The Resources for Rethinking Review Tool was created by Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) through a collaborative process that began with the work of Green Street. Since we began this project in 2006, over thirty classroom teachers from across Canada have been trained to use the tool to review resources and have contributed to the tool's evolution. Through ongoing training and regular quarterly meetings the team continues to develop and deepen its expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

We are respectfully offering our review of resources as a way to share our learning about Education for Sustainable Development with the larger ESD community and as a way to help teachers to efficiently and effectively bring ESD into their classrooms.

For each resource, we look for matches to 14 sustainability themes (for example: Food and Agriculture, Citizenship, Water, etc.); these themes are based on those used by the United Nations for the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). We also look for matches to curriculum units in all subject areas in all thirteen provinces and territories in Canada.

Each resource is assessed using nine principles that are particularly relevant to sustainability and responsible citizenship (for example, Respects Complexity, Bias Minimization, Locally Focused). Each resource is also assessed using eleven principles of good pedagogy (for example, Discovery Learning, Values Clarification, Diverse Learning Styles). In some ways, these twenty different principles make up a 'wish list' of what an excellent Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) teaching resource would include. We recognize that even the best resources may not address all of the principles thoroughly; however, we believe that it is important to assess the resources against all of these principles all of the time* in order to encourage the development of exceptional ESD resources.

The assessment page of the review provides further details about important areas of the review (for example: Implicit Curriculum and Null Curriculum) as well as a general summary of strengths, weaknesses and suggestions for improving the resource and an overall rating.

In order to help teachers, authors and publishers to understand these sustainability and pedagogy principles, we are creating a 'toolbox' which will contain two-page guides to understanding individual principles. We are also happy to provide personal support to resource developers on the telephone. We are currently seeking funding to offer workshops to ESD stakeholders about what we have learned through our academic research and our intensive work with our team of Canadian teacher-reviewers, makes for effective ESD. We can also provide information about which grades, issues and subject areas have access to good ESD resources and which grades/issues/subject areas have 'gaps' and are in need of good ESD resources.

*Some principles are not relevant to resources for very young learners (for example, Multiple Dimensions of Problems and Solutions)

Review Tool Summary

Issues & Themes

What sustainability issues does the resource explore?

Curriculum Matches

How does the resource relate to curriculum objectives in each of the provinces and territories in Canada?

Sustainability Principles

How well does the resource promote the knowledge, skills, perspectives, and practices essential for building ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable communities?

Pedagogical Approaches

How well does the resource foster learning that is active, relevant, and interdisciplinary?

General Assessment

From a "big picture" perspective, what are the resource's strengths and weaknesses?

Download a PDF copy of the full review tool