A Design Thinking Approach to Teaching Sustainability

2022 ◽  
pp. 027347532110688
Author(s):  
Valerie Manna ◽  
Meike Rombach ◽  
David Dean ◽  
Hamish G. Rennie

Understanding sustainability requires a system-wide perspective to guide the interpretation of problems and conceptualization of solutions. A lake sustainability Trust provided an opportunity for students to gain this perspective by examining societal, commercial, and environmental policy perspectives associated with a local endangered lake and surrounding wetlands. This was an ideal project to bring sustainability issues to life for students but was too complex for a single class to attack. This article describes a multicourse initiative that sought to heighten students’ awareness of sustainability issues using a design thinking problem-solving approach. Interviews conducted revealed concerns that educators may have in considering similar projects. The authors respond to these perceived obstacles with recommendations and a discussion of mitigation strategies. In addition to the Trust gaining direction, the design and implementation of this cross-course experiential learning initiative allowed Marketing Research and Product Design students to develop an appreciation for macrolevel sustainability issues, and environmental policy students to appreciate the value of marketing research in the development of land use plans.

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Obidimma Ezezika

Experiential learning has the potential to enhance students’ success and prepare them for the job market, including through class experiences that mirror experiences in the workforce. In this article, I lay out the process of incorporating experiential learning in a global health course. I have derived three key lessons from the design and implementation of this course: focus on one overarching goal, align learning activities with real world expectations, and help students understand connections between their projects and course content. These lessons provide insights to integrate experiential learning activities in the classroom.   L’apprentissage expérientiel a le potentiel d’améliorer la réussite des étudiants et de les préparer pour le marché du travail, notamment en créant en classe des expériences qui ressemblent aux expériences en milieu de travail. Dans cet article, je présente le processus d’incorporation de l’apprentissage expérientiel dans un cours sur la santé mondiale. Je tire trois leçons de la conception et de la mise en œuvre de ce cours : il faut 1) se concentrer sur un objectif primordial, 2) harmoniser les activités d’apprentissage et les attentes du monde réel et 3) aider les étudiants à comprendre les rapports entre leurs projets et le contenu du cours. Ces leçons permettent de mieux comprendre comment incorporer des activités d’apprentissage expérientiel en classe.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Clark ◽  
Gayle Webb White

The value of experiential learning is explored as it has now become a given among educators and corporate leaders that a university must provide experiential learning programs such as internships; real-life cases in marketing research, advertising, etc.; and voluntary student participation in income tax preparation for the needy and elderly; and many additional types of programs to promote the application of learning and involvement with the world of work.  The paper presents one unique experiential learning program in complete detail—Student in Free Enterprise’s Walgreens Wrangle.  This is a twelve-university business strategy competition sponsored by the Students in Free Enterprise team at Southern Arkansas University that has the three-day involvement of managers of four major corporations.  This period of time to interact both professionally and socially with a corporate group has proven to be invaluable to business majors and provided them with many experiential learning experiences.


Author(s):  
Liz A. Wanless ◽  
Michael Naraine

Successfully adopting sport business analytics to enhance organization-wide business processes necessitates a combination of business acumen, modeling expertise, personnel coordination, and organizational support. Although the development of technical skills has been well mapped in analytics curricula, informing future leadership and affiliated nontechnical personnel about the sport business analytics process, specifically, remains a gap in sport management curricula. This acknowledgment should compel sport management programs to explore strategies for sport analytics training geared toward this population. Guided by experiential learning and foundational business analytics frameworks, a seven-module approach to teaching sport business analytics in sport management is advanced with a particular focus for future executives, managers, and nontechnical users in the sport industry. Concomitantly, the approach presents learning goals and outcomes, sources for instructors to review and consider, and sample assessments designed to fit within the existing sport management curricula.


