Alongside the baking process, they research the sustainability of their assigned ingredient by examining its impact on ‘people’, ‘planet’, and ‘prosperity’. The module emphasizes the complexity of sustainability issues and encourages students to connect personally with these global challenges.

After gathering their findings, students create a short video using their smartphones to present their research. They summarize key sustainability aspects of their ingredient, explaining its social, environmental, and economic implications. This multimedia approach encourages creativity and digital literacy while reinforcing their understanding of the topic.

The module concludes with a reflection phase, where students discuss what they have learned about sustainable food production, the challenges of balancing economic, environmental, and social factors, and how their choices as consumers can make a difference. This final discussion encourages critical thinking and personal engagement with sustainability topics, making the lesson both interactive and impactful.

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Wie Sie diese Ressource nutzen können

Use an everyday activity to make pupils aware that even the simplest of activities have a sustainability context by baking cupcakes.

Guide students through researching the sustainability of key ingredients (cacao, vanilla, blueberries, or honey) by examining their impact on people, planet, and prosperity. After baking, students create a short video to present their findings. Conclude with a reflection discussion on sustainable food production and consumer choices.

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Die Ressourcen

Cupcakes Teacher Manual

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Cupcakes – And what they are made of

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Cupcakes – Summary worksheet

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Cupcakes: Info sheets

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Making cupcakes – Recipe card

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Cupcakes – Script worksheet

Link to the resource

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Learning Outcomes (Teachers)

• Abfrage des Vorwissens und Weiterentwicklung von Wissen und Verständnis von Schlüsselkonzepten der nachhaltigen Bürgerschaft, wobei etablierte Weltanschauungen und Werte in Frage gestellt werden.
• Anwendung einer Reihe von geeigneten Instrumenten und Rahmenwerken zur Förderung des bürgerschaftlichen Engagements von Studierenden im Bereich Nachhaltigkeit

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Grüne Kompetenzen

• Nachhaltige Werte verkörpern: Wertschätzung der Nachhaltigkeit; Förderung der Natur
• Komplexität in der Nachhaltigkeit berücksichtigen: Systemdenken; Kritisches Denken; Problemstellung
• Visionen für eine nachhaltige Zukunft: Adaptability

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Creative Commons

This workshop is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) License by Michiel van Harskamp, Marie-Christine Knippels, and Wouter van Joolingen, Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University. It may be shared and adapted for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution and must be distributed under the same license.

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SDGs