Sustainability and learning: Aesthetic and creative responses in a digital culture

Abstract

The research presented in this article strives to answer the question: how do we educate for sustainability? I have provided evidence that arts-based educational research methods and major cultural resources provide very rich learning experiences that extend across disciplinary boundaries and can be crafted into pedagogical practices that help orientate learners of all levels to issues of sustainability. The article addresses the challenge of developing pedagogies for socio-ecological sustainability across disciplines in higher education. I present three kinds of conceptual resources in support of this project: theoretical influences that provide a range of lenses through which I can focus on my research concerns and pedagogical developments; methodological innovations – the use of the Dérive combined with a narrative record; and real-world aesthetic resources derived from gallery visits, an architectural exploration and interactive, scientific visits to major botanical gardens in Europe. I also briefly outline the importance of research resources derived from my own interdisciplinary work in virtual worlds - technology enhanced learning (TEL). These resources have led to a fusion of ideas from my own empirical research and personal experiences and observations in the real world. The most significant outcome of my Dérive experiences is a reminder of the power of aesthetic and emotional responses in learning activities. The blending of digital and analogue conceptual resources has synergised my thinking about pedagogies of sustainability, and increased my understanding of the importance of engagement with the real world, the role of emotion in learning and the power of experiential learning. I argue that personal and collective responses to artwork can act synergistically, and that community learning and individual learning are linked in informal settings, as evidenced by the Dérives presented in this article.