2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-27
Author(s):  
Alexandru Manafu ◽  

This article shows how the mind-body problem can be taught effectively via an experiential learning activity involving a couple of classroom props: a brick and a jar of ground coffee. By experiencing the physical properties of the brick (shape, weight, length, width) and contrasting them with the olfactory experience of coffee (seemingly dimensionless, weightless, etc.), students are introduced in a vivid way to the well-known difficulty of explaining the mental in physical terms. A brief overview of experiential learning theory and its connection to philosophy is also provided.


2014 ◽  
pp. 673-688
Author(s):  
Charalambos Mouzakis ◽  
Haralampos Tsaknakis ◽  
Chrysanthi Tziortzioti

This chapter explores the underlying theoretical principles that provided the basis for the design and implementation of a professional development program for informatics teachers in Greece. A blended learning model was adopted combining live workshop meetings, face-to-face in-lab training sessions and online videoconferencing sessions. The framework of constructivism and experiential learning was used as a theoretical rationale for the combination of face-to-face activities with online learning experiences. It is shown that a blended learning design based on the principles of constructivism and experiential learning pedagogy can provide vital tools for the creation of an active environment for informatics teachers' professional development. Also, it appears that a promising direction for further investigation, in terms of improving the learning outcome based on the same theoretical principles, is the more detailed design of the sequence of learning activities and a closer look at the development of communities of practice among teachers.


Author(s):  
Sara Hillis Ousby ◽  
Sam Williamson

This chapter addresses the use of design thinking in created integrated learning environments where student learning is captured across curricular and co-curricular experiences. The chapter outlines the current context and trends in higher education that demonstrate the need for integrated learning environments and the need to assess experiential learning by centering students in the process. Centering students in the process of designing integrated learning environments empowers them on a path of self-authorship where students identify the goals of learning, how that learning will be documented, and how experiences scaffold to ensure students move from introduction to mastery of skills. The chapter concludes with examples from campuses that have created integrated environments where learning is documented and recorded, including examples of comprehensive learner records and a fully integrated bachelor's degree program.


2020 ◽  
pp. 135050762097485
Author(s):  
Andrew G. Earle ◽  
Dante I. Leyva-de la Hiz

In this paper, we explore the system-level challenges found in sustainability-focused education and consider how the intersections of design thinking and emerging technologies in augmented and virtual reality (AVR) can help address these. More specifically, we highlight the role of experiences across the design thinking process for generating novel solutions to the types of “wicked” problems with which students engage in sustainability education. We then use this as motivation, along with concepts from experiential learning and design thinking research, to develop a conceptual model in which AVR can integrate with more established instructional methods to help make sustainability-related challenges more salient, proximate, and tractable to students. Our conceptual model suggests that AVR holds promise for facilitating and democratizing access to the design thinking process for sustainability-related challenges, but that it is also not a standalone solution for enabling students to engage with such complex challenges.


Author(s):  
Andrew A Tawfik ◽  
Jaclyn J Gishbaugher ◽  
Jessica Gatewood ◽  
T. Logan Arrington

Teachers adapt their instructional strategies over time based on a variety of contextual constraints. In response to these challenges, teachers often have to make changes to their PBL approaches. While the literature has documented generally positive results of initial PBL implementations, less is known about the degree to which teachers adapt their usage of PBL over time. Some adaptations include a refined approach to teaching strategies, while others include significant diversions from the original PBL model. A better understanding of the changes teachers enact provides important insight as to fidelity and thus the expected learning outcomes of PBL. To address this gap, this research conducted semi-structured interviews with experienced K-12 educators who employed PBL over multiple years. In terms of preparing for PBL, themes that emerged from the interviews included more emphasis on reimagining the problem scope and design thinking. During classroom time, teachers described shifting perspectives in terms of the following: problem-solving skills over content knowledge, student control and teacher facilitation, and embracing failure. Relating to technology, teachers described more adoption trends towards collaborative tools, while also describing opportunities and challenges with digital literacy. Finally, teachers described strategic approaches to assessment in light of the ill-structured problems posed by PBL. Implications for practice and theory are discussed.


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