Fostering Sustainable Learning in Science and Environmental Education: Leveraging Low-Cost Educational Materials to Achieve SDG 4
Jul 15, 2025 — 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Description
UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 – which focuses on “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all” – can be advanced in classrooms by using low cost educational materials, especially in resource-constrained school settings.
This online international symposium will discuss how the use of budget-friendly resources can help teachers not only to democratize access to learning, but also to foster creativity, and interdisciplinarity in science and environmental education. This event is being organized in collaboration between the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education, the University of Benin (Nigeria) and the African Network of Canadian Studies. Likewise, it is part of the Faculty of Education’s action plan for education and climate action.
Program
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 10:00 a.m. – 10:05 a.m. : | Opening remarks (G. Reis) |
| 10:05 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. : | Use of low-cost materials and SDG 4 (N. Erhabor) |
| 10:25 a.m. – 10:55 a.m. : | Panel discussion
|
| 10:55 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. : | Closing remarks |
Norris Igbinosa Erhabor
Visiting Researcher, University of Ottawa
Dr. Norris Igbinosa Erhabor is an environmental education scholar and lecturer in the Department of Health Safety and Environmental Education at the University of Benin, Nigeria. He is currently a Visiting Researcher at the University of Ottawa, Canada, where he is conducting research on the development and integration of low-cost educational materials to foster inclusive, interdisciplinary, and sustainability-oriented learning in low-resource settings.
Luís Paulo de Carvalho Piassi
Full Professor, University of São Paulo (USP)
Dr. Luís Paulo de Carvalho Piassi is a Full Professor at the University of São Paulo (USP). His work focuses on science education, cultural studies, and science communication. He coordinates outreach projects that engage children and youth in vulnerable contexts, promoting interdisciplinary approaches that connect science, art, and social justice.
Sue McKee
Director of the Let's Talk Science program, University of Ottawa and Carleton University
Sue McKee has an MSc in Biology and is the Director of the Let's Talk Science program at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. Over the last 25 years, she has developed more than 70 hands-on, minds-on, curriculum-aligned STEM workshops and hands-on activities designed to improve the scientific literacy of preservice and in service teachers as well as children and youth in both schools and the community.
