Introducing sustainability themes in STEM education: evidences from some European countries

The Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by United Nations in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will modulate the efforts toward a better world considering the pillars of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. The Industry 4.0 (I4.0) framework is emerging from the introduction of several advancements in a way that substantially and rapidly transforms the design, manu-facturing, operation and services related to manufacturing systems or products. I4.0 technologies are expected to have a significant impact on the achievement of the SDGs. The ‘MAnufacturing Education for a SusTainable fourth Industrial RevO-lution’ project (MAESTRO, E+ 2019-1-SE01-KA203-060572) is an ongoing research collaboration where experts from diverse engineering disciplines and seven European institutions from Sweden, United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and Slovenia are putting together efforts to define and deliver the key new competences required by the future engineers who will be part of the I4.0 revolution, focusing on SDGs. The SDGs relevant to the teaching of I4.0 were introduced in different academic courses, mainly taught online, by strictly following the Constructive Alignment (CA) principles. CA was devised as a paradigm for the design of effective and effi-cient pedagogical activities in higher education. CA is based on two main concepts: the constructivist understanding of the learning process, and the practical need for aligned and outcome-based curricula design. Teaching and Learning Activities and Assessment Tasks are therefore planned in a way that is aligned with their Intended Learning Outcomes.