This course covers techniques for and critical thinking about the evaluation of changes in educational practices and policies in schools, organizations, and informal contexts. Topics include quantitative and qualitative methods for design and analysis, participatory design of practices and policies, institutional learning, the wider reception or discounting of evaluations, and selected case studies, including those arising from semester-long student projects.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A growing number of governments around the world are using behavioral science to inform public policy. So-called behavioral public policy leverages the scientific process to suggest how government decisions may or may not effect social change. Though rapidly growing, the discipline is still in its infancy. But opportunities for breaking through exist. Reporting in Behavioural Public Policy, members of the Behavioural Insights Team based in London and New York review those opportunities and the challenges that persist in this arena. As part of the world’s first government unit dedicated to using behavioral science, the team offers a valuable take on why behavioral science works and how it might be made to work for more governments worldwide. Though adapted to life outside of academia, behavioral public policy still faces many familiar challenges. Among them is the replication crisis that has gripped the field of psychology..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Compassionate Integrity Training (CIT) is a multi-part training program that cultivates basic human values as skills for the purpose of increasing individual, social, and environmental flourishing. By covering a range of skills from self-regulation and self-compassion to compassion for others and engagement with complex systems, CIT focuses on and builds toward compassionate integrity: the ability to live one’s life in accordance with one’s values with a recognition of common humanity, our basic orientation to kindness, and reciprocity. Unlike some definitions of integrity that focus on mere consistency with one’s values, without examining what those values are, compassionate integrity insists that consistency with one’s values is not enough if those values promote harm to oneself, others, or the world. Instead, maintaining and increasing consistency with one’s values is most beneficial when they are values that promote one’s own well-being as well as that of others. As to what those values are and how we understand them, this is arrived at by investigating and examining things for oneself, using common sense, shared experience, and science.   

Students are introduced to the idea of improving efficiency by examining a setting that is familiar to many teenagers fast food restaurants. More specifically, they learn about the concepts of trade-offs, constraints, increasing efficiency and systems thinking. They consider how to improve efficiency in a struggling restaurant through delegating tasks, restructuring employee responsibilities and revising a floor plan, all while working within limitations and requirements. Finally, students summarize and defend their suggested changes in argumentative essays.

This video defines energy, reviews a model of different types of energy and presents the four known stable global energy resources. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

This video takes an in-depth look at the annual energy available on earth against the amount of energy used by humans. It uses a graphic, published by Wes Hermann in the journal Energy, to makes clear the different energy fluxes. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

This video goes through the carbon cycle and describes how using fossil fuels threatens the foundation of the aquatic global food chain. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

This video describes in detail the greenhouse effect and how recovery from energy from fossile fuels results in green house gases. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

This video distinguishes between renewable and non-renewable energy resources. It examines the question, "How long to do we have before we exhaust non-renewable resources?" It also looks at alternatives to non-renewable energy resources. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

Introduction to systems thinking and system dynamics modeling applied to strategy, organizational change, and policy design. Students use simulation models, management flight simulators, and case studies to develop conceptual and modeling skills for the design and management of high-performance organizations in a dynamic world.

This video examines the global perspective of materials. It looks that the difference between reserves and resources and considers the question of "running out" of materials.This video part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

This video explains what is meant by a materials life cycle framework. It describes what happens at each step in the life cycle and why designers should consider the life cycle in the design process. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

This video examines the use of life cycle assessment methods as an aid to the design process. It introduces three methods: full life cycle assessment, streamlined life cycle assessment, and economic input-output life cycle assessment. The advantages and limits of each stated. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

What can we learn from nature's designs for sustainability? This video compares nature's methods with the industrial era methods of design. It recommends a design strategy based on the connection or relationship between things as a means to achieve transformative innovation for sustainability. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

This kit explores how sustainability has been presented in the media with a particular focus on issues related to food, water and agriculture. Each of the 19 lessons integrates media literacy and critical thinking into lessons about different aspect of sustainability. Constant themes throughout the kit include social justice, climate change, energy, economics and unintended consequences.

This customized independent study course puts Sloan Fellows MBA students into direct contact with innovators tackling global needs in education, healthcare, and energy/environment. Co-designed projects address low-income markets in the U.S. or globally, focusing on the application of new ideas and technology rooted in MIT innovations or the Boston ecosystem. Every project aims to develop better ways for the right innovations to reach scale, sustainability, and quality, thereby improving lives and uncovering opportunities in underserved markets.

This video looks at the global population and trends. It also explains the concept of carrying capacity and how a person's behavior influences carrying capacity. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

This video describes the ecological footprint and its limitation. It goes into some depth on the computation on the footprint and what it means for the global population. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

Doctoral level seminar in system dynamics modeling with a focus on social, economic and technical systems. The course covers classic works in dynamic modeling from various disciplines and current research problems and papers. Participants critique theories and models, often including replication, testing, and improvement of various models.

Debbie Clark's 8th grade science students take several days to complete their Rube Goldberg contraptions. Bringing things from home, they experiment with the parts, design their contraption, and make a blueprint for it before beginning to build. This is a lesson that emphasizes cooperation, teamwork, creativity and design.