A team of academic and non-academic staff collaborated on a scholarship project which explored how to embed key sustainability competencies in the core physics curriculum. Module content was audited by paid student interns and associate lecturers who identified connections between the content and sustainability competencies. 

A cross functional team met regularly to design assessment tasks to embed across three core physics modules. These tasks focused on encouraging students to reflect on the sustainability competencies that they experienced in their learning. Students were supported to visualise the overlap between institutional employability frameworks and sustainability competencies to help them recognise their relevance. 

Physics is a subject that could be deemed challenging to embed sustainability in due to the mathematical and theoretical focus of much of the curriculum, particularly at higher levels. The hope is that if the pilot is successful within physics, then other subject areas could replicate the approach, particularly the reflective assessment questions.

Author: Martin Braun, Open University, Staff Tutor in Physical Sciences