Three principles of Universal Design for Learning and the Sustainable Development Goals

6 min readAug 14, 2018

Marta Nykolayeva, UN Volunteer and Media and Outreach Specialist at UNDP, is sharing advice on how to teach the Sustainable Development Goals to school-aged children using three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

“All the SDGs come down to Education. If we have more educated population we will reduce the poverty levels and achieve zero hunger, we will assure better child and maternal health, we will reduce inequalities and gender discrimination and we will realize children’s rights and human rights.”
Malala Yousafzai, United Nations Messenger of Peace

Therefore, it is vital to already start promoting the Sustainable Development Goals at school, to highlight their relevance and find ways to achieve them. Teachers play a significant role in this process.

However, in order to motivate the students it is important to engage them, to represent the topic using the most appropriate approach for each student and to provide different means for expressing their knowledge.

How could this be done? By using Universal Design for Learning (UDL), as this framework, — which has emerged in the USA — includes these three components.

What is Universal Design for Learning?

Universal Design for Learning is a framework that was developed as a result of long lasting research in the areas of education and neuroscience.

We all absorb information differently: through images, actions, audio means or by reading. Therefore it is necessary to be mindful of these individual characteristics.

There may be children with disabilities in a class, who usually have differing educational needs that should be taken into consideration.

The why, what and how of learning

Research has determined that there are three networks of the brain, each of which plays a certain role in human learning. However, if all three work together, this helps us to learn information better. As a result of this the three principles of Universal Design for Learning were determined:

· The Engagement principle plays the key role, as the extent to which the learner is engaged is vital in the learning. “Engagement” belongs to the Affective Networks of the brain (the WHY? of learning).

· The Representation principle requires the teacher to present the topic using multiple means and methods, in order for the learner to better acquire the new information. This principle belongs to the Recognition Networks (the WHAT? of learning).

· The Action and Expression principle is intended to provide learners with different opportunities to express their knowledge, this principle belongs to the Strategic Networks (the HOW? of learning).

But how could this be implemented in practice? Some methodological recommendations are provided below.

Engagement:

· It is important to explain the relevance and value of the topic and how the student can use the knowledge acquired in life. For instance, ask the students to name some challenges which their community, city or country (Ukraine) faces.

This could be done through a group discussion following the creation and demonstration of a group poster. This way, students would be able to understand the connection between the Goals and their life experience.

Visualisation: © Julia Kniupa / UNDP in Ukraine

· Students should have opportunities to learn and express their knowledge in the way which is most appropriate to their learning style. It is preferable to provide a wide variety of learning resources and encourage group work.

On the internet it is possible to find predesigned lesson plans, comics, video resources, games and group work tasks (in English and Ukrainian) on the Sustainable Development Goals.

For example, there is a multimedia lesson, the main heroes of which are Smurfs; this could be particularly interesting for primary school students. This lesson includes a video in which the cartoon characters present the Sustainable Development Goals. Among the variety of comics there are some that discuss several Goals or one particular Goal, and the cover of each comic contains a hint: the images related to the Goal(s) that the comic is addressing.

· If the task is too easy or too difficult this might demotivate. Therefore, if the already existing learning materials are inconsistent with the level of complexity, it is possible for the teacher to prepare some independently by adapting existing samples, for instance, using websites for the creation of comics (Pixton) or for story writing (Storyjumper, Storybird).

Representation:

· It is necessary to recall some background knowledge that students might already have on a certain topic, as this can improve understanding of what they learn.

Artist: © Anna Karpiak / UN Volunteers in Ukraine

For instance, the topics of clean water or air, and protection of life on land and below water might have already been discussed in science, geography or ecology lessons, and economic growth in an economics lesson.

Moreover, students already could have worked on joint projects which could be connected to one Goal or another, for instance, making water filters manually, sorting rubbish, cleaning parks or planting trees.

· It is significant to explain unknown vocabulary during the presentation. The teacher can create a small dictionary using some web resources (Quizlet) or prepare a list of unknown words in advance and ask the students to create small dictionaries independently.

· With the help of the Udlstudio website the teacher can develop a lesson following the UDL principles. If the lesson contains a text, then in this text teacher can underline the unknown words and prepare a small online dictionary on these words (with visualization). While reading a text the learner can “click” on the unknown word and see the definition or translation and visualization hint.

· It is also vital to provide a variety of ways to present (audio, video, posters, texts) using different multimedia and other assistive devices. A variety of educational resources is available online for teaching the Sustainable Development Goals, and thus teachers can use already existing resources or prepare their own.

Action and Expression:

· It is essential to provide a range of ways for students to express their knowledge by offering the most interesting means for the student: writing an article for a thematic blog (edublog, blogger), creating a video or a story (Storybird), creating a presentation (PowerPoint, Prezi), conducting a short lesson, or developing games.

· Encourage group work: do a short roleplay, play games (including board games) or quests, work on joint projects to achieve certain SDGs.

· The teacher and students may develop a plan of actions together that they can take to achieve certain Sustainable Developmental Goals by 2030.

The ideas could be taken from the Youth Guide “How to Change the World”, which is published in Ukrainian.

Universal Design for Learning, like the Sustainable Development Goals, is becoming a global trend. UDL represents one of the 17 Goals, Goal #4: Quality education, to be exact, one of the aims of which is to provide access to quality school education for all children and young people.

Through the combination of these two powerful instruments — that are innovative for Ukraine — the UDL framework and the Sustainable Development Goals — you will be able to encourage your students to engage in civic activities, look for creative solutions to existing challenges and take social responsibility.