Critical Thinking Using Project-Based Learning: The Case of The Agroecological Market at the “Universitat Politècnica de València”

Pablo Aránguiz,Guillermo Palau-Salvador,Ana Belda,Jordi Peris

doi:10.3390/su12093553

Abstract

Higher education institutions play an important role in the transition processes to sustainable development through developing critical thinking (CT) in their students. The case of the Research Methodology course of the International Cooperation Master’s degree at the Universitat Politècnica de València is a paradigmatic case of experiential learning, where students face their own realities related to sustainable topics through an action research project with the Agroecological Market (AM). The learning methodology is project-based learning and helps the participants to deeply analyze problems related to the transition of socio-technical systems, such as sustainable food. The objective of this research was to analyze the contribution of project-based learning to students’ critical thinking through a qualitative analysis of the pedagogical outputs obtained during the course. The analysis and results are structured in three dimensions of critical thinking: (i) students’ critical attitude towards reality; (ii) students’ ability to reason and analyze in order to form their own rigorous judgments; and (iii) students’ capacity to construct and deconstruct their own experiences and meanings. The results show that project-based learning using a real-life scenario helped students reflect on their critical thinking and the challenges that our societies face for a transition to sustainability.

Highlights

The current precarious situation of the planet has created the need for the radical transformation of the systems that bring sustainable functioning and governance to societies over the two decades [1]
We introduced several activities in the design of the project-based learning (PBL) to highlight the importance of critical thinking (CT) and to enrich reflection during the process
That it is a bit related to the researched-researcher relationship, that we often made statements about why people did not buy in the Agroecological Market with a little moral superiority and you think: “But I have never bought in the Agroecological Market”, and I am in the same condition as them, right? Why am I judging them, and I am not judging myself, or why I am not rethinking, right? And it makes you to see yourself introspectively”

Summary

Introduction

The current precarious situation of the planet has created the need for the radical transformation of the systems that bring sustainable functioning and governance to societies over the two decades [1] Based on this point of view, higher education—and especially universities as places of innovation, learning and experimentation—have the potential to accelerate transitions towards more just and sustainable societies; as institutions deeply rooted in power and privilege, universities have the potential to reinforce the status quo and resist disruptive changes. Avelino and Wittmayer [5] state that these changes are the result of the interaction and coordination of actions and innovations across multiple scale levels, highlighting the dynamics of change that result from the tensions between innovation niches and regime [6] According to this approach, sustainability converges through the driving forces of multiple actors that deliberately shape transitions around a shared long-term vision [7]

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Conclusion