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Working to overcome the fear of student discomfort and peer judgment while teaching for sustainability

Lévy, L. LU and Glessmer, M.S. LU orcid (2025) In Nordic journal of STEM education 9(3). p.300-307
Abstract
How we teach is strongly influenced by the culture we teach in, especially what (we believe) our colleagues think is good and acceptable. Understanding the reluctance to changes in teaching practice, including fear of disapproval from colleagues and students, investigating and reappraising those fears, and starting to talk about alternative interpretations is a first step towards overcoming the inertia with inhibits changes in teaching practices that are urgently needed for a sustainable future.

To start these conversations and work towards change, we here present a teaching situation. A teacher, author 1, stepped out of the culturally accepted role according to feedback from a colleague. Triggered by this feedback, the teacher... (More)
How we teach is strongly influenced by the culture we teach in, especially what (we believe) our colleagues think is good and acceptable. Understanding the reluctance to changes in teaching practice, including fear of disapproval from colleagues and students, investigating and reappraising those fears, and starting to talk about alternative interpretations is a first step towards overcoming the inertia with inhibits changes in teaching practices that are urgently needed for a sustainable future.

To start these conversations and work towards change, we here present a teaching situation. A teacher, author 1, stepped out of the culturally accepted role according to feedback from a colleague. Triggered by this feedback, the teacher questioned herself on whether this part of the lecture was appropriate and on how the students perceived the situation, and talked to another colleague, author 2, about the situation. To inform the reflection, we asked students for feedback. We speculate on and discuss the implications of their responses, and invite you to join the conversation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nordic journal of STEM education
volume
9
issue
3
pages
300 - 307
ISSN
2535-4574
DOI
10.5324/njsteme.v9i3.6304
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6db538a4-7ee9-42dc-b73e-610352ed42ed
date added to LUP
2025-08-26 07:56:06
date last changed
2025-09-29 11:49:54
@article{6db538a4-7ee9-42dc-b73e-610352ed42ed,
  abstract     = {{How we teach is strongly influenced by the culture we teach in, especially what (we believe) our colleagues think is good and acceptable. Understanding the reluctance to changes in teaching practice, including fear of disapproval from colleagues and students, investigating and reappraising those fears, and starting to talk about alternative interpretations is a first step towards overcoming the inertia with inhibits changes in teaching practices that are urgently needed for a sustainable future.<br/><br/>To start these conversations and work towards change, we here present a teaching situation. A teacher, author 1, stepped out of the culturally accepted role according to feedback from a colleague. Triggered by this feedback, the teacher questioned herself on whether this part of the lecture was appropriate and on how the students perceived the situation, and talked to another colleague, author 2, about the situation. To inform the reflection, we asked students for feedback. We speculate on and discuss the implications of their responses, and invite you to join the conversation.}},
  author       = {{Lévy, L. and Glessmer, M.S.}},
  issn         = {{2535-4574}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{300--307}},
  series       = {{Nordic journal of STEM education}},
  title        = {{Working to overcome the fear of student discomfort and peer judgment while teaching for sustainability}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5324/njsteme.v9i3.6304}},
  doi          = {{10.5324/njsteme.v9i3.6304}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}