A teaching strategy based on active learning which promotes strong sustainability that empowers students to have a different type of relationship with the environment

Abstract

Some human activities have caused a serious environmental crisis, producing irreversible damage and loss of resources and diversity, which is why a strong sustainability approach is required to keep human activities within planetary boundaries. However, a strong sustainability concept can be difficult for teachers to convey and for students to grasp, because it has few practical examples and applying it seems utopian. This article presents a teaching strategy of active learning for teaching strong sustainability at the university level and evaluates its usefulness for empowering students for another type of relationship with the environment. The teaching strategy is supported by a pedagogy that promotes critical thinking and recognizes learning as a way of questioning and empowering oneself. The teaching strategy was successfully applied in three university subjects that promote environmental education. Based on an online questionnaire to enrolled students (N = 87; 46F, 41M), the perspective of the teacher and the critical-thinking of authors, it was demonstrated that the teaching strategy allowed the strong sustainability concept to be appropriated by students of different disciplines, and demonstrated the feasibility of its practical application. Finally, the teaching strategy can be useful for teaching several disciplines, for curricular integration, and for promoting societal changes to achieve sustainability.