Nurturing Sustainability Changemakers through Transformative Learning Using Design Thinking: Evidence from an Exploratory Qualitative Study

Thomas Macagno, Anh Nguyen-Quoc () and Suzi P. Jarvis
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Thomas Macagno: Innovation Academy, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
Anh Nguyen-Quoc: Innovation Academy, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
Suzi P. Jarvis: Innovation Academy, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: Globally, society faces significant problems, from climate crisis to persistent poverty. Education for Sustainable Development offers an approach to achieving a sustainable society. The challenge is creating changemakers with the knowledge, mindset, and competencies to innovate. Teaching sustainability tends to be discipline-specific, taught content-heavy via “spoon-feeding” and neglecting student agency changes. To overcome these challenges, we developed a programme to “teach” innovation for sustainability that combines transformative learning and design thinking as the pedagogy. Classes were anchored by solving a real-world sustainability challenge, facilitating experience transformation into new knowledge. Design Thinking is a transdisciplinary methodology that helps different disciplines collaborate on addressing complex problems. However, there is limited empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of this transformative pedagogy in sustainability education. What is the value of combining Design Thinking and Transformative Learning as a pedagogy in sustainability education? Based on the University College Dublin Innovation Academy’s Professional Diploma of Innovation for Sustainability, we address this research question by exploring the impacts of the programme design. Data were collected during and after the programme through students’ reflections and observation field notes of teaching sections. Findings show that the programme design supported developing a sustainability mindset, sustainability literacy, and creative confidence. All characteristics support becoming a changemaker.

Keywords: design thinking; transformative learning; education for sustainable development; educational evaluation; curriculum development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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