UNU IAS Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE)

1. Promotinginnovativecollaborationin schools, locally and towardsgloballearningspace ofUNU IAS RCEsNuutinen Anna Maaria 1, Immonen-OrpanaPaivi2, Ahlberg Mauri 31City of Espoo, Espoo, Finland mari.nuutinen@gmail.com2Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Espoo, Finland paivi.Immonen-orpana@laurea.fi3University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland mauri.ahlberg@helsinki.fi

2. Narrativesareimportant in teaching, learning and research: UNU IAS RCE Espoo hasitshistory. In 2005-2006 Mauri Åhlberg and Taina Kaivola applied for UNU IAS RCE Greater Helsinki. Thisapplicationwasnotsuccessful. During 2009 – 2011, Mari Nuutinen and Päivi Immonen-Orpana (members of Åhlberg’s R&D Group) succeeded in theirapplication for UNU IAS RCE Espoo. Theywereable to getneededpoliticalcommittment, money and broad social engagement. • Prof. Mauri Åhlberg is a member of the officialsupervisinggroup of UNU IAS RCE Espoo

3. UNU IAS Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) Definition: ”An RCE is a network of existing formal, non-formal and informal education organisations, mobilised to deliver education for sustainable development (ESD) to local and regional communities." (From ”wholeschoolapproach” to ’a wholeregionalcommunityapproach’.) ”A network of RCEs worldwide will constitute the Global Learning Space for Sustainable Development.” Neglected?: SharedcumulativedigitalcollaborativeknowledgebuildingplatformslikeKnowledge Forum orFacebooketc? (E.g. UN Decade of Biodiversity (2011 – 2020) has a Fbpage.)

4. ”RCEs aspire to achieve the goals of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014), by translating its global objectives into the context of the local communities in which they operate." – A chance for UNU IAS RCEs?: UN Decade of Biodiversity (2011 – 2020) Neglected?: The core of sustainability: Sustainableuse of local and regionalbiosphere and itsbiodiversity.

5. The core elements of an RCE 1. "Governance - addressing issues of RCE management and leadership" 2. "Collaboration - addressing the engagement of actors from all levels of formal, non-formal and informal education" 3."Research and development - addressing the role of research and its inclusion in RCE activities, as well as contributing to the design of strategies for collaborative activities, including those with other RCEs.” - A missingtheme?: Learning to uselocalbiodiversitysustainably. 4. "Transformative education - contributing to the transformation of the current education and training systems to satisfy ambitions of the region regarding sustainable living and livelihood." – A TASK: To promotelearning to uselocalbiodiversitysustainably.

6. Prof.Mauri Åhlberg(in English: Ahlberg) FLS (1) Professor of Biology and SustainabilityEducation, Univ. of Helsinki http://www.helsinki.fi/people/mauri.ahlberg (2) ResearchDirector of NatureGateOnline Services http://www.naturegate.net (3) Expertmember of IUCN CEC http://www.iucn.org/about/union/commissions/cec/?2614/ (4) Senior Advisor of ENSI, one of theworld'sleading EE and ESD programs http://www.ensi.org/Members/Senior_Advisors/ (5) VisitingProfessor at ExeterUniversity: http://education.exeter.ac.uk/pages.php?id=598 BLOG: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/maahlber/author/maahlber/ FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/people/Mauri-Ahlberg/100000393951781 • MOTTO: "Probably, Internet is the biggestinfrastructurecreatedbyhumankind. It'llmakepossiblefast, meaningful, collaborativelearning for humanity."

7. UNU IAS RCE Espoo, R&D, including design experiments: (1) inquiry-basedlearning and (2) cumulativebothpersonal and collaborativeknowledgebuildingand learning (3) Dialogue for truth, goodenvironment and sustainability (truth and sustainability seekingdialogue)

8. In the following new textbook, conceptmapping and Veeheuristicsarepresented as tools for teaching, learning and research: Visualizing Social Science Research: Maps, Methods, & Meaning Johannes WheeldonWashington State University & Mauri K. AhlbergUniversity of Helsinki July 2011   224 pages   SAGE Publications, Inc   Paperback ISBN: 9781412991049 $29.95 - NOTE: Conceptmappingpromotessharedunderstanding, Veeheuristicpromotesthinking of values, priorities, e.g. Valuebasis, valueclaims

9. United Nations Decade on Biodiversityon Facebook Mauri Ahlberg • Humans (Homo sapiens) are totally dependent on sustainable use of biodiversity: http://www.luontoportti.com/su​omi/en/ NatureGate: www.luontoportti.comIdentifying wild flowers and other species made easy! Presented in eight languages, with accurate texts and thousands of images. IUCN CEC: http://www.iucn.org/about/​union/commissions/cec/?261​4%2F7 hours ago · Like

10. Thereareplans for digitalmapping of local and regionalorganismsbyschoolchildren and othercitizensusingNatureGate for identification and as the provider of mappingplatform. – Monetary and otherresourcesarenegotiatiated. • The firsttestedstep is to createdigitalherbaria and to usedigitalmapping of digitalphotos of organisms and theirhabitats. • Thismaypromoteschoolcolaboration.

11. NatureGatehelpsbothnatives and immigrants to learnabouttheirlocalnature and to appreciateit, enjoyit and to useitsustainably. ( also a part of multiculturaleducation) • NatureGatefasilitateshealthyinteraction of younger and elderlygenerationsproviding a sharedinterest. (promotingsociallysustainabledevelopment) • NatureGatecanbeused as a greeninfrastucture for sustainableeconomylikesustainablenaturetourism and organicfarmingprovidingknowledge of invasivespecies, weeds, edibleplants etc.

12. Thankyou